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ETHICS OPINION 203-1922
ETHICS OPINION 203
NUMBER 203 1922
Question. In the opinion of the Committee is it professionally improper for a lawyer to accept employment from a daily newspaper to conduct a column headed as follows: “Answers to Law Questions by ——— [naming him], Attorney at Law,” in which he shall answer inquiries upon law directed to him through the newspaper, such questions relating; to general information respecting the state of the law upon specific subjects; specific information respecting the legal rights of inquirers under given circumstances; with or without remuneration from the newspaper.
Answer. In the opinion of the Committee the course suggested is objectionable, because it regards it as improper advertising of the attorney (See Canons of Ethics, American Bar Association No. 27), and it considers that the answering of questions respecting the legal rights of the inquirers to whom the attorney does not sustain a professional relation is not to be approved, because it tends to diminish the sense of personal responsibility of the attorney to the person so inquiring, and it introduces an intermediary who furnishes the professional service.
The Committee abstains in this answer from expressing any opinion upon the propriety of the conduct if it were confined to the first part of the question.