Alexander v. Cahill
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
598 F.3d 79 (2010)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
The disciplinary committees of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court (committees) (defendants) adopted new rules regarding attorney advertising. These new rules prohibited client testimonials from a pending matter; portrayal of a judge; advertising techniques designed to attract attention, but irrelevant to attorney competence; nicknames and mottos that implied the ability to achieve desired outcomes; inclusion of a fictitious law firm; and certain targeted communications within 30 days following an event. James Alexander and his law firm (plaintiffs) challenged the rules, asserting that the rules violated the First Amendment. Both parties moved for summary judgment. The district court granted Alexander summary judgment on most of the content-based restrictions, and the district court granted the committees summary judgment on the 30-day moratorium. Both parties appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Calabresi, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 805,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.