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21 N.C. St. B. Newsl. 1 (1996)

handle is hein.barjournals/ncsbarnew0021 and id is 1 raw text is: The North Carolina State Bar Newsletter Volume 21 Number 1 Winter 1996 Council Suspends Action on Targeted Direct Mail Rule At the October meeting, the council approved for publication a proposed amendment to Rule 2.4(c) of the Rules of Professional Conduct. The proposed amendment would compel a 30-day waiting period before a direct mail solicitation letter might be sent to a prospective client known to be in need of legal services in a particular matter. After publication, nu- merous lettL:a of comment, both favorable and unfa- vorable, were received from interested members of the bar. Many lawyers expressed the view that di- rect mail letters are invasive of privacy and reflect poorly on the profession. These lawyers favor the rule revision because they believe that the 30-day waiting period will lessen the negative impact of the letters upon the recipients. Lawyers who object to the revision of the rule maintain that direct mail let- ters are a benefit to the public because they provide information about legal rights. These lawyers con- tend that many legal matters are time sensitive, par- ticularly traffic citations and foreclosures, and a 30-day delay will effectively abrogate any benefit members of the public might receive from such let- ters. In light of the controversial nature of the proposed ameniment and uncertainty as to whether direct mail letters are indeed harmful to the public or the reputation of the profession, no action was taken on the proposed amendment at the January meeting of the council. The council will suspend further consid- eration of the proposed amendment until the results from the survey of public opinion on lawyer advertis- ing that was authorized last October are available for its consideration. It is anticipated that a report on the results of the survey will be provided to the council in July. FGI Integrated Marketing, located in Chapel Hill, will perform the survey. FGI is a marketing research firm with extensive experience in survey research re- lating to the law and law firms. The firm has con- ducted surveys for the North Carolina Bar Foundation, the North Carolina Academy of Trial (continued on page 5) Review Committee Proposes Rule Changes The council is considering two amendments to the North Carolina State Bar's Discipline & Disbarment Rules. First, it is proposed that 27 N.C. Admin. Code Chapter 1, Subchaptnr B, Rule .0115(c) be amended to conform to recent legislative changes to G.S. 84- 28(d) and 84-28(dl). As it is now written, Rule .0115(c) provides that the State Bar may bring a dis- ciplinary action against any attorney convicted of a serious crime. Where the proceeding is based solely on the conviction, Rule .0115(c) provides that the dis- ciplinary action may not be commenced until after all appeals from the conviction are concluded. The pre- sent rule was mandated by former G.S. 84-28(d), which also provided that no disciplinary proceeding based upon a criminal conviction could be brought un- til the conclusion of any appeals from the conviction. Effective in October 1995, the statute was amended to permit the State Bar to commence a disciplinary proceeding once a judgment of conviction is entered and before the conclusion of any appeals. The legisla- ture also adopted a provision in G.S. 84-28(dl), whereby an attorney subject to disciplinary sanctions based upon a conviction may apply to the court where the conviction occurred for an order staying (continued on page 5) Table of Contents Council Action/Committee Reports page 2 Proposed Opinions page'6 Specialization Update page 10 CLE Update page 12 Court Decisions page 13 Bar Exam Applicants page 15 Classified Advertising page 19 LMAP page 20

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