Liverpool Law Society (LLS) has received a record response to a poll seeking members' views on whether solicitors should be prevented from advertising, it revealed this week - and will lobby the national body if members come out in favour of a ban.

Several hundred solicitors have responded to the questionnaire - already the biggest response to any LLS poll - which asks them to vote on either a complete or partial ban on advertising, with options for a ban in medical establishments, the Yellow Pages, the Internet, leaflets and mailshots, and on TV and radio.


The LSS will not collate responses until October and has emphasised that its own position is neutral until it receives members' views. If the poll supports a ban, it will ask other local law societies to join it in pressing the Law Society to lobby the government for a ban on advertising by solicitors and other providers of legal services. Advertising by solicitors was banned until 1987.



Norman Jones, chairman of the LLS civil litigation committee, said: 'Liverpool has been seeing the worst side of advertising, which I personally find distasteful.


'Our professional reputation is being eroded all the time, with adverts on the sides of taxis and in waiting rooms, and television ads featuring children saying that their solicitor got them compensation. They saw the danger in Ireland and have banned advertising there.'


LLS president James Benson said: 'It is important to gauge the views of our members on whether they think we have gone too far towards the boundaries. Liverpool is a much-maligned city and we could have done without [the publicity generated by] referral fees being paid to GPs.'



Last week, Paul Higgins, principal of Birkenhead firm Higgins & Co, defended the newly permitted practice of offering payments to GPs who send patients on to him - a move that sparked condemnation from several medical professional bodies (see [2004] Gazette, 2 September, 5).



Andrew Twambley, a partner in Manchester firm Amelans and a founder of law firm marketing network Injury Lawyers 4U, said: 'If you can't advertise, where will the business come from? A vote for a ban on advertising would take the profession back 15 years.'


An Association of Personal Injury Lawyers spokeswoman said that while the association recognised the need for personal injury lawyers to advertise, advertisements should not be false or misleading and potential clients should not be contacted directly.


Ken Murphy, director-general of the Law Society of Ireland, where severe restrictions were placed on advertising for personal injury work in 2002, said it had received overwhelming support for the ban from the profession, the public, and the media.



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