From Constitutional Law Prof Blog
December 13, 2010
Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in Lawyer Advertising Case
Last March, the Second Circuit in Alexander v. Cahill affirmed a declaration that substantial portions of New York’s Professional Responsibility Rules were unconstitutional. Today, the United States Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari.
You can find a full archive of the videos on the Alexander & Catalano website.
You have to love when a court rules in favor of common sense :)
The court stated:
“The sorts of gimmicks that this rule appears designed to reach--such as Alexander & Catalano’s wisps of smoke, blue electrical currents, and special effects--do not actually seem likely to mislead. It is true that Alexander and his partner are not giants towering above local buildings; they cannot run to a client’s house so quickly that they appear as blurs; and they do not actually provide legal assistance to space aliens. But given the prevalence of these and other kinds of special effects in advertising and entertainment, we cannot seriously believe-purely as a matter of “common sense”-that ordinary individuals are likely to be misled into thinking that these advertisements depict true characteristics. Indeed, some of these gimmicks, while seemingly irrelevant, may actually serve “important communicative functions . . . .”
What are your thoughts?