Court Opinion

ID: 9559209
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:24:39.160848+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:10:07.061080
License: Public Domain

GORDON, Justice
(specially concurring) :
I concur in the result. While I agree with much of the law and many of the comments expressed by the majority, I feel compelled to add a few comments of my own.
The content of the advertisement in this case highlights the concern expressed by Chief Justice Burger in his concurring opinion in Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U.S. 748, 96 S.Ct. 1817, 48 L.Ed.2d 346 (1976):
“ * * * [T]he advertisement of professional services carries with it quite different risks than the advertisement of standard products.
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“I doubt that we know enough about evaluating the quality of medical and legal services to know which claims of superiority are 'misleading’ and which are justifiable. Nor am I sure that even advertising the price of certain professional services is not inherently misleading, since what the professional must do will vary greatly in individual cases. It is important to note that the Court wisely leaves these issues to another day.” Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., at 774, 96 S.Ct. at 1832.
New members of the Bar, much less the public at large, would similarly define or explain what services were included in handling a “simple” or “uncontested” divorce. Moreover, I am able to foresee instances in which the $175.00 fee quoted for this service would be unreasonably high. Is it deceptive to advertise legal services in connection with an uncontested adoption proceeding when by statute the county attorney, upon application, is required to perform similar services without expense to the petitioner ? A.R.S. § 8-127.
These and other difficulties demonstrate some of the substantial policy considerations which justify restrictions on advertising by *402attorneys. Whether a blanket ban on certain forms of advertising is unconstitutional as violative of the First Amendment is a far weightier question which I am not yet prepared to resolve in the negative. I am concerned, however, that to impulsively discard the regulations leaving few if any guidelines in their wake, might well initiate a flood of media combat for legal business which would serve neither the best interests of the public nor the Bar.