Court Opinion

ID: 9623720
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:41:42.258336+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:52:58.057621
License: Public Domain

Dore, J.
(concurring) — I concur in much of the reasoning and the result of the majority's opinion. Applying the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) to the business aspect of the practice of law will complement the sanctions provided by the Professional Code of Ethics. The Washington State Bar Association (Bar), through the Code of Professional Responsibility, has done an effective job in regulating the legal profession. Only last year, an entirely new set of rules for lawyer discipline went into effect. One such rule allows the Bar to order restitution in favor of clients harmed by a lawyer's misconduct. In addition, the Bar has streamlined its disciplinary review procedures. The full disciplinary board no longer needs to review each complaint; instead, there are now four subcommittees that have authority to act on individual complaints. These new rules and procedures have allowed the Bar to provide more efficient supervision of the profession. See Farrell, The Washington Lawyer Discipline System: A Statistical View: 1981-1984, 38 Wash. State Bar News No. 10, at 19 (Oct. 1984). By applying the CPA to the business aspect of the practice of *67law, we can provide one more enforcement device for the consumer without questioning judgment decisions made by the attorney.
There is at least one circumstance, however, where the CPA should not be limited solely to the business practice of lawyers. That circumstance exists when lawyers engage in deceptive advertising. I have recently reviewed the various advertisements of law firms advertising in the Seattle-King County telephone directory. All attorney advertisements I observed appeared proper and professional. All such lawyers, of course, are members of the Washington State Bar Association and residents of our state. However, I am somewhat concerned with national law firms that are now rising in our cities and towns. The spokesman for one such firm alluded to the success of their methods by saying that in a period of less than 10 years they have set up 243 fully functioning legal clinics, located in most of the states in the United States. The success of their operation is effectuated by a massive media campaign including newspaper advertisements, television and radio, and by offering reduced or discount fees. Undoubtedly, this will be the forerunner of many other national firms that shortly will probably arrive in our state.
These firms may be beneficial for residents, in that they provide some legal services at relatively low cost. However, they also have the potential for deceiving the general public through their advertisements. Advertising poses a special problem. On the one hand, it can provide information so consumers can make an informed choice in selecting an attorney. On the other, it has the potential for deceiving a large number of people and resultant damage. To insure that consumers can rely on all attorney advertising, an effective penalty should be imposed for deceptive advertising which causes damage. I believe that damage to a client resulting from deceptive advertising should be compensable through the CPA. An example: A lawyer advertises that he charges an hourly fee of $20 an hour. However, such a fee is only for the initial consultation and the lawyer charges $80 *68an hour thereafter but he fails to mention this in his advertisements. Another example would be if the deceptive-advertising lawyer, through his negligence, mishandles the client's case in such a way as to cause the client a loss. Normally the latter loss would not fall within the purview of the CPA since it goes to the competence of an attorney. In this example, however, it should be subject to the CPA since the loss was a direct result of the initial advertising deception. This position is fair, in that the client would not have suffered the loss but for the deceptive advertisement.
The majority opinion is an innovative solution to the problem of how the CPA should be applied to the practice of law. Since it is novel, we should proceed cautiously in applying it to different factual situations. The reason for my concurrence is to provide guidance regarding the extent to which the CPA may be applied to deceptive advertising. This position is compatible with the majority's opinion, as the majority itself states that "we do not decide in this case whether the CPA applies to every aspect of the practice of law in this state as to the performance of legal services." Majority opinion, at 66. By allowing a client to recover damages caused by deceptive advertising, the public will be assured that it can rely on the representations made in attorney advertisements.