RICHARD SANDERS, ATTORNEY, proclaimed the headline of a recent quarter-page advertisement in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. At the bottom of the copy was a clip-out coupon with check-off boxes ("Family Law," "Personal Injury," "Wills and Probate") so that a potential client could indicate which legal services he wanted to know more about. The advertising trade may have been thrilled by such an unprecedentedly bold pitch (it drew 450 replies), but Sanders' peers were less enthusiastic. One has already brought an ethics complaint to the Washington state bar asking for disciplinary action against the young (30) lawyer for his affront.
Advertising by attorneys has...