Extract for publishing websites.
Approved by the National Forensic Council at the sitting of 17.04.1997.
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ARTICLE 17. – INFORMATION ON PROFESSIONAL EXERCISE.
It is allowed the lawyer to give information about his / her professional activity, according to correctness and truth, respecting the dignity and decorum of the profession and the obligations of secrecy and confidentiality. The information is provided with the following provisions.
I – As regards the means of information:
A) They must be considered as ordinary means (letter cards, business cards, plaques); informative brochures (brochures, circulars) also sent by post to certain subjects (it is possible to propose questionnaires or allow prepayments); professional directories, headings, legal journals, directories, and bulletins with legal information (eg by updating laws and jurisprudence); relations with the press (in accordance with Article 18 of the Forensic Code of law); websites and Internet networks, provided that they belong to the lawyer or law firm or lawyers’ law firms, within the limits of the information, and upon notification to the Board of the Order. With reference to existing sites, the lawyer is required to report to the Board of Directors within 120 days.
B) The following shall be prohibited: – television and radio equipment (television and radio); newspapers (newspapers and periodicals) and advertisements in general; abnormal and objectionable means of disclosure (distribution of brochures or letter cards or leaflets to collectives or indeterminate subjects, in mailboxes or through public storage or distribution at premises, or under the car’s windshield, or in hospitals , in prisons and the like, through billboards, testimonials, and so on); sponsorships; phone calls and home visits not specifically requested; the use of the Internet for free services and consultations, on its own or on third-party sites.
C) They must be considered as permitted if they have been approved by the Board of Directors (in relation to the manner and the intended purpose): seminars and conferences organized directly by professional studies.
II – As regards the content of the information:
A) The following information is permitted and may include: personal information (names, addresses, including web, phone and fax numbers and e-mail addresses, birth data and professional training, photographs, known languages, articles and books published, didactic activities, honors, and anything else related to the person, limited to what concerns the professional activity exercised); the information of the study (composition, name of founders who have died, prevalent activities carried out, number of employees, secondary offices, opening hours); the indication of a logo; the quality certification (the lawyer who wishes to mention a quality certification must submit to the Board of Directors the certificate of validity and the complete endorsement of the certifier and the scope of the certification officially recognized by the State).
B) It is also possible to use the Internet network and the web site for the provision of consultancy, while respecting the following obligations: identification of the personal data, VAT and the Council of the Order of Membership; an expressly stated commitment to respecting the code of ethics, with the reproduction of the text, or by specifying the means or means to enable it to be obtained or consulted; indication of the responsible person; specification of the details of any insurance policy, with coverage also referring to on-line services and the indication of the ceilings; indication of the applicable professional rates for the determination of fees.
C) The following shall be prohibited: data relating to third parties; the names of customers (the prohibition must also be considered with the consent of the customers); the specializations (subject to the specific hypotheses provided by the law); the prices of individual services (it is forbidden to publish the announcement that the first consultation is free); percentages of winning causes or exaltation of merit; individual turnover or study: the promises of recovery; the supply of services in any case (in accordance with Article 19 of the Code of Conduct).
III – It is permissible to indicate the name of a deceased attorney, who has been a member of the study, provided that the professional has expressly provided or has disposed of it for such will, or there is the unanimous consensus of his heirs.
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