Opinion 198

18 Baylor L. Rev. 288 (1966)

SOLICITATION - SELF-LAUDATION - STATIONERY
An attorney may not indicate on his stationery that he is a member of the American, state, and local bar associations.

Canon 24.

Such would be a violation and not proper.

Texas Canon 24 lists some forms of solicitation, and says, "Indirect advertisements for professional employment such as furnishing or inspiring newspaper comments about causes in which the member is engaged or the importance of the member's position, and all other like self- laudation should be avoided."

Compare Texas Opinion 31, saying that names of deceased relatives may not be carried on the letterhead. See also Opinion 122. Drinker, Legal Ethics (1953), 229, says that the letterhead "may not contain a statement that . . . he is a member of the American Bar Association or other bar association," citing some New York committee opinions for those views.

Since the statement in question is not for the benefit of a client (such as a statement of address, office hours, telephone, etc.), it seems to be as much a self-laudatory statement as a statement that the lawyer is an M.D., Mayor, former district attorney, etc., all of which statements have been disapproved. (7-0.)