Iowa R. Prof'l Conduct 32:7.3

(a) “Solicitation” or “solicit” denotes a communication initiated by or on behalf of a lawyer

or law firm that is directed to a specific person the lawyer knows or reasonably should know

needs legal services in a particular matter and that offers to provide, or reasonably can be

understood as offering to provide, legal services for that matter.

(b) A lawyer shall not solicit professional employment by live person-to-person contact

when a significant motive for the lawyer’s doing so is the lawyer’s or law firm’s pecuniary gain,

unless the contact is with a:

(1) lawyer;

(2) person who has a family, close personal, or prior business or professional relationship

with the lawyer or law firm; or

(3) person who routinely uses for business purposes the type of legal services offered by the

lawyer.

(c) A lawyer shall not solicit professional employment even when not otherwise prohibited

by paragraph (b), if:

(1) the target of the solicitation has made known to the lawyer a desire not to be solicited by

the lawyer; or

(2) the solicitation involves coercion, duress, or harassment.

(d) This rule does not prohibit communications authorized by law or ordered by a court or

other tribunal.

(e) Notwithstanding the prohibitions in this rule, a lawyer may participate with a prepaid or

group legal service plan operated by an organization not owned or directed by the lawyer that

uses live person-to-person contact to enroll members or sell subscriptions for the plan from

persons who are not known to need legal services in a particular matter covered by the plan.

Comment

[1] Paragraph (b) prohibits a lawyer from soliciting professional employment by live

person-to-person contact when a significant motive for the lawyer’s doing so is the lawyer’s or

the law firm’s pecuniary gain. A lawyer’s communication is not a solicitation if it is directed to

the general public, such as through a billboard, an Internet banner advertisement, a website or a

television commercial, or if it is in response to a request for information or is automatically generated

in response to electronic searches.

[2] “Live person-to-person contact” means in-person, face-to-face, live telephone, and other

real-time visual or auditory person-to-person communications, where the person is subject to a direct

personal encounter without time for reflection. Such person-to-person contact does not include

chats, text messages, email, personal messages within social media platforms, or other written

communications that recipients may easily disregard. A potential for overreaching exists when a

lawyer, seeking pecuniary gain, solicits a person known to be in need of legal services. This form of

contact subjects a person to the private importuning of the trained advocate in a direct interpersonal

encounter. The person, who may already feel overwhelmed by the circumstances giving rise to the

need for legal services, may find it difficult to fully evaluate all available alternatives with reasoned

judgment and appropriate self-interest in the face of the lawyer’s presence and insistence upon an

immediate response. The situation is fraught with the possibility of undue influence, intimidation,

and overreaching.

[3] The potential for overreaching inherent in live person-to-person contact justifies its

prohibition, since lawyers have alternative means of conveying necessary information. In particular,

communications can be mailed or transmitted by email or other electronic means that do not violate

other laws. These forms of communications make it possible for the public to be informed about

the need for legal services, and about the qualifications of available lawyers and law firms, without

subjecting the public to live person-to-person persuasion that may overwhelm a person’s judgment.

[4] The contents of live person-to-person contact can be disputed and may not be subject to

third-party scrutiny. Consequently, they are much more likely to approach (and occasionally cross)

the dividing line between accurate representations and those that are false and misleading.

[5] There is far less likelihood that a lawyer would engage in overreaching against a former client,

or a person with whom the lawyer has close personal, family, business, or professional relationship,

or in situations in which the lawyer is motivated by considerations other than the lawyer’s pecuniary

gain. Nor is there a serious potential for overreaching when the person contacted is a lawyer or is

known to routinely use the type of legal services involved for business purposes. Examples include

persons who routinely hire outside counsel to represent the entity; entrepreneurs who regularly

engage business, employment law, or intellectual property lawyers; small business proprietors who

routinely hire lawyers for lease or contract issues; and other people who routinely retain lawyers

for business transactions or formations. Paragraph (b) is not intended to prohibit a lawyer from

participating in constitutionally protected activities of public or charitable legal service organizations

or bona fide political, social, civic, fraternal, employee, or trade organizations whose purposes

include providing or recommending legal services to their members or beneficiaries.

[6] Any solicitation that contains false or misleading information within the meaning of rule

32:7.1, that involves coercion, duress, or harassment within the meaning of rule 32:7.3(c)(2), or that

involves contact with someone who has made known to the lawyer a desire not to be solicited by

the lawyer within the meaning of rule 32:7.3(c)(l) is prohibited. Live person-to-person contact of

individuals who may be especially vulnerable to coercion or duress is ordinarily not appropriate, for

example, the elderly, those whose first language is not English, or the disabled.

[7] This rule does not prohibit a lawyer from contacting representatives of organizations or groups

that may be interested in establishing a group or prepaid legal plan for their members, insureds,

beneficiaries, or other third parties for the purpose of informing such entities of the availability of

and details concerning the plan or arrangement, which the lawyer or lawyer’s firm is willing to offer.

This form of communication is not directed to people who are seeking legal services for themselves.

Rather, it is usually addressed to an individual acting in a fiduciary capacity seeking a supplier

of legal services for others who may, if they choose, become prospective clients of the lawyer.

Under these circumstances, the activity which the lawyer undertakes in communicating with such

representatives and the type of information transmitted to the individual are functionally similar to

and serve the same purpose as advertising permitted under rule 32:7.2.

[8] Communications authorized by law or ordered by a court or tribunal include a notice to

potential members of a class in class action litigation.

[9] Paragraph (e) of this rule permits a lawyer to participate with an organization which uses

personal contact to enroll members for its group or prepaid legal service plan, provided that the

personal contact is not undertaken by any lawyer who would be a provider of legal services through

the plan. The organization must not be owned by or directed (whether as manager or otherwise)

by any lawyer or law firm that participates in the plan. For example, paragraph (e) would not

permit a lawyer to create an organization controlled directly or indirectly by the lawyer and use

the organization for the person-to-person solicitation of legal employment of the lawyer through

memberships in the plan or otherwise. The communication permitted by these organizations

must not be directed to a person known to need legal services in a particular matter, but must be

designed to inform potential plan members generally of another means of affordable legal services.

Lawyers who participate in a legal service plan must reasonably ensure that the plan sponsors are in

compliance with rules 32:7.1, 32:7.2, and 32:7.3(c).