Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

New rules aimed at preventing lawyers from disseminating misleading ads

CARSON CITY — The Nevada Supreme Court has adopted new rules of professional conduct in an effort to prevent lawyers from putting out misleading advertisements to attract clients.

Under the new rules, actors in television ads must be identified, and when attorneys boast of obtaining cash judgements or settlements, they must disclose what the client actually received, minus lawyer and court fees.

The attorney or law firm behind ads also must include a statement that “past results do not guarantee, warrant or predict future cases.”

The rules are among those that go into effect in December.

The State Bar of Nevada filed a petition in December 2009 seeking tighter rules for advertising on television, in print and on websites.

“An advertisement could be misleading if it featured a misleading statement or contained a truthful statement but omitted certain information,” the bar said.

In advocating full disclosure in TV ads, the bar said, “Typically, the use of undisclosed actors was typically found to be misleading when used to portray attorneys, staff and or clients, and in dramatizations where it was not immediately apparent whether the client testimony was true or fictional.”

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