Communications About Legal Services · 4-10% of the exam
21.3.2Written solicitation, agents, and absolute bars (Rule 7.3)
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- Rule 7.3 — Written Solicitation, Agents, and Absolute Bars
Written targeted outreach is generally permitted — a letter creates a record and the recipient may discard it. Two things destroy that permission: routing the contact through someone else, or persisting after the target says stop.
Why
A letter can be put down, reread, or thrown away, and it leaves a copy of whatever was claimed. The pressure the live-contact ban aims at is missing. What is not missing is the temptation to reach the same person through somebody else, or to keep pressing after being told to stop.
Plain English
Truthful, non-deceptive written and electronic outreach to people known to be dealing with a particular matter is generally permitted, and the current ABA rule requires no "Advertising Material" label. A lawyer may not use an agent to make contact the lawyer is prohibited from making directly. Regardless of method, solicitation is barred where the target has made known a desire not to be solicited, or where it involves coercion, duress, or harassment.
Rule
Rule 7.3 — Written Solicitation, Agents, and Absolute Bars
- Written and electronic solicitation generally permitted
truthful, non-deceptive written outreach — letters, email, recorded voice messages — sent to individuals the lawyer knows are dealing with a particular legal matter.
No "Advertising Material" label required under the current ABA Model Rule 7.3 as amended August 2018. (Many states retain this label in their own rules; the MPRE tests the ABA rule.)
- Agent rule
A lawyer cannot use an agent (paralegal, secretary, runner, plan employee, or referral-service employee) to make contact the lawyer is prohibited from making directly. The prohibition extends to all persons acting on the lawyer's behalf.
Supervising lawyers carry a duty under Rules 5.1 and 5.3 here: they must make reasonable efforts to see that everyone in the office — lawyers and nonlawyer staff alike — knows and follows these solicitation limits.
- Absolute bars (regardless of permissible method)
- The target has made known a desire not to be solicited by this lawyer;
- The solicitation involves coercion, duress, or harassment, especially as applied to vulnerable populations.
Example 1
Ex. 1
Hana, a personal-injury lawyer, learns of a patient recovering from accident injuries at a local hospital. Knowing that a personal visit would be prohibited, Hana sends her paralegal, who introduces herself as being "from the law office," hands the patient a business card, and leaves a prepared retainer agreement on the bedside table.
Cross the paralegal out of the facts and put Hana in the hospital room; nothing changes. Hana faces discipline as if she had made the visit herself. The paralegal's visit was live in-person contact with a specific injured person for professional employment and pecuniary gain — precisely what Rule 7.3 prohibits. The agent rule carries no exception for delegation; Hana's physical absence from the hospital room doesn't insulate her.
Example 2
Ex. 2
Gina learns that a local funeral home regularly sees grieving families who may have wrongful-death or estate matters. She instructs her paralegal to visit the home on Tuesdays and, when the opportunity arises, hand Gina's business card to a recently bereaved family and mention that Gina handles estate and wrongful-death claims.
Settle what Gina may do herself before you look at the paralegal's Tuesdays. The conduct violates Rule 7.3 even though Gina made no contact herself. The agent rule extends the prohibition to all persons acting on the lawyer's behalf. Because Gina could not lawfully make direct live contact with the targeted families — they are specific persons she knows have a fresh legal need, and her motive is pecuniary — she can't send a proxy to do it. Discipline runs to Gina as the directing lawyer; the paralegal's physical presence at the funeral home doesn't insulate Gina.
If the lawyer can't make the contact, no one can make it for the lawyer. The exam will hint that only the acting agent can be disciplined; that's wrong. Responsibility runs to the directing lawyer, not only the person who physically makes contact.
Statutory overlay (rare but free). Federal law independently bars any lawyer from making uninvited plaintiff-side solicitation of air-disaster victims for 45 days after the disaster — a federal floor that applies regardless of what state rules would otherwise permit.
Questions · 1
Q 01ch21-e09
Question 1 of 1 · Rule 7.3
Attorney handles property-damage claims on a contingency fee. A gas main ruptured beneath a mobile-home park and damaged eleven units, and the county published the addresses of the damaged units in a public notice. Attorney knows that appearing at those doors in person would be improper, so Attorney hands Investigator, who works for the office, the list of addresses. Investigator knocks on each door, says the office handles explosion claims, gives each resident a card with the office details, and leaves a blank retainer form behind. Investigator offers no legal advice and answers no questions about the law. Attorney never goes to the park and never speaks to any resident. Is Attorney subject to discipline?
Keys 1 to 4 choose.