SPORTY LAWYER ADS

German lawyers have a constitutionally protected right to engage in "image advertising," according to a case that the Bundesverfassungsgericht announced today. You can read the opinion here. The case concerned a sport lawyer who advertised her own professional gymnastic accomplishments with the GDR. She was taken to court by a rival over misleading pricing information in an advertising brochure. The court notes that regulation of lawyer advertising serves the purpose of maintaining public trust in lawyers and that this particular part of the advertising posed no threat to public confidence. In fact, people looking for sport lawyers might be interested in how sporty the lawyer is herself. The court overturned part of a lower court ruling that ordered the lawyer to refrain from advertising her professional athletic accomplishments, but left the rest of the ruling stand (forbidding the misleading price listing).