Staffing shortages at the statewide bar counsel’s office could pose problems for a soon-to-start new program to check-up on lawyers’ advertisements.
Under rules established last year by a committee of the state’s judges, all Connecticut lawyers and law firms are required to file copies of their print, Internet, radio, billboard and television advertising with the statewide bar counsel’s office, starting July 1.
The rule would make Connecticut one of only a handful of states that check ads by lawyers for accuracy, required formatting and the name of a Connecticut bar member on an ad, among other things. It would be the first state to let lawyers file much of those items electronically through a state Web site.
But while the software allowing lawyers to file those ads is 90 percent complete, no new staffers have been added to deal with the additional responsibilities, said Michael Bowler, the statewide bar counsel.
The rule change comes amid increasing demands on his office, Bowler said. The July 1 deadline is also the date that his office is set to begin randomly auditing the trust accounts held by attorneys and their clients.
Bowler’s office has three full-time lawyers, three part-time lawyers and six staffers. He estimated that two lawyers and one staff person would be needed to run the ad-checking regime. Two new accountants are expected to join the office by September to conduct the audits of trust accounts.
“Notwithstanding any budget issues, the audits are definitely a go for July,” Bowler said. “Whether advertising will remain is an open question.”
The panel of judges will meet again in June and could decide to delay or alter the program. But if they don’t, Bowler said he would have to absorb the new tasks with his current staff.
Bowler is worried about just how swamped his office will be. The number of trust accounts maintained by the state’s 34,000 lawyers is unknown, Bowler said, but estimated to be in the thousands. And no one knows the number of print, Internet, radio, billboard and television ads by lawyers, soon scheduled to flood Bowler’s office.
Some larger firms have already take steps to prepare for the upcoming change.
Sally Brashear, director of marketing at Pullman & Comley, said that although the firm has always vigilantly retained copies of all its advertising, it will begin taking electronic snapshots of its Web site every 90 days, since those changes need to be kept on file with the state.
The changes have been a source of particular confusion for firms like Pullman & Comley, because it has offices in Connecticut and New York, where new rules regarding advertising went into effect at the beginning of the year. Although New York state does not require law firms to physically or electronically send copies of ads to a state agency, its rules for what legal ads can and cannot say are considered stricter than Connecticut’s. “Fortunately there’s quite a bit of overlap between the two states,” she said.
Still, Bowler stressed that he has not been told the ad registry is being delayed, and he will be prepared launch the program July 1.
“You play until you hear the whistle, so until someone tells me timeout, we’re going to go full steam ahead with this,” he said.
