RPC RULE 7.2
                              ADVERTISING


  (a) Subject to the requirements of Rules 7.1 and 7.3, a lawyer may
advertise services through written, recorded or electronic communication,
including public media.

  (b) A lawyer shall not give anything of value to a person for
recommending the lawyer's services, except that a lawyer may

     (1) pay the reasonable cost of advertisements or communications
permitted by this Rule;

     (2) pay the usual charges of a legal service plan or a not-for-profit
lawyer referral service;

     (3) pay for a law practice in accordance with Rule 1.17; and

     (4) refer clients to another lawyer pursuant to an agreement not
otherwise prohibited under these Rules that provides for the other person
to refer clients or customers to the lawyer, if

       (i) the reciprocal referral agreement is not exclusive, and

       (ii) the client is informed of the existence and nature of the agreement.

  (c) Any communication made pursuant to this Rule shall include the name
and office address of at least one lawyer or law firm responsible for its content.

Comment

  [1] To assist the public in obtaining legal services, lawyers should be
allowed to make known their services not only through reputation but also
through organized information campaigns in the form of advertising.
Advertising involves an active quest for clients, contrary to the
tradition that a lawyer should not seek clientele. However, the public's
need to know about legal services can be fulfilled in part through
advertising. This need is particularly acute in the case of persons of
moderate means who have not made extensive use of legal services. The
interest in expanding public information about legal services ought to
prevail over considerations of tradition. Nevertheless, advertising by
lawyers entails the risk of practices that are misleading or overreaching.

  [2] This Rule permits public dissemination of information concerning a
lawyer's name or firm name, address and telephone number; the kinds of
services the lawyer will undertake; the basis on which the lawyer's fees
are determined, including prices for specific services and payment and
credit arrangements; a lawyer's foreign language ability; names of
references and, with their consent, names of clients regularly
represented; and other information that might invite the attention of
those seeking legal assistance.

  [3] Questions of effectiveness and taste in advertising are matters of
speculation and subjective judgment. Some jurisdictions have had extensive
prohibitions against television advertising, against advertising going
beyond specified facts about a lawyer, or against "undignified"
advertising. Television is now one of the most powerful media for getting
information to the public, particularly persons of low and moderate
income; prohibiting television advertising, therefore, would impede the
flow of information about legal services to many sectors of the public.
Limiting the information that may be advertised has a similar effect and
assumes that the bar can accurately forecast the kind of information that
the public would regard as relevant. Similarly, electronic media, such as
the Internet, can be an important source of information about legal
services, and lawful communication by electronic mail is permitted by this
Rule. But see Rule 7.3(a) for the prohibition against the solicitation of
a prospective client through a real-time electronic exchange that is not
initiated by the prospective client.

  [4] Neither this Rule nor Rule 7.3 prohibits communications authorized
by law, such as notice to members of a class in class action litigation.

Paying Others to Recommend a Lawyer

  [5] Lawyers are not permitted to pay others for channeling professional
work. Paragraph (b)(1), however, allows a lawyer to pay for advertising
and communications permitted by this Rule, including the costs of print
directory listings, on-line directory listings, newspaper ads, television
and radio airtime, domain-name registrations, sponsorship fees, banner
ads, and group advertising. A lawyer may compensate employees, agents and
vendors who are engaged to provide marketing or client-development
services, such as publicists, public-relations personnel, business-
development staff and website designers. See Rule 5.3 for the duties of
lawyers and law firms with respect to the conduct of nonlawyers who
prepare marketing materials for them.

  [6] [Washington revision] A lawyer may pay the usual charges of a legal
service plan or a not-for-profit lawyer referral service. A legal service
plan is a prepaid or group legal service plan or a similar delivery system
that assists prospective clients to secure legal representation. A lawyer
referral service, on the other hand, is any organization that holds itself
out to the public as a lawyer referral service. Such referral services are
understood by laypersons to be consumer-oriented organizations that
provide unbiased referrals to lawyers with appropriate experience in the
subject matter of the representation and afford other client protections,
such as complaint procedures or malpractice insurance requirements.
Consequently, this Rule only permits a lawyer to pay the usual charges of
a not-for-profit lawyer referral service.

  [7] A lawyer who accepts assignments or referrals from a legal service
plan or referrals from a lawyer referral service must act reasonably to
assure that the activities of the plan or service are compatible with the
lawyer's professional obligations. See Rule 5.3. Legal service plans and
lawyer referral services may communicate with prospective clients, but
such communication must be in conformity with these Rules. Thus,
advertising must not be false or misleading, as would be the case if the
communications of a group advertising program or a group legal services
plan would mislead prospective clients to think that it was a lawyer
referral service sponsored by a state agency or bar association. Nor could
the lawyer allow in-person, telephonic, or real-time contacts that would
violate Rule 7.3.

  [8] [Washington revision] A lawyer also may agree to refer clients to
another lawyer in return for the undertaking of that person to refer
clients or customers to the lawyer. Such reciprocal referral arrangements
must not interfere with the lawyer's professional judgment as to making
referrals or as to providing substantive legal services. See Rules 2.1 and
5.4(c). Except as provided in Rule 1.5(e), a lawyer who receives referrals
from a lawyer must not pay anything solely for the referral, but the
lawyer does not violate paragraph (b) of this Rule by agreeing to refer
clients to the other lawyer, so long as the reciprocal referral agreement
is not exclusive and the client is informed of the referral agreement.
Conflicts of interest created by such arrangements are governed by Rule
1.7. Reciprocal referral agreements should not be of indefinite duration
and should be reviewed periodically to determine whether they comply with
these Rules. This Rule does not restrict referrals or divisions of
revenues or net income among lawyers within firms comprised of multiple entities.

Additional Washington Comment (9)

   [9]  That portion of Model Rule 7.2(b)(4) that allows lawyers to  enter
into  reciprocal referral agreements with nonlawyer professionals was not adopted.


[Amended effective September 1, 2006.]