Florida Bar v. Went for It, Inc., and John T. Blakely (515 U.S. 618)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 21, 1995 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 515 U.S. 618 · 115 S. Ct. 2371
- Decided
- June 21, 1995
- Term
- October Term 1994
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice O'Connor
- Issue area
- Attorneys
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. Rules of the Florida Bar prohibit personal injury lawyers from sending targeted direct-mail solicitations to victims and their relatives for 30 days following an accident or disaster. This case asks us to consider whether such Rules violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. We hold that in the circumstances presented here, they do not. I In 1989, the Florida Bar (Bar) completed a 2-year study of the effects of lawyer advertising on public opinion. After conducting hearings, commissioning surveys, and reviewing extensive public commentary, the Bar determined that several changes to its advertising rules were in order. In late 1990, the Florida Supreme Court adopted the Bar’s proposed amendments with some modifications. The Florida Bar: Petition to Amend the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar— Advertising Issues, 571 So. 2d 451 (Fla. 1990). Two of these amendments are at issue in this case. Rule 4-7.4(b)(l) provides that “[a] lawyer shall not send, or knowingly permit to be sent,... a written communication to a prospective client for the purpose of obtaining professional employment if: (A) the written communication concerns an action for personal injury or wrongful death or otherwise relates to an accident or disaster involving the person to whom the communication is addressed or a relative of that…
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