In a car accident? Expect Lawyer solicitaions by text
You've just been in a car accident or accused of a crime.
You're confused and overwhelmed. You need help and don't know where to turn.
Just at your most vulnerable moment, a lawyer steps forward and slips you his card. He'll get money from the person who hit you. He'll get the charges tossed, he assures you.
He just committed an ethical violation and could face discipline by the state bar. He's not even allowed to call you on the telephone to suggest that you hire him.
But he can send you a text message, according to a recent decision by the Florida Bar.
In-person solicitations by attorneys are forbidden because, as the American Bar Association says, "The situation is fraught with the possibility of undue influence, intimidation, and over-reaching."
In February, staff and a committee of the Florida Bar said the ban on in-person solicitations also bars text messages because the ban includes telephone communications.
But the Bar's board of governors in July reversed that ruling, concluding that texts are more like emails, which are allowed, than phone calls.
"It's an adaptation to reality," said Bar President Ramon Abadin. "Most people communicate by mobile data devices that happen to be phones, too."
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