Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry is calling on lawmakers to put restrictions on personal injury lawyer advertisement. One bill that has been filed for the 2025 legislative session would do that.
House Bill 430 would prohibit lawyers from using slogans, jingles, or mottos in their ads and place other restrictions on the state's attorneys. However, one legal analyst says this law likely wouldn't stand up in court.
"There are two problems with what the governor wants to do," Loyola University law professor Dane Ciolino said.
The first problem, according to Ciolino, is that the Louisiana Supreme Court--not the legislature or the governor--is responsible for regulating the conduct of the state's lawyers.
"Louisiana already has some of the most restrictive and onerous regulations in its Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct governing lawyers," Ciolino said.
Secondly, Ciolino says the United States Supreme Court has affirmed attorneys' rights to advertise.
"More problematic for the governor is that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution gives lawyers the right to engage in non-misleading commercial speech," Ciolino said.
The United States Supreme Court has upheld attorneys' right to advertise in court cases dating back to the 1970s. Federal courts have also struck down some of Louisiana's attorney burdensome regulations as unconstitutional.
"The efforts of the Louisiana Supreme Court in the past to be even more restrictive than most states have resulted in federal suits that have invalidated Louisiana Supreme Court regulations," Ciolino said.