Rule 7.3 - Direct Contact With Prospective Clients(a) A lawyer shall not initiate, by in-person, live voice, recorded or other real-time means, contact with a prospective client for the purpose of obtaining professional employment, unless the person contacted:(2) has a family, close personal, or prior professional relationship with the lawyer;(3) is an employee, agent, or representative of a business, non-profit or governmental organization not known to be in need of legal services in a particular matter, and the lawyer seeks to provide services on behalf of the organization; or(4) is an individual who regularly requires legal services in a commercial context and is not known to be in need of legal services in a particular matter.(b) A lawyer shall not communicate or knowingly permit any communication to a prospective client for the purpose of obtaining professional employment if:(1) the prospective client has made known to the lawyer a desire not to receive communications from the lawyer;(2) the communication involves coercion, duress or harassment; or(3) the lawyer knows or reasonably should know that the physical, mental, or emotional state of the prospective client is such that there is a substantial potential that the person cannot exercise reasonable judgment in employing a lawyer.(c) Every written, recorded or electronic communication from a lawyer soliciting professional employment from a prospective client known to be in need of legal services in a particular matter shall include the word "Advertising" on the outside envelope, if any, and at the beginning and ending of any recorded or electronic communication, unless the recipient of the communication is a person specified in subsection (a).(d) The following types of direct contact with prospective clients shall be exempt from subsection (a): (i) participation in a prepaid or group legal service plan operated by an organization not owned or directed by the lawyer that uses in-person, live voice or other real-time contact to solicit memberships or subscriptions for the plan from persons who are not known to need legal services in a particular matter covered by the plan.(ii) initiation of contact for legal services by a non-profit organization.(iii) contact of those the lawyer is permitted under applicable law to seek to join in litigation in the nature of a class action, if success in asserting rights or defenses of the litigation is dependent upon the joinder of others; and(iv) requests by a lawyer or the lawyer's firm for referrals from a lawyer referral service operated, sponsored or approved by a bar association, or cooperation with any other qualified legal assistance organization. Ethics Committee Comment
New Hampshire Rule 7.3 differs from the Model Rule primarily in that:
1. It broadens the scope of potentially regulated contact to include initiation of any contact with a prospective client for the purpose of obtaining professional employment. The occurrence of actual "solicitation" raises evidentiary issues that are not necessary to reach.2. It reinstates recorded contact as a regulated conduct, recognizing the growth of interactive recording technologies that may cause the prospective client to feel immediate pressure to respond.3. It allows that motivators other than pecuniary gain may account for abusive conduct.4. It assumes that entities, or individuals in a commercial context, will generally hold a more favorable balance of sophistication and leverage relative to the lawyer than will individuals acting outside of a commercial context, and so will generally need less protection against the "private importuning of the trained advocate." However, that balance is assumed to be negated for entities or individuals in a commercial context if they are known to be in need of legal services in a particular matter. This negation is intended to prohibit such activities as trolling through lists of new lawsuits and contacting defendants to solicit representation in the lawsuit.5. Initiation of contact on behalf of class action and non-profit groups enjoy limited exemptions recognizing that such contact may be constitutionally protected.6. Participation in a qualified legal services referral program is exempted. ABA Comment to the Model Rules
RULE 7.3 DIRECT CONTACT WITH PROSPECTIVE CLIENTS
[1] A solicitation is a targeted communication initiated by the lawyer that is directed to a specific person and that offers to provide, or can reasonably be understood as offering to provide, legal services. In contrast, a lawyer's communication typically does not constitute a solicitation if it is directed to the general public, such as through a bill board, 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 internet searches.][2] There is a potential for abuse when a solicitation involves direct in-person, live telephone or real-time electronic contact by a lawyer with someone known to need legal services. These forms of contact subject 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 fully to evaluate all available alternatives with reasoned judgment and appropriate self-interest in the face of the lawyer's presence and insistence upon being retained immediately. The situation is fraught with the possibility of undue influence, intimidation, and over-reaching.[3] This potential for abuse inherent in direct in-person, live telephone or real-time electronic solicitation justifies its prohibition, particularly since lawyers have alternative means of conveying necessary information to those who may be in need of legal services. In particular, communications can be mailed or autodialed or transmitted by email or other electronic means that do not involve real-time contact and do not violate other laws governing solicitations. These forms of communications and solicitations 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 direct in-person, telephone or real-time electronic persuasion that may overwhelm a person's judgment.[4] The use of general advertising and written, recorded or electronic communications to transmit information from lawyer to the public, rather than direct in-person, live telephone or real-time electronic contact, will help to assure that the information flows cleanly as well as freely. The contents of advertisements and communications permitted under Rule 7.2 can be permanently recorded so that they cannot be disputed and may be shared with others who know the lawyer. This potential for informal review is itself likely to help guard against statements and claims that might constitute false and misleading communications, in violation of Rule 7.1. The contents of direct in-person, live telephone or real-time electronic 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 abusive practices against a former client, or a person with whom the lawyer has close personal or family 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 abuse when the person contacted is a lawyer. Consequently, the general prohibition in Rule 7.3(a) and the requirements of Rule 7.3(c) are not applicable in those situations. Also, paragraph (a) 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] But even permitted forms of solicitation can be abused. Thus, any solicitation which contains information which is false or misleading within the meaning of Rule 7.1, which involves coercion, duress or harassment within the meaning of Rule 7.3(b)(2), or which 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 7.3(b)(1) is prohibited. Moreover, if after sending a letter or other communication as permitted by Rule 7.2 the lawyer receives no response, any further effort to communicate with the recipient of the communication may violate the provisions of Rule 7.3(b).[7] This Rule is not intended to 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 7.2.[8] The requirement in Rule 7.3(c) that certain communications be marked "Advertising Material" does not apply to communications sent in response to requests of potential clients or their spokespersons or sponsors. General announcements by lawyers, including changes in personnel or office location, do not constitute communications soliciting professional employment from a client known to be in need of legal services within the meaning of this Rule.[9] Paragraph (d) of this Rule permits a lawyer to participate with an organization which uses personal contact to solicit 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 (d) would not permit a lawyer to create an organization controlled directly or indirectly by the lawyer and use the organization for the in-person or telephone solicitation of legal employment of the lawyer through memberships in the plan or otherwise. The communication permitted by these organizations also must not be directed to a person known to need legal services in a particular matter, but is to 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 assure that the plan sponsors are in compliance with Rules 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3(b). See 8.4(a).N.H. R. Prof'l. Cond. 7.3
Amended Nov.10, 2015., eff. 1/1/2016.