Florida Rule 4-7.18 for Legal Practice [View all]

[jberryhill]

Florida has an interestingly detailed rule on the subject of lawyers attempting to contact prospective clients:

Rule 4-7.18, in general, addresses the subject of "Communications With Prospective Clients"

(b) Written Communication.

(1) A lawyer may not send, or knowingly permit to be sent, on the lawyer's behalf or on behalf of the lawyer's firm or partner, an associate, or any other lawyer affiliated with the lawyer or the lawyer's firm, a written communication directly or indirectly 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 person, unless the accident or disaster occurred more than 30 days prior to the mailing of the communication;

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What this means is that if something happens to you while you are at, say, a resort in Florida and some kind of misfortune befalls you, then the resort can, while attending to your needs as you stay at the resort and all of your communications with resort staff are recorded, have THEIR lawyers meet with you and communicate with you for a full month before any other Florida lawyer may attempt to contact you. Of course, if you are vacationing there, your odds of knowing a Florida lawyer whom you might contact, are approximately zero.