A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE LEGAL REGIME ON ADVERTISING FOR LAWYERS IN UGANDA

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THE ADVOCATES (PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT) REGULATIONS
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF LEGAL ADVERTISING AND REGULATIONS OF
LAWYERS/ADVOCATES IN UGANDA
BY
BARIGYE RIDDICK
AS14B11/148
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF LAW IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD
OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF LAWS OF
UGANDA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
MAY, 2018

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DECLARATION
I, Barigye Riddick, AS14B11/148, do declare that this dissertation is a presentation of my
original research work. Wherever contributions of others are involved, every effort is made
to indicate this clearly with due reference to the literature and appropriate citations.
Signature: ___________________________________
Date: __________________________________
Name: Barigye Riddick.
Capacity: Student.
In my capacity as supervisor of the candidate’s thesis, I certify that the above statements
are true to the best of my knowledge and this paper is thus submitted with my consent.
Signature: _________________________________
Date: _________________________________
Name:
Capacity: Supervisor.

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ABSTRACT
Legal Advertising is prohibited in Uganda under the Advocates Act which protects the most
important ethical interests of Advocates’ and their clients.
The aim of this paper was to analyze the current position of legal advertising in the
Republic of Uganda and to assess whether the existing mechanisms are sufficient. (The
alternatives to advertising) This was accomplished by illustrating the urgency for
advertising. Chapter one provided general background to the study, chapter focused on
non-legal issues relating to advertising and chapter three looked at international laws
analysis, regional and domestic legislation even relating to freedom of expression.
In the final chapter the author discussed his view of the future benefits of advertising based
on recent trends in the advertising industry from other jurisdictions. This is followed by
the final cogitations on whether the existing law(s) is sufficient and whether any changes
need to be implemented.

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DEDICATION
I dedicate this dissertation to my parents MRS. KELLEN KAREMERA AND MR. JACKSON
KAREMERA for their love, care and financial support offered to me throughout my time in
law school.
My success is because of your total support. May God bless you abundantly!

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
‘Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss
the future’.
― John F. Kennedy.
Prima facea, I am grateful to the God for the good health and wellbeing that were necessary
to complete this book.
I am grateful to Mr. , lecturer in the department of Law. I am extremely thankful and
indebted to him for sharing expertise, and sincere and valuable guidance and
encouragement extended to me.
I place on record, my sincere thank you to Dr. Anthony C. K. Kakooza, Dean of the Faculty,
for the continuous encouragement.
I take this opportunity to express gratitude to all of the Department faculty members for
their help and support. I also thank my parents for the unceasing encouragement, support
and attention.
I also place on record, my sense of gratitude to one and all, who directly or indirectly, have
lent their hand in this venture.
Riddick

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS/ACRONYMS
CCBE ---- Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe
EU---European Union
HCB---High Court Bulletin
ICCPR----- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
IFLR----- International Financial Law Review
IT--- Information Technology
JSC----- Justice Supreme Court
KCC---- Kampala City Council
LDC--- Law Development Centre
LDC-------- Less Developed Countries
POMA--- Public Order Management Act
UCU--- Uganda Christian University
ULII—Uganda Legal Information Institute
ULRC--- Uganda Law Reform Commission
URL-----Uniform Resource Locator

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TABLE OF CONTENT
DECLARATION............................................................................................................................................................................i
ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................................................................. ii
DEDICATION.............................................................................................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENT............................................................................................................................................................. vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT......................................................................................................................................................... iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS/ACRONYMS...........................................................................................................................v
CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL BACKGROUND......................................................................................................1
1.0 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background......................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem............................................................................................................................................. 3
1.3 Objectives of the Study................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.3.1 General Objective.......................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.3.2 Specific Objectives........................................................................................................................................................ 4
1.4 Research Questions......................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.5 Research Significance..................................................................................................................................................... 5
1.6 Scope of the Study............................................................................................................................................................ 5
1.6.1 Time-based Scope ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
1.6.2 Geographical Scope...................................................................................................................................................... 6
1.6.3 Subject/Thematic Scope............................................................................................................................................ 6
1.7 Literature Review ............................................................................................................................................................ 6
1.7.1 Rationale for barring lawyers/advocates from advertising their legal services ............................... 8
1.7.2 Challenges/limitations to legal advertising.....................................................................................................11
1.7.3 Effects of advertising to lawyer efficiency and legal services..................................................................15
1.8 Research Methodology.................................................................................................................................................18
1.8.1 Research Design and Tools for conducting the study .................................................................................18

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1.8.2 Data analysis and Presentation ............................................................................................................................19
1.8.3 Limitations to the study...........................................................................................................................................19
1.9 Synopsis .............................................................................................................................................................................19
CHAPTER TWO: NON-LEGAL ASPECTS OF ADVERTISEMENTS ........................................................... 21
2.0 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................................21
2.1 Purpose of advertisements in organizations......................................................................................................21
2.2 Challenges to advertisements in organizations.................................................................................................24
2.3 Effect of advertisements on organizational productivity..............................................................................26
2.4 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................................................29
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, REGIONAL AND DOMESTIC ASPECTS
RELATING TO LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS................................................................................................... 30
3.0 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................................30
3.1 Analysis of International law on legal/lawyers advertising in developed countries ........................31
3.2 Regional laws on legal/lawyer advertising in LDCs ........................................................................................36
3.3 Domestic laws on legal/lawyer advertising in Uganda..................................................................................40
3.3.1 Legal restrictions to the freedom of expression in Uganda and ICCPR................................................44
3.4 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................................................46
CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.............. 47
4.0 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................................47
4.1 Summary of Findings....................................................................................................................................................47
4.2 Conclusions.......................................................................................................................................................................48
4.3 Recommendations.........................................................................................................................................................49
BOOKS AND REFERENCES................................................................................................................................ 51
APPENDIX: I QUESTIONNAIRE FOR RESPONDENTS.............................................................................................56

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CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL BACKGROUND
1.0 Introduction
This research looks at the Analysis of the Legal Advertising and Regulations of
Lawyers/Advocates in Uganda in the selected firms in Kampala. The chapter begins with
background to the study, followed by statement of research problem, research objectives
and questions. It also presented the significance of the research, scope, time and
geographical scope of the study, subject scope, literature review, methodology and
synopsis of chapter arrangements.
1.1Background
The origin of the legal profession can be traced back to medieval England.1 But, the
development of the attitude regarding the inappropriateness of overt pursuit of clients has
its origin in ancient Greek and Roman law.2 In ancient Greece, a legal controversy was
believed to concern only the judge and the persons actually involved in the underlying
transaction.3 Members of this society felt that outside interference in the legal process was
inappropriate, although it was understood that friends and relatives could accompany a
litigant to trial and render assistance. As time passed, a litigant who was escorted to court
surrounded by supporters was perceived to be a person of power and dignity, and a person
not so supported was pitied.4 However, legal profession is guided by ethics and code of
conduct in which lawyers and advocates are compelled to conduct legally and
professionally. Legal advertising in some countries is allowed yet in other states not. The
rules relating to legal advertising can be traced back to the 1800’s in England. The
“esquires” of that day saw themselves as part of a public calling, rather than members of a
crassly commercial profession. And despite the aggressively mercantile nature of the new
world, this attitude informed regulations of the American bar well into the twentieth
century. Until the late 1970’s, most states prohibited lawyers from advertising. This wasn’t
simply out of tradition or a gentleman’s agreement not to seek publicity; the rules of
1 Roscoe Pound, The Lawyer from Antiqury To Modern Times 78 (1953).
2 See Generally Fredrick W. Marrland Er Al., A Sketch of English Legal History 37-42 (1978).
3 See Max Radin, Maintenance by Champerty, 24 Cal. L. Rev. 48 (1935).
4 Ibid. at 49.

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professional conduct out-and-out barred attorneys from engaging in virtually any form of
commercial publicity.
In the United States, lawyer advertising is legal, although subject to ethical rules
promulgated by state bar associations.5 This however relates to many cases of legal
advertisements in the U.S including the current years.6 Commonly encountered forms of
lawyer advertising include television and radio commercial print advertisements,7
billboards, direct mail marketing,8 law firm websites, and participation in telephone
directories,9 commercial directories and referral services and through online advertising
and social media10.
For instance, the first major case law decision on legal advertising is the Supreme Court
ruling in Bates v. Arizona State Bar 433 U.S. 350 (1977), in which the United States
Supreme Court held that lawyer advertising is partially protected by the First
Amendment.11 The Supreme Court rejected the argument by the Arizona Bar that attorney
advertising was “inherently misleading” and “tarnish the dignified public image of the
profession.” The Court found “the postulated connection between advertising and the
erosion of true professionalism to be severely strained,” and noted that “lack of legal
advertising could be viewed as the profession’s failure to ‘reach out and serve the
community.”12 However, in some countries like India, the denial of this right has been due
to the strictness of the profession. For instance, in the Indian case of R.N. Sharma Advocate
V State of Haryana (2003) the High court judge said the following in prohibiting
advertisement of legal services “An advocate is an officer of the court and legal profession is
not a trade or business, rather it is a noble profession and advocates have to strive to secure
5
Lawyer Advertising at the Crossroads. American Bar Association. 1995.
6 “Cases on Lawyer Advertising”. American Bar Association. Accessed 3rd Jan. 2018.
7 Simon, Roy (February 2007). “Thumbnail Guide to Amended Advertising Rules”. New York Legal Ethics Reporter. Accessed
3rd Jan. 2018.
8 Spahn, Thomas E. (2016). “Lawyer Marketing: An Ethics Guide”. McGuire Woods LLP. Accessed 3rd Jan. 2018
9 Larson, Aaron (21 January 2015). “Should Lawyers Still Advertise in the Yellow Pages” . Expert Law. Accessed 3rd Jan. 2018.
10 Filisko, G.M. (3 March 2013). “The Ethics of Online Advertising” . ABA for Law Students. American Bar Association. Accessed
3rd Jan. 2018.
11 Bates v. State Bar of Ariz., 433 U.S. 350, 363-64 (1977) accessed at
.https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0433_0350_ZS.html
(last visited on 4th Jan 2018)
12 Haywood, Amy, “Navigating a sea of uncertainty: How existing ethical guidelines pertain to the marketing of legal
services over the Internet” The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics (July 2001) accessed at
http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/geojlege14&div=49&id=&page=
(visited on 12th Jan 2018)

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justice for their clients within legally permissible limits”. Some of the arguments are that;
advertising would raise the legal fees which as of now are not affordable to many.
In Ugandan legal profession, lawyers have been denied these benefits as advocates/law
firms cannot advertise their services. The Advocate Act, Cap. 267, prohibits advocates from
advertising their professional services. Regulation 25 of The Advocates (Professional
Conduct) Regulations clearly states that an advocate is not to advertise his or her name
among others as below;
(1) An advocate shall not allow his or her name or the fact that he or she is an advocate to
be used in any commercial advertisement.
The principle of “legal advertisement” is enshrined to protect lawyers/advocates keep the
professional code of conduct ensuring the legal profession does not fade away its image of
the public trust. This study therefore, analyzed the legal advertising and regulations
governing lawyers/advocates in Uganda in the selected firms in Kampala District.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Rules on legal advertising are limited to certain manner in which lawyers’ market
themselves depending on countries, but also include how they refer to themselves.13 While
lawyers may wish to publicize the fact that they have specialized knowledge in a particular
field of the law, there is the danger that such information will be deceptive. For example, a
lawyer could tout himself as an expert in criminal law and have no expertise in this area. In
Uganda, advocates are generally prohibited from touting or advertising their legal
services.14 The Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations forbid specific
unprofessional “rainmaking” techniques such as approaching persons involved in
accidents, using rewards schemes to encourage persons to consult advocates, and
accepting work through organizations or persons that receive payments or benefits for
pursuing claims in respect of accidents.15
While offering direct guidelines on advertising, these rules have proven to be problematic.
Many lawyers consider the ability to advertise a blessing. That is why, a majority of law
firms in Kampala have an official website that provides the following pages; “About Us,
13 MODEL RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT Rule 7.4 (1992).
14 Regulations 22 and 25 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations, SI 267-2
15 Reg. 22 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations, SI 267-2.

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Practice Areas, Lawyers and Contact Information. Therefore, if one were to search Google16
and looked up a law firm, he would find all the needed information about one provided for
on their official website. This can be argued as a form of Indirect-advertising. Still many
others are convinced that at least some advertising is a primary cause of the profession’s
image problems. On the other hand, there are lawyers who believe that advertising is key
to informing the public, as well as improving access to legal services, especially for the
poor. It is against this background that this study seeks to investigate the rationale for
barring lawyers/advocates from legal advertising and what adverse effects could it have on
their legal firms and services offered to the public.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The study was guided by research objectives: -
1.3.1 General Objective
The general objective of the study was to analyze the ban on legal advertising and
Regulations of advocates in Uganda in the selected firms in Kampala District.
1.3.2 Specific Objectives
The specific objectives of the study were: -
• To identify the rationale for barring lawyers/firms from advertising their services in
Uganda in Kampala District.
• To critique the challenges faced by lawyers both in established and startup firms
without advertising in Uganda Kampala District.
• To assess the effect of advertising regulations on lawyer efficiency in the selected
legal firms in Kampala District of Uganda.
1.4Research Questions
1) What is the rationale for barring lawyers/firms from advertising their services in
Kampala District?
2) What challenges are faced by lawyers both in established and startup firms without
advertising in Uganda Kampala District?
3) What is the effect of advertising regulations on lawyer efficiency in the selected legal
firms in Kampala District?
16 https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl (last visited on 12th Jan 2018)

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1.5 Research Significance
This research relating to legal advertising and regulations of advocates in Kampala District
is worthy of academic study. Over the past decade, recognition of the scope and significance
of lawyer services globally has increased tremendously. Therefore, the following views
might be consequential to the future researchers as seen below;
The information gathered from this research could be used by legal experts, stakeholders
and decision makers to come up with a harmonization law in force to help legal firms start
advertising for legal services. They understand lawyers and the business of law, and help
attorneys understand what works and what doesn’t. Collaborating with the Law teams
would make it better.
The study findings would benefit both the law students and specifically the lawyers and
practicing working advocates, dealing with legal advertising because it would show how
platforms like the internet and social media are underutilized in getting access to
information and administering justice for all persons in Uganda today.
Finally, law makers and the Law Society of Uganda will benefit for they would be able to
realize the role they have to play in ensuring that legal adverts are regulated for the general
public. Besides legal adverting in Uganda, would be more versatile with platforms like the
internet, TV and radio. In addition, the study provides useful information about the
changing trends in legal adverting worldwide. Follow their advice about creating content or
have them create the content for advocates with the most important ingredient in law
firms.
1.6 Scope of the Study
This study covered the analysis the Legal Advertising and Regulations of advocates in
Uganda with emphasis on Advocates Professional Regulations 1977 as amended with The
Advocates Act Cap 267-2. It looked at the rationale for prohibiting advocates from
advertising their services, challenges facing lawyers without advertising and the effects of
advertising regulations on lawyer efficiency in the selected area of study.

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1.6.1 Time-based Scope
The study took a time period of 4 months from January to May 2018 and was considered to
attain comprehensive information which relied on in making recommendations and
drawing conclusions of this study.
1.6.2 Geographical Scope
The city Kampala is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala
Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Rubaga
Division. Geographically the study shall cover 2 main law firms and the law society in
Uganda; Shonubi Musoke & Co. Advocates (Address: Plot 14 / P. O. Box 3213 Kampala
Kintu Road (Siad Barre) Avenue, Kampala, Uganda) Geoffrey Nangumya and Co. Advocates
(Address: Plot 47, Martin Road, Old Kampala). However, the coordinates of Kampala
Latitude: 0°18′58″ N: Longitude: 32°34′55″ E and Elevation above sea level: 1223 m = 4012
ft17.
1.6.3 Subject/Thematic Scope
This study lies in the sphere of legal advertising. It also critically looks at legal advertising
and regulations of advocates in Uganda in the selected firms in Kampala District.
1.7 Literature Review
The legal profession has traditionally distinguished the market for legal services from other
service markets. Avoidance of commercial advertisements as a source of information about
the market for lawyers has been an integral part of that market’s distinctiveness. However,
lawyers/advocates are guided by code of ethics and regulations for their conduct as this is
done to build confidence in their clients to trust them with professional legal services.
According to the American Bar Association Journal the article "Ad It Up: 40 years
after Bates, legal advertising blows past $1 billion and goes viral.".
Jayne Reardon, chair of the ABA’s Standing Committee on Professionalism, says the rise of
social media and the prevalence of the internet have created an incentive for some lawyers
to move away from the traditional ways that pioneered the career of simply waiting for
clients to show up. He states;
17 "Climate: Kampala – Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table". Accessed at https://en.climate-
data.org/location/5578/ Accessed on 15th Jan 2018.

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“I started practicing in the ‘80s, so I’ve lived with lawyer advertising throughout my entire
legal career,” says Reardon, the executive director of the Illinois Supreme Court
Commission on Professionalism. “Over the years, the tone has changed. Ads have become
more sensationalized, and it’s been accelerated because there are so many different ways
to get your message out there.”
Whether it inspires envy, parody, anger, litigation or teeth-clenched admiration, legal
advertising is here to stay. Bart’s (Supra) experience shows how some lawyers are relying
on multiple ad streams to compete in today’s multiscreen media landscape.
Historically, the idea that a lawyer would market his or her practice to the general public
was seen as unseemly and unprofessional.
It also was unethical. In 1908, the ABA adopted as part of its Canons of Professional Ethics a
blanket prohibition against advertising and solicitation. Some limited exceptions existed—
lawyers could have listings in telephone directories, and could communicate with friends,
family and clients. The canon tolerated business cards but held open the possibility that
they could be scrutinized by local bar officials by calling them “not per se improper.”
Lawyers weren’t allowed to solicit business through fliers or ads, and the prohibition even
extended to indirect forms of advertising, such as commenting on newspaper articles.
Everything changed in 1977 when the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Bates.
The court found that prohibitions on lawyer advertising violated the First Amendment.
Moreover, the court simply saw such bans as anachronistic and unnecessary to maintain
the integrity of the bar.
“The assertion that advertising will diminish the attorney’s reputation in the community is
open to question,” wrote Justice Harry Blackmun for the majority. “Bankers and engineers
advertise and yet these professions are not regarded as undignified.”
Blackmun found that the absence of lawyer ads hurts the legal profession, holding that “the
absence of advertising may be seen to reflect the profession’s failure to reach out and serve
the community,” and that many people in need of legal services do not contact an attorney
because they worry about pricing or finding a competent lawyer.

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In Conclusion, a change is inevitable, if advocates do not wish to advertise or if a ban
continues to bar advocates from advertising then they stand to miss out and the digital age
will surely compel the profession to market itself. The fact is legal advertising is essential
for the profession to promote justice and self-improve the profession itself.
1.7.1 Rationale for barring lawyers/advocates from advertising their legal services
Lawyers, as professionals, are subjected to speech restrictions that would not ordinarily
apply to lay persons. These restrictions have been particularly prevalent in the areas of
solicitation of clients, lawyer interaction with the media, and lawyer advertising. A lawyer
who offers himself to practice the vocation of representing the people in their legal battles;
a professional who, for a deserved fee for his skilled labour, offers himself as an advocate to
intercede for his clients in the legal crossfire of litigation or prosecution must do so with
the full understanding and complete commitment to observe and uphold the profession’s
creed and doctrine of ethics. For example, Ugandan laws of Advocates and Regulations 20
of the Advocates Act Cap 267 prohibits a lawyer from Res sub judice and to quote;
“An advocate shall not make announcements or comments to newspapers or any other news
media, including radio and television, concerning any pending, anticipated or current
litigation in which he or she is or is not involved, whether in a professional or personal
capacity”.18
The integrity and credibility of the individual advocate percolates from his close dedication
and loyalty to that doctrine. In the temporal realm, the offending lawyer is struck off the
Roll of practicing advocates, as a kind of professional excommunication.19 Advocates should
also act morally upright in order to administer true justice to their clients and the moral
18 The Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations. Statutory Instrument 267—2.
19 Section 20(4) (c) of the Advocates Act, Cap. 267. This is the ultimate disciplinary sanction, analogous in its severity and
finality to the criminal law death penalty. The “convict” once struck off, is “dead” to the Roll of Advocates; is stripped of his
practicing certificate, plus closure of his office; is deprived of a professional livelihood; and is exiled from the family of the
fraternity (i.e. expelled from membership of the Uganda Law Society: per Sections 20 & 22 of the Advocates Act, and
Section 8 of the Uganda Law Society Act, Cap. 276). Worse still, the “death” is notified to all High Court Registries and Law
Societies in the East African countries; and to the Inns of Court and other professional bodies abroad ─ per Section 28 of
the Advocates Act of Uganda, and identical Sections of its Tanzanian, Kenyan and Zambian counterparts.

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character is so demanding in the legal profession. Similarly, the term “moral character”
means “those qualities of truth speaking, of a high sense of honour, of granite discretion, of
the strictest observance of fiduciary responsibility, that have, throughout the centuries, been
compendiously described as “moral character.”20 It is also imperative to ascertain that for
the lawyer and the legal profession, a fitting and succinct summary of all the above
concepts, would be the one word: “integrity”. Of this virtue, it has been said: “integrity is the
very breath of justice”.21 Because of this, lawyers who are the guardian angels of the
administration of justice, should not only avoid impropriety, but should avoid even the
appearance of impropriety22.
The conventional rationale for limiting attorney advertising is the protection of the public
and the dignity of the profession. Advertising can be a forum for dubious claims that can
mislead potential clients and erode the culture of professionalism among advocates.
Advertising can also cheapen and commercialize the profession. On the other hand, legal
practice is a business. In Uganda prospective law firms must register the name of the firm
under the Business Names Registration Act23 before operating. Advertising is core to
business development. It is an important medium for communicating with the public and
informing potential customers of services offered.24 Limitations on advertising can block
new entries in the market place and benefit established firms. This greatly hampers
competition in the legal market place, which is unjustified in light of the tangential benefits
of such limitations. Law firms host websites with information ranging from the partners,
and other advocates in the firm including their photographs, areas of specialization, reports
and descriptions of matters handled by the firm, and insights about other activities and
aspects of the firm. All the two law firms in this study had a fully functional and operational
website. Based on the existing law and regulations, much of the self-serving information on
these websites is highly suspect and probably in violation of present standards.
20 Per Devlin, J, in Schware v Board of Bar Examiners, 353 US 232, 247, 1L.Ed.2d 796, 806, 77 S. Ct. 752,761 (1957),
Frankfurter, J, concurring.
21 Erwin M. Jennings v Digenova, 107 Conn. 491, 499, 141 A. 866, 868 (1921).
22 State ex rel Nebraska State Bar Ass’n v. Richards, 165 Neb. 80, 93, 84 N. W. 2d 136, 145 (1957).
23 Cap 109, Laws of Uganda.
24 In Digitek Advertising Ltd V Corporate Dimensions Ltd HCT (Commercial Division) MA No. 424 of 2005, Justice Egonda
Ntende stated, ‘outdoor advertising is a form of speech or expression, a specie of commercial speech which is protected by
the right to freedom of speech and expression.

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It is possible to tender arguments that would excuse such websites from ethical gaffes. One
might assert the websites are being proffered as information as opposed to advertising.
However, any such distinction is dubious given the widely accepted purpose of commercial
websites. Others might argue that websites fall outside of the ethical rules because they are
not specifically addressed in the Advocate’s Act or the Advocates (Professional Conduct)
Regulations. However, this argument fails when one considers the ban on all advertising
except as permitted by the Law Council. Law Council is yet to provide the advocates with
guidelines on online advertising. Given the language of the Regulation, perhaps the most
prudent practice for advocates would be to submit their web pages for approval prior to
posting. Other developments portend the need for official guidance in the area of web-
based communication. Law firms in Africa, Europe and South Africa have formed working
relationships with law firms in Uganda and legal process outsourcing is taking place. There
are also publications such as IFLR100025, Chambers Global and others that list what they
consider reputable law firms internationally, and members of the public consult these
publications when seeking legal services. There is need for the profession to grow with the
changing professional and business environment if it is to remain relevant and become
competitive locally and internationally26 by taking advantage of technological and other
innovations.
The Advocates Act Cap 267 prohibits a lawyer from advertising his profession or business
as an advocate27. Advertising legal services is regarded as professional misconduct under
Regulation 25 (1) of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations SI 267–2. It is
generally believed that most honest way for lawyers to market themselves is through
building a well-deserved reputation. It is also argued that for the lawyers to keep
reputation, they need to be clear to their clients to avoid misconduct and unprofessional
ways of providing legal services to their clients and letting them know what they want to
achieve (and how). The lawyers, in return, let the clients know how much they want the
representation by adjusting their fees (or not) and signaling to the clients how they will
25 Guide to the world’s leading financial law firms. Accessed at URL:
https://www.iflr1000.com/Jurisdiction/Uganda/Rankings/148#rankings (visited on 31st Jan 2018)
26 For example, in 2010, legal practitioners from commonwealth countries were allowed to practice as solicitors in UK
27 http://arcadialaw.co.ug/our-blog/398-ban-on-lawyers-advertising-is-the-law-still-relevant

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behave if certain eventualities arise. These clients will know the lawyers’ reputations for
aggressiveness, cutting corners, and willingness to oppose client demands.
To avoid fraud and misrepresentation, lawyers are compelled to act rightly and not to
misrepresent any person or client on any legal matters in especially courts of law for
purposes of proper judicial proceedings and right representation of clients in the court.
Such and other cases could be the rationale for barring lawyers/advocates to advertise
their legal services until competent bodies of jurisdictions guarantees their representation
in courts of law and on commercial dealings to also avoid breaching contracts.
1.7.2 Challenges/limitations to legal advertising
Regulating lawyers on advertising their legal services raises a number of questions
especially in the technological advancements where online services have increased
drastically. However, subject to speech and materials restrictions relating to legal
advertising, poses another question of the credibility of lawyer honesty with their clients.
These restrictions have been particularly prevalent in the areas of solicitation and
dissemination of useful information between parties. In some developed countries like the
United States of America, lawyer advertising is legal following a total ban on lawyer
advertising which was held to be unconstitutional seen especially in the most famous case
law of Bates (supra),28. However, the legal profession has encountered problems in
regulating lawyer advertising. In this aspect, regulators attempt to prohibit legal
advertising that is considered false or misleading with an expanding array of complex and
inconsistent rules. This mix of unconformable regulations has failed to keep pace with
changes in technology that are enabling innovative electronic dissemination of information
about lawyers and legal services.
Many states have regulations that prohibit particular statements by lawyers as either
inherently misleading or likely to mislead the public as limits their legal services with the
public knowledge of lawyer locations and type of services and activities carried out. Others
have regulations requiring advertisements to include particular information, ostensibly to
protect consumers from being misled. For example, most of these rules relate back to
28 Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350, 381-382 (1977).

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outdated methods of communication and have become increasingly unworkable in the age
of electronic media advertising hence this is yet another challenge to lawyer information
advertising to the general public. Under Ugandan laws and Rule 20 of the Advocates
(Professional Conduct) Regulations Statutory Instrument 267–2 on res sub judice
requires an advocate not to engage in any media and public announcements as stated that;
“An advocate shall not make announcements or comments to newspapers or any other news
media, including radio and television, concerning any pending, anticipated or current
litigation in which he or she is or is not involved, whether in a professional or personal
capacity”.
According to Hurld et al (2004) the most significant change in the world of advertising has
been the advent of the Internet. The legal profession has been discussing the importance of
the Internet in attracting clients and disseminating useful information about the law and
legal services for more than a decade.29 Internet-based lawyer advertising could be an
important practice where the public relies on the Internet as a leading source of infor-
mation about lawyers and the availability of legal services.30 It is therefore; argued that
online and other electronic forms of advertising are dominant in an age when market
forces strongly favor e-commerce. For example, the recent explosion of social media,
professional networking services, and mobile technology has further rendered the
regulation of lawyer advertising by state regulatory agencies ineffective.31
There is a growing disconnect between the way lawyers are expected to communicate with
prospective clients in accordance with existing rules and the way the public communicates
with everyone else and seeks information about legal services.32 Overly restrictive, dated,
and unrealistic regulations have proven to be a mismatch for emerging communication
29 See, e.g., Christopher Hurld, Untangling the Wicket Web: The Marketing of Legal Services on the Internet and the Model
Rules, 17 GEO. J. LEGAL ETHICS 827 (2004); Margaret Hensler Nicholls, A Quagmire of Internet Ethics Laws and the ABA
Guidelines for Legal Website Providers, 18 GEO. J.
30 ABA COMMISSION ON ETHICS 20/20, FOR COMMENT: ISSUES PAPER CONCERNING LAWYERS’ USE OF INTERNET
BASED CLIENT DEVELOPMENT TOOLS (Sept.10, 2010) [hereinafter CLIENT DEVELOPMENT TOOLS ISSUES PAPER],
https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/ethics_2020/20120508_ethics_20_20_final_hod_introd
ution_and_overview_report.authcheckdam.pdf
31 Ibid at 1-2.
32 For example, according to a Pew Research Center 2014 Social Media Update, for the 81% of American adults who use
the Internet, 52% of online adults now use two or more social media sites; 71% are on Facebook, 70% engage in daily use,
23% use Twitter and 26% use Instagram.

13
technologies and sophisticated methods of marketing legal services like trying to the follow
the rules of the road from before the time of automobiles. In regard to lawyer restrictions
on public speeches and announcement, in the case Virginia State Pharmacy Board. v.
Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, the U.S, Supreme Court recognized that the First
Amendment protects advertising, referred to as “commercial speech,” based on the public’s
right to receive the free flow of commercial information.33 The Court held that “speech did
not lose its First Amendment protection because money is spent to project it, as in a paid
advertisement of one form or another” and, “speech likewise is protected even though it is
carried in a form that is ‘sold’ for profit . . . and even though it involved a solicitation to
purchase or otherwise pay or contribute money.”34 In the case of Arizona lawyers, John R.
Bates and Van O’Steen opened a law office with the aim of providing “legal services at
modest fees to persons of moderate income who did not qualify for governmental legal
aid.” After two years of conducting their practice with this goal in mind, the lawyers came
to the stark realization that their concept was unattainable unless they did something to
attract clients. Accordingly, they placed an advertisement in their local daily newspaper,
announcing that they were offering “legal services at very reasonable fees” and listing their
fees for certain routine legal services. However, the State Bar of Arizona found that the
advertisement violated the rule in Arizona’s Code of Professional Responsibility banning
lawyer advertising and, consequently, the Arizona Supreme Court censured the lawyers for
their conduct hence legal advertising is indeed a challenge for lawyers.
In relation to the above explanation, the Advocates Act Cap 267 Advocates (Professional
Conduct) Regulations SI 267–2 Rule 25 prohibits lawyers completely from any form of
advertisement relating to their legal services as stated;
33 In this case, there was a challenge against a state statute that prohibited pharmacists from advertising prescription
drug prices. Though Virginia State Pharmacy Board v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council did not deal directly with
advertising in the professional practice of law, it looked at the state of advertising in the professional practice of
pharmacy, where the concern was similarly focused on the preservation of high professional standards in a professional
services industry. Va Pharmacy Bd. v. Va Consumer Council, 425 U.S. 748, 765 (1976).
34 Id. at 761 (internal citations omitted). Accordingly, in holding that commercial speech is protected and could not be
absolutely prohibited, the Court Overturned Valentine v. Christensen, 316 U.S. 52, 55 (1942), which was the then-existing
precedent holding that commercial speech was not constitutionally protected.

14
(1) An advocate shall not allow his or her name or the fact that he or she is an advocate to be
used in any commercial advertisement.
(2) An advocate shall not cause his or her name or the name of his or her firm or the fact that
he or she is an advocate to be inserted in heavy or distinctive type, in any directory or guide
and, in particular, a telephone directory.
However, Rule 23 of the Advocates Act Cap SI-267-2, prohibits lawyers from publications of
information and this limits their services to clients who may not know what exactly the
lawyer is and if so known, would be a long process hence this gives chance to only well-
established firms that have practiced for quite some time and very complex for starting up
law firms to get easily public attention of their legal services. Rule 23 of the Advocates Acts
states as below;
(1) Subject to sub regulations (2) and (3) of this regulation, an advocate shall not knowingly allow
articles (including photographs) to be published in any news media concerning himself or herself,
nor shall he or she give any press conference or any press statements which are likely to make
known or publicize the fact that he or she is an advocate.
(2) An advocate may answer questions or write articles that may be published in the press or in
news media concerning legal topics but shall not disclose his or her name except in circumstances
where the Law Council has permitted him or her so to do.
(3) Where the Law Council cannot readily convene, the chairperson of the Law Council may grant
the permission referred to in sub regulation (2) of this regulation to the advocate.
(4) This regulation shall not apply to professional journals or publications or to any publications of
an educational nature.
Looking at Rule 23 (4) of the Advocates Act, only gives lee way to academicians but not
professional advocates being free from advertising any legal service guided under The
Advocates (Student Practice Regulations, 2004 SI-No.70). Therefore, such limitations to
legal advertising affects quick legal services to be rendered to people at their convenient
areas and a lawyer may experience these challenges over and again. Recent ethics opinion
advises that a lawyer may respond to an individual who posts about a specific client

15
problem on Twitter or Reddit via the same medium. However, if the lawyer describes her
capabilities or experience rather than merely discussing the individual’s legal problem
without mentioning her services, the lawyer’s response is subject to the advertising rules
requiring, among other things, that the response be labeled as “advertising” and include the
law office address and phone number and that the response be retained for one year.35
Other ethics opinions caution against lawyers listing their abilities and areas of practice in
social networking platforms that have sections entitled “specialties” or “skills and
expertise,” since doing so may result in the lawyer engaging in potentially misleading
advertising under their state’s advertising rules.36 These overly technical opinions impose
impractical obligations on lawyers and unreasonably deter lawyers from using Internet-
based client development tools that are not fraudulent or deceptive.
1.7.3 Effects of advertising to lawyer efficiency and legal services
It can argue that regulating lawyers on advertising their legal services raises a number of
questions. The legal profession has tremendous effects on distinguished market for legal
services from other service markets. To some extent avoidance of commercial
advertisements as a source of information about the market for lawyers has been an
integral part of that market’s distinctiveness. Until recently every provincial law society
restricted the content, frequency, scale and form of their members’ advertisements. For
example, in the case of Bates (Supra)37 the Chief Justice Burger suggested that; the
enforcement burdens of policing lawyer advertising standards would be enormous.38 This
however raises many questions whether the record from other fields support that
contention? Secondly, whether the legal profession exhibit conditions conducive to
fraudulent advertising? What type of advertising, if any, will most effectively sell legal
services? And will effective advertising conflict with ethical considerations?
35 N.Y. State Bar Ass’n Formal Op. 1049 (2015).
36 See, e.g., N.Y. State Bar Ass’n Formal Op. 2013-972 (2013); Fla. Bar Advisory Op. (2013), available at
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/resources/professionalism/crossroads.html
37 Bates and O'Steen v. State Bar of Arizona, 97 S. Ct. 2691, 433 U.S. 350 (1977).
38 4Id. at 2711 (S. Ct.), 387 (U.S.); also (1977), 63 A.B.A.J. 1093 at 1097. Contrast Chief Justice Burger's fear that lawyer
advertising will create "problems of unmanageable proportions" with Bork's appraisal: "I think the damage ascribable to
advertising is slight, and I suspect that in attempting to repair it, we are likely to do more harm in the aggregate than
good." See, Bork, "Commentary," in Tuerck, ed., Issues in Advertising - The Economics of Persuasion (Washington: American
Institute for Public Policy Research, 1978) at 49.

16
It is very possible to ascertain that advertising is visible, commercial and organized. For
these reasons a tendency may exist to overestimate the impact of commercial promotions.
Advertising agencies themselves have an incentive to exaggerate their ability to manipulate
consumer responses.39 The editor of the Journal of Advertising Research admits, however,
“that responses to advertising, despite our hopes, are usually weakly motivated.”40 Winter
concludes that the “alleged manipulative effects of advertising are simply not established in
the literature.”41 Fair maintains that an unwarranted belief in and a fear of the persuasive
powers of both propaganda and advertising has developed since the 1940s.42 Psychologist
J.A.C. Brown agrees that advertising has been overrated. Brown concludes that advertising
is a “form of propaganda”, and that the advertiser or propagandist is “comparatively
helpless” in influencing established trends.43 However, advertising has been criticized for
raising prices and reducing competition. Are these allegations warranted? And if so, are
they applicable to the market for lawyers? It is also argued that if advertising encourages
the development of larger, commercialized firms will it not lead to monopolistic
concentration? The largest four firms in Ontario now control only 5% of the total monetary
value of legal business.
Critics also suggest that advertising will undermine the legal profession’s sense of dignity
and encourage a decline in the quality of service. Admittedly, some advertising is
undignified and arguments have been made that mass marketing techniques promote short
term considerations.44 However, the market for lawyers is in most ways the antithesis of
the market for low cost, mass produced consumption items or personal care products
where undignified advertising may be the norm. Perhaps the most misleading
advertisements have traditionally been those concerned with allegedly medicinal
39 In selling his profession, ad man Paul Stevens, for example, makes the grandiose claim that "advertising can sell you
anything." Stevens, I Can Sell You Anything (New York: Wyden, 1972) at 2. Stevens overlooks the economic fact that
disposable income is limited and that as Brink and Kelley found, the consumer "is by no means easy to manipulate by the
'hidden persuaders,'. . ." Brink and Kelley, The Management of Promotion (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1963) at 354.
40 Ramond, Advertising Research: The State of the Art (New York: Association of National Advertisers, 1976) at 9.
41 Winter, "Advertising and Legal Theory," in Tuerck, supra note 4, at 16.
42 Fair, The New Nonsense; the End of the National Consensus (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974) at 236-40.
43 Brown, Techniques of Persuasion (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963) at 189.
44 Brown gives the example of planned obsolescence, supra note 9, at 178. But the advertising emphasis on style,
temporary relief, fashion, immediate gratification and other short-term interests may be dictated by the type of product
and the type of industry which benefits most from mass promotion. See Comanor and Wilson, supra note 24.

17
concoctions. There is also a question of whether advertising may cause a decline in legal
service quality if advocates are given opportunity to so? Quality in law is not easily defined.
There is yet another concern that lawyers have not compiled or developed comprehensive
criteria for qualitative assessments. Turning to other service industries, Benham found no
differences between the lower and the higher priced optometrists.45
In Uganda, the Advocates Act and various supporting regulation govern the conduct of
advocates. This statutory and regulatory framework includes legal mandates concerning
relations with clients, conduct in court, relations with opposing parties, and interactions
with other relevant third parties such as witnesses and potential clients. Despite drastic
changes in the legal marketplace, this statutory and regulatory framework has remained
relatively unchanged for several decades. This need for critical assessment of the existing
rules and guiding principles addressing the duties of an advocate is necessary. The
research alerts the reader to instances where duties might conflict and will provide
practical guidance for navigating such scenarios.
Uganda is not alone in maintaining a shroud of secrecy over proceedings of its judicial
disciplinary organs. The United Kingdom also restricts the right to disclose information
regarding disciplinary proceedings against judicial officers. There, the Lord Chancellor and
the Lord Chief Justice determine whether a particular disclosure ought to be made, guided
by the need to maintain public confidence in the judiciary.46 Similarly, in most states in the
United States of America, activities of the judicial disciplinary commissions and their staff
are confidential.47 However, California and several other states have opened the judicial
disciplinary proceedings to the public48
It should also be noted that in the United Kingdom and the United States there is no
Constitutional mandate for keeping such proceedings open as there is in Uganda.
45 Benham, supra note 32, at 347-48.
46 Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4), s. 139; Judicial Discipline (Prescribed Procedures) Regulations 2006, Regs.40,
25(7) (c), 34(5) (c) & 35(1) (d) (e).
47 Discipline–State Court Judges, in
http://www.judicialselection.com/judicial_selection/methods/removal_of_judges.cfm?state (accessed on 2nd Feb 2018)
48 Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau Research Division Background Paper 81–8: Judicial Discipline, p. 7.

18
Proponents of confidentiality in judicial proceedings argue that confidentiality preserves
judicial independence and protects the judiciary from frivolous, vexatious, unsubstantiated
or unfounded accusations.49 They also argue that it protects the anonymity of a
complainant; especially an attorney.50 It is also argued that the poor reputation of
individual judges impacts the reputation of the judiciary as a whole. A judiciary with a
besmirched reputation cannot administer justice that is acceptable to the people; and a
country with such a judiciary is a country without honour or justice.51 Therefore there are
grounds for protecting the reputation of Judges as a matter of policy. However, these
grounds must be balanced with the need for judicial accountability and honesty.
1.8 Research Methodology
The methodology of the study relied on qualitative and quantitative methods of
investigation. Qualitative data was generated from primary respondents such as practicing
lawyers, advocates, clerks to the courts and judges who were identified to provide legal
information about the aspect of legal advertisements in their firms. On the other hand,
quantitative method looked at law reports, case studies, statutes and regulations governing
the legal profession in Uganda and elsewhere on international arena. The researcher found
it imperative to take desktop-research for soliciting legal information from scholars and
libraries of Uganda Christian University (UCU), Law Development Centre (LDC), High Court
Bulletin (HCB), Uganda Legal Information Institute (ULII), and Uganda Law Reform
Commission (ULRC) was adequately used including published reports on lawyer
advertisements. An analytic approach was adopted to ascertain the practical application of
the laws; references and lessons from other jurisdictions.
1.8.1 Research Design and Tools for conducting the study
The study relied on descriptive statistics and data from a population of selected 3
respondents who were advocates and High Court data generated. The questionnaire was
constructed for respondents to report information since the research targets learned
49 Ibid, pp. 6–7; 32 The Colorado Lawyer (June 2003, No. 6), p. 27; and the enforcement provisions of the Uganda Code of
Judicial Conduct, p. 13. See also Kanyeihamba, G.W., Judicial Activism and the Quest for Human Rights in Uganda, in [2002]
MLJ 1–9, at 1, 7.
50 See supra note 58, at 6–7.
51 Kanyeihamba, G.W., supra note 60, at 1.

19
professionals and interviews guide top advocates in the highest courts of jurisdictions. The
researcher also relied on observation method for purposes of establishing legal facts
especially from the law firms affected by non-advertisements. Therefore, the Case Study
Method was used as systematic method to analyze fact situations in the study area.
1.8.2 Data analysis and Presentation
The data analysis involved reducing the raw data into a manageable size, developing
summaries and applying statistical inferences. Consequently, the following steps were
taken to analyze the data for the study. The data from the questionnaire was edited to
detect and correct possible errors and omissions that are likely to occur and to ensure
consistency across respondents. The data was then being coded to enable the respondents
to be grouped into limited number of categories. The Microsoft Excel software was used for
this analysis. Data was presented in relation to study objectives and themes using
descriptive statistical tools. Data from interviews were also presented narratively to reflect
the objective responses from the participants.
1.8.3 Limitations to the study
Limitations are external conditions that restrict the scope of the study, and which could
result in potential weaknesses of the study (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012). The following
limitations are expected to associate with this study: included the period of research and
the resultant potential limited external validity of the findings. However, the researcher
ensured that respondents were given enough time to provide the required data on legal
advertisements.
Secondly, the researcher experienced limitations of long travelling to the research area.
However, the researcher secured enough funding to ensure that all parts of the research
areas and respondents are reached to collect the required data. Because of the allotted
period for research and travel expenses, flexibility of interview schedules and time was
limited for each participant as the researcher secured funding for the research project.
1.9 Synopsis
The research was divided into four Chapters;

20
Chapter One: Consisted of general introduction and background to the study, statement of
the problem, purpose of the study, objectives and research questions, scope of the study
and geographical location, research significance, scope, time and geographical scope of the
study, subject scope, literature review, methodology and synopsis of chapter arrangements.
Chapter Two: Focused on Non-Legal aspects of advertising with focus on the importance
and purpose of advertising, challenge to advertising, effects of advertising on business
organizations or corporate organizations and the efficiency used in the application
purposes.
Chapter Three: Covered the analysis of International laws relating to legal advertisements
in some countries, regional advertising laws on especially integrations and domestic laws
such as Constitutional and Legal issues relating to the Advocates Act Cap 267, Ethical Codes
and Conduct of lawyers/advocates governed under the regulatory framework and other
laws including human rights laws on freedom of press and expression.
Chapter Four: Looked at summary of the findings from the analysis, conclusions,
recommendations for legal reforms and adjustment in the advertisement laws.

21
CHAPTER TWO
NON-LEGAL ASPECTS OF ADVERTISEMENTS
2.0 Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to lay grounds for the study by reviewing concepts of
advertising in organizations. It also examined the importance and purpose of advertising
and the rationale for advertisements in various organizations, challenge to advertising,
effects of advertising on business firms or corporate organizations and their efficiency used
in the application process. It reviewed studies conducted on advertisements by various
authors regarding the subject matter elsewhere in the world.
2.1 Purpose of advertisements in organizations
Advertising is the act of drawing attention to a product, service, or event through the mass
media in order to promote its awareness, sale or attendance. Common advertising media
includes: billboards, newspapers, directories, magazines, public transport, the Internet, etc.

22
Generally, advertising in almost all jurisdictions has some form of limitation either in
content or mode. For example, in the legal context, adverts should not be misleading or
against public interest. This limitation is largely intended to protect consumers and
maintain the repute of the legal profession.
According to Sandage (2001)52 advertising is typological and encompasses brand
advertising which is usually visual and textual advertising, commerce and retail advertising
focuses on the specific production organization or product sales, political advertising the
most prominent and the most influential types of advertising, advertising with a feedback
involves an exchange of information with potential customers. Sandage (2001) further
expands that corporate advertising is necessary, business advertising focuses on
professionally-oriented advertising and public or social advertising oriented to the
audience, united mainly by people social status.
Kotler (2002)53 on the other hand, explains the functionalities of advertising which largely
depend on economical function to stimulate sales and increase the volume of profits from
the sale of a certain product for a certain unit of time. Advertising encompasses social
function and has significant impact on the formation of the consciousness of each
individual, marketing function which entirely connected to the tasks of marketing, whose
final aim is the full satisfaction of customer needs concerning goods and services.
Advertising function also focuses on specific forms of communication linking together
advertisers and consumer audience by the means of information channels (Kotler, 2002).
It is imperative to ascertain advertisements of services and products in organizations can
help in promoting organizations products to far reaching people and therefore,
advertisements are one of the best approaches to promotional services and activities of
entities. Evans and Berman (1995)54 explains that advertising campaign entails the set of
promotional activities, developed in accordance with the marketing program and aimed at
consumers, representing appropriate market segments, in order to cause their reaction and
52 The virtues of positive psychology: The rapprochement and challenges of an affirmative postmodern perspective. SJ
Sandage, PC Hill.
53 Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation, and Control, Instructor's Resource Manual. Kotler, Philip.
2002.
54 Marketing: Marketing in the 21st Century. 11th Edition. Joel R. Evans/ Berry Berman.

23
find a solution for the strategic or tactical objectives of a company. Furthermore, Berman et
al expands this rationale of advertising in that marketing infrastructure, human and
technical resources, established level of communication and information supply are all
worth considering in the advertising company’s products and services.
Advertising services help businesses count on the high efficiency of advertising campaigns
only if: firstly, they are prepared and carried out on the basis of preliminary studies, taking
into account the dynamic nature of the market (Hopkins, 1966).55 Secondly, promotional
products are reasonably created, memorable and properly acting on a pre-selected
consumer audience. Thirdly, a sufficiently broad publication is provided by advertising
means that are most appropriate for the task. Fourthly, the events in different places and at
different levels of sales activity are coordinated. This helps in proper coordination of
services and products the organization can offer within a given period of time and hence
improving customer loyalty to largely depend on open systems of the organization.
On many important occasions, advertising campaigns help the organization in especially
preparatory, meridian and the final stages of product and service delivery to esteemed
customers. The preparatory stage is the most important one because two others depend on
it, as well as the success of an advertising campaign in general. The preparatory phase
includes planning of an advertising campaign. Planning considers the situation around the
product on the market and determines the cost of advertising. For example, it is possible
that after choosing the types and methods of distribution and calculating the volume of
advertising, it is easy to calculate the cost of purchased place or time for it (Evans &
Berman, 1995) supra
Use of social media such as televisions, radios and other platforms have direct appeal to the
advertising media can be used in small firms, with a small amount of promotional activities
or limited use of advertising media. With the constant reference to advertising media a
special advertising department is organized (Lambin, 1996).56 On the same concern
workers of the advertising agencies must always know about the readers of publications in
55 My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising. Claude Hopkins. Jan. 11th 1966
56 Strategic Marketing Management by Jean-Jacques Lambin (1996-11-05).

24
which they intend to post their advertising noted by (Kotler, 1990). Therefore, it is good to
have an idea how to carry out advertising campaigns in different time periods. Advertising
may lead to promotional activities can also be planned for any special occasions, for
example, new products, price change of existing products on the market, opening of new
branches for the sale. (Samarina & Kalugina, 1999).
It good to note that advertisements focus on the best quality of service where each
advertiser and agency is obedience. For example, an independent agency has the
opportunity to look at the problem of the customer and give him an objective assessment.
The agency rather follows its own principles of creating an effective advertising than obeys
the whims of the customer organization (Romat, 1997). The aim of all marketing activities
is the creation of market for a new product. Firm incurs high costs, since in this phase there
are high costs of production and costs of promotion usually reach the highest level (Stark,
2011). Thus, the main purpose of the advertising focuses on informing buyers and
distributors about the functions, scope, basic characteristics, and the name of a new
product/service and adverting requires a significant investment that exceeds the profits
(Romat, 1991).
2.2 Challenges to advertisements in organizations
Many Challenges surface organizations in terms of advertising their services and products.
When deciding whether to establish a separate advertising department or not the
advertiser must keep in mind that for the effective solution of the problems arising in the
organization during the advertising process one might have to create a sufficiently
powerful advertising infrastructure, the scope of work for which in consequence may be
insufficient.
The speed in which these changes are happening does not seem to slow down, but rather is
increasing. It has been reported that before the Internet became widely available to the
public in the mid-1990s, advertising messages were mostly unidirectional, top-down and
interruptive, using the limited media channels that were available, such as television,
newspapers, magazines and radio. Information could be protected and controlled by the
media industries in the form of what Jürgen Habermas (1985) refers to as “distorted

25
communication” (cited in Holt, 2002: 72)57, where a certain authority creates an imbalance
in the interaction between relevant parties. It is also reported that even when the Internet
was introduced, many of the advertising professionals were hesitant of having to squeeze
an idea into a web banner instead of a traditional media space.
By using the media logic concept, many companies still adhere to the traditional
approaches of advertising like posting which slows down the business of the company.
Looking at Swedish advertising professionals experience their work in the digital age, it is
the challenges that they encounter today, that are the main concerns of this aspect.
Traditionally in media and cultural studies, research into such everyday practices and
conditions of cultural production has been given less attention compared to the more
dominant concerns in audience research or content analysis. While audience activities have
often been celebrated and media content scrutinized for signs and symbols, the media
practitioners behind the content have been rather neglected (Deuze 2010; Garnham,
200058; Kawashima 200659; Murdock, 200360; Nixon 200361). Even within the studies of
cultural industries, the prevalent approach has been from a political economy perspective,
focusing on the media institutions and not the media practitioners (Deuze, 2010).
It is argued that because the political economy perspective tends to “represent economic
processes and practices as ‘things in themselves’ with certain ‘objective’ meanings people
are seen mainly as the ‘bearers’ of these” (du Gay, 1998: 3). Therefore, the enlightening
dimensions of economic activities often end up unnoticed due to limited advertisements. In
line with this, Mark Deuze argues that studies of media tend to neglect:
…an understanding or respect for the moment of intellectual production- the
complex process of making media, the organization of work, the role of new
technologies, the interdependence of issues such as creativity and commerce, and
the translation of increasingly precise market orientations to the differentiation of
productivity in media organizations large and small (2007: 52-3).
57 Author(s): Douglas B. Holt. Source: The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 29, No. 1, (Jun., 2002), pp. 70-90. Published
by: The University of Chicago Press
58 Emancipation, the Media, and Modernity: Arguments about the Media and Social Theory, Published: 15 June 2000,
ISBN: 9780198742258
59 AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL INCLUSION IN BRITAIN: Tensions, contradictions and paradoxes in policy and
their implications for cultural management. Nobuko Kawashima. Published online 15th August 2006.
60 Political economy and media production: a reply to Dwyer, Graham Murdock, Peter Golding
61 Advertising Cultures: Gender, Commerce, Creativity. Sean Nixon 2003, SAGE, 1 Apr 2003

26
According to Murdock (2003), one of the reasons behind the avoidance of research into the
process of advertising production is the methodological convenience of audience research,
where for example, “conversations with consumers are generally easier to arrange than
interviews with company executives and stressed professionals” (p.15). This is not an
excuse to disregard the voices of the media professionals, and thus we must shed more
light on their thought processes and actual experiences that will provide us with a better
understanding of the ways in which they carryout advertisements of their companies.
Unlike many of the directors and producers of cultural industries such as film and
television that may be well known to the public, the existences of advertising professionals
have remained relatively faceless62. In this research, media practitioners play the leading
roles in advertising services of the organization and at the same time, it should be
understood that “the media worker operates in a complex environment, somewhere
between the splendid isolation of one’s individual creative endeavors and a constantly
changing transnational context of ties, relationships, demands, and pressures of colleagues,
consumers, employers and clients” (Deuze, 2007: 91). The challenge for advertising as a
business over the years is developing with every changing communications landscape.
Ensuring that the developed technology is used to its full effect is complex. This is due to
the rise of mobile, and a more online-TV experience, micro-targeting advertising as future
challenge that needs to be addressed. However, with new media platforms and channels
advertising must become more adventurous and experimentation with the ways in which is
reaches its clients.
2.3 Effect of advertisements on organizational productivity
It is central to ascertain that advertising plays an important role in our everyday life. It
mainly determines the image and way of life and it has an impact on our thinking as well as
on the attitude towards ourselves and the world around us. Advertising shows us ready
62 Unless one looks at magazines or competitions specifically constructed for the advertising industry, the names of
professionals involved are not publicly credited. After all, the message of the advertisements is for the brands to gain
attention, not the advertising agencies and its professionals. However, it cannot be completely denied that there are
agencies and professionals who make an effort to make creative advertisements so as to add brand value to themselves
and to gain reputation from their peers, rather than to dedicate all of their work for the good of their client.

27
forms of behavior in a certain situation and determines what is good and what is bad. For
example, everyone, even without realizing it, is influenced by advertising though we do not
notice how it affects us yet advertising is very skillfully and every organization requires it.
Advertisement is indispensable to every organization success and impacts heavily on
improving service and product delivery to customers and clients in everyday life. For
instance, a significant amount of money is spent on advertising campaigns bringing to the
companies multi-billion profits in rotate. Moreover, it is a “product of the first necessity”
for any enterprise, aimed at a commercial success, and it is becoming more and more
expensive. According to statistics media the money spent on advertising in Finland was
13,131 million euro in 2012 and 1206.7 million euro in 2013 (Finnish Advertising Council,
TNS Gallup, and Ad Intelligence 2014).63
However, advertisements determine not only the purchase of toothpaste, but also the
choice of political candidate and in the end, it determines the path of political development
of the country and the politics itself hence very essential in our society. Looking at
advertisements in the past times and using the Egyptian papyrus example and the
information of the upcoming sale of a slave, advertising in those days was presented by
written or oral announcement touting a particular product or service (Feofanov, 200464).
Besides papyrus scrolls and wax boards, the written advertising was embodied in
inscriptions on roadside rocks, as well as on buildings. As nowadays, there was a
promotion of almost everything- olive oil and amphorae to keep the oil, oxen, horses and
other livestock, tools and weapons. There was advertising of services as well: in the
announcements of that distant era there were calls to visit a pub that sells unique snacks
and wine, or an invitation to visit public baths (Feofanov, 2004).
According to Presbrey65 (2009) advertising in organizations impacts a lot in terms of
effective communication and may not expand so much, if once human had not discovered
the era of mass communication. The first impetus for this was typography. Another
63 https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Finlands-Digital-Ad-Spending-Climbed-68-2013/1010593
64 Feofanov, O.A., 2004. Advertising: New technologies in Russia: Study guide for trained professionals engaged in
advertising. M.: Piter, pp: 376.
65 The History and Development of Advertising. Presbrey.

28
important development was the invention and subsequent spread around the world of the
art of photography in the mid- 19th century. A photograph has served as an irrefutable
proof of benefits of the advertised product (Presbrey, 2009). However, the most important
developments in the global advertising business has become so popular primarily due to
the unprecedented growth rate of world industrial production, as well as due to the
appearance of more and more sophisticated means of creating and distributing
advertisements: multicolor printing, analog and then digital radio, television, satellite
communications, and finally, computers and the Internet. Advertising is day to day
becoming more professionally organized and more quality performed (Presbrey, 2009).
The effect of advertising on a product life cycle and finding the right ways and methods of
advertising, relates to how to apply them at every stage of the product life cycle and
determining the impact of advertising on a consumer buying behavior. It is therefore
important to note that since advertising increases sales, it affects the life cycle of the
product and its curve. Using advertising and other means to promotion the producers not
only increase sales, but also prolong the life cycle of the goods. The impact of advertising on
the product life cycle is essential improving on the effectiveness and efficiency of business
advertising support, and a product that is widely advertised to increase sales and public
awareness of the products.66
It is also urged that a large number of potential buyers quickly learn about a new product
from its advertising and often make the first (often a trial) purchase. For example, in case
the buyer likes the product, he will make repeat purchases. With intensive advertising of a
product, this phase of its life cycle can be reduced from several years to a few months or
weeks (Carter, 1986). In terms of growth products may lead to increased advertising the
majority of people will learn about the new product and will agree to make their first
purchase. In addition, it is possible that advertising persuades many buyers to buy the
product once again. On the graph the curve is shifted up and extension to the right.
66 The subsiding sizzle of advertising history: Methodological and theoretical challenges in the post advertising age.
Stefan Schwarzkopf. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. 2011

29
2.4 Conclusion
It is important to conclude that advertising largely depend on economical function to
stimulate sales and increase the volume of profits from the sale of a certain product for a
certain unit of time. It also focuses on social function, marketing function, specific forms of
communication linked to advertisers and consumer audience by the means of information
channels. The most important advertisements focus on informing buyers and distributors
about the functions, scope, basic characteristics, and the name of a new product and
adverting as significant investment that exceeds the profits. The biggest challenge facing
any advertising or marketing company is that of technological advancement. The
challenges are the recalibration of the relationship between marketing, advertisers and IT.
It is these technological challenges and changing world of advertising that must be
overcome to ensure advertisers can keep up with their gadget obsessed consumers and
clients. It is imperative to ascertain that companies usually do not make any advertising of
its product and remove it from the market. Effects of advertising erupt on the sales that go
much faster than it would go if the product was not advertised at all. This also improves
effective communication, services and product delivery and well as efficiency with new
approaches to business transactions and growth to increase customer loyalty on
organizational products and services as ascertained by (Glushakova, 1999).

30
CHAPTER THREE
ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, REGIONAL AND DOMESTIC ASPECTS RELATING
TO LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS
3.0 Introduction
The purpose of this chapter presents the perspective of international and case law relating
to legal adverting, regional understanding of the legal advertising in some neighborhood
countries particularly in African states. It also examined domestic laws relating to legal

31
advertising especially under the Advocates Act Cap 267 and lawyer freedom of expression
as human right and fundamental laws in Uganda on domestic legislations.
3.1 Analysis of International law on legal/lawyers advertising in developed countries
Over the years, the regulation of lawyer advertising has swung from one extreme to
another and come to a sudden halt at its current position where it ambivalently hovers
between the two. At the one extreme, the regulation once consisted of a longstanding
blanket prohibition on all lawyer advertising. At the other extreme, and with the blink of an
eye, the nationwide ban was lifted and the U.S. Supreme Court expressed its decisive
recognition of lawyer advertising as commercial free speech protected under the First
Amendment.
Nevertheless, the Supreme Court left the authority in the states’ hands to continue
regulating lawyer advertising, and the state regulators have pursued that mandate without
much consistency. With ever-changing technologies, which allow for instantaneous and
global communication, regulation has become challenging for regulators and practicing
attorneys alike who strive to assure that attorney advertising is compliant under both
evolving rules and new technology. This means that lawyers wanting to embrace these new
technologies have been reluctant to do so out of concern that they will not comply with
lawyer advertising regulation.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
In the United States and to certain extent, lawyers are prohibited but given priority in some
advertising areas only guided by Code of Professional Responsibility (CPR) and Canon of
Professional Ethics (CPE). The most prominent case is that of the state bar association
where the court left this responsibility for the state to regulate legal advertising. However,
although the Bates court invalidated an absolute prohibition on lawyer advertising, it
nonetheless left the door open for states to regulate advertising. For example, states
retained the authority to prohibit false, deceptive, or misleading advertising, and to place
reasonable restrictions on time, place, and manner of advertising seen mostly in the ruling

32
and on regulations of the case of Bates Case67. It was also witnessed that in declining to
consider the full range of potential problems for lawyers when advertising, the Court
defaulted to the state bars to apply Bates and revise existing regulations accordingly.68 This
undefined scope of regulation bolstered the longstanding reluctance to permit lawyer
advertising. Most state bars narrowly construed Bates and thereby preserved as much of
the traditional view of advertising as unprofessional as could withstand constitutional
challenge.69
It was realized two years after the decision, that the state bars’ reaction to Bates was
“hesitant and inconsistent,” as fifteen states had not drafted any new lawyer advertising
standards.70 By 1983, however, the ABA adopted its Model Rules of Professional Conduct.71
In the Model Rules, the ABA expressly permitted advertising, as Rule 7.2(a) stated, “subject
to the requirements of Rules 7.1 and 7.3, a lawyer may advertise services through public
media, such as a telephone directory, legal directory, newspaper or other periodical,
outdoor advertising, radio or television, or through written or recorded communication.”72
Many states then followed suit, enacting various advertising regulations and attempting to
straddle the fine line between advertising as a constitutionally protected speech and
misleading advertising to guide lawyers properly.73
Therefore, lawyer advertising is regulated to maintain integrity and until recently lawyers
are still prohibited to certain aspects on advertising their legal services. However, lawyers’
67 Ibid.
68 “Underlying all of the post-Bates amendments is the theory that Bates declared a general right to advertise, leaving to
the states a regulatory power to prescribe the form, content, and forum of lawyer advertising.” Boden, supra note 10, at
555.
69 Id.; see also in re R.M.J., 455 U.S. 191, 200 (1982) (“the decision in Bates nevertheless was a narrow one. The Court
emphasized that advertising by lawyers still could be regulated.”).
70 Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr., Russell G. Pearce & Jeffrey W. Stempel, Why Lawyers Should Be Allowed to Advertise: A Market
Analysis of Legal Services, 58 N.Y.U. L. REV. 1084, 1086.
71 Id. at 1087.
72 MODEL RULES OF PROF’L CONDUCT R. 7.2 (AM. BAR ASS’N 1983).
73 Jan L. Jacobowitz & Gayland O. Hethcoat II, Endless Pursuit: Capturing Technology at the Intersection of the First
Amendment and Attorney Advertising, 17 J. TECH. L. & POL’Y 63, 64 (2012); R. Michael Hoefges, Regulating Professional
Services Advertising: Current Constitutional Parameters and Issues Under the First Amendment Commercial Speech Doctrine,
24 CARDOZO J. ARTS & ENT. L. J. 953 (2007); Rodney A. Smolla, Lawyer Advertising and the Dignity of the Profession, 59
ARK L. REV. 437 (2006). See also in re R.M.J., 455 U.S. at 193 (“the Committee . . . revised that court’s Rule 4 regulating
lawyer advertising. . .. [and] sought to ‘strike a midpoint between prohibition and unlimited advertising,’ and the revised
regulation of advertising, adopted with slight modification by the State Supreme Court, represents a compromise. Lawyer
advertising is permitted, but it is restricted to certain categories of information, and in some instances, to certain specified
language.”).

33
rights are essential and freedom of expression. Federal courts have continued to apply the
Central Hudson test to balance a lawyer’s First Amendment rights with the state’s interest
in regulating lawyer advertising and preventing deception of the public. Five notable cases
have been brought in the last decade: Alexander v. Cahill,74 Public Citizen v. Louisiana
Attorney Disciplinary Board,75 Harrell v. The Florida Bar.76 Searcy et al. v. The Florida
Bar,77 and Rubenstein v. The Florida Bar78. However, applying the Central Hudson test,
the district court concluded that the two advertising rules impermissibly restricted the
attorney’s First Amendment rights.79 First, the court found that both the slogan and
intended use of background sounds were neither actually nor inherently misleading80.
Next, the court concluded that the State had two substantial interests: first, an interest in
“ensuring that the public has access to information that is not misleading to assist the
public in the comparison and selection of attorneys,” and second, an interest in “preventing
the erosion of the public’s confidence and trust in the judicial system and curbing activities
that negatively affect the administration of justice.”81
EUROPE
In the Europe, the legal professions in European countries frowned upon or prohibited
advertising by lawyers. However, the adoption of the Code of Conduct for Lawyers in the
European Union (CCBE Code), permits lawyer advertising82 along with the Lawyers’
Services Directive, led to Member states of the European Union (EU) to review rules of
practice and code for legal professions.83These differences are exacerbated by the fact that
most countries have different categories of legal professionals, each separately governed
74 598 F.3d 79 (2d Cir. 2010) (New York Bar Rules).
75 632 F.3d 212 (5th Cir. 2011) (Louisiana Bar Rules).
76 915 F. Supp. 2d 1285, 1311 (M.D. Fla. 2011) (Florida Bar Rules).
77 Complaint, No. 4:13CV00664, 2013 WL 6493683 (N.D. Fla. Dec. 11, 2013). (Florida Bar Rules). See also Florida Law Firm
Challenges Bar’s New Advertising Restrictions, 23 NO. 8 WLJ. PROF’L LIAB. 4 (Jan. 23, 2014).
78 No. 14-CIV-20786, 2014 WL 6979574 (S.D. Fla. Dec. 9, 2014) (Florida Bar Rules).
79 Harrell, 915 F. Supp. 2d at 1309-10.
80 Ibid.
81 Ibid.
82 CCBE CODE OF CONDUCT FOR LAWYERS IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY R. 2.6 (2002), http://www.ccbe.org/ (last
visited Feb. 5th, 2018) [hereinafter CCBE CODE]. The Code of Conduct for Lawyers in the European Union was originally
adopted at the CCBE Plenary Session held on October 28, 1988 and subsequently amended during the CCBE Plenary
Sessions on November 28, 1998 and December 6, 2002.
83 Council Directive 77/249 of 22 March 1977 to Facilitate the Effective Exercise by Lawyers of Freedom to Provide
Services, 1977 O.J. (L 78) 17 [hereinafter Lawyers’ Services Directive].

34
by its own rules.84 In countries with civil law based legal systems, “codes of conduct”
governing the practice of law are generally “applicable only to a lawyer with the right of
audience,” meaning a lawyer “who may represent clients in court.”85 This however can
have significant impact on the lawyers advertising their legal services, given the disparate
state of lawyer advertising rules among both the UK legal professions and those of the EU
Member States.86 These can be described as “both a ‘legal ethics’ code and a ‘conflict of law’
code one of the General Principles of the initial 1988 CCBE Code devoted to the personal
publicity of a lawyer87although amended in 1998, the provisions on personal publicity in
the CCBE Code remained unchanged.88 Not asserting a general standard on publicity, this
section of the Code operated as a conflict-of-laws provision rather than as a rule of
substantive law.89 For example, the 1998 version specifically addressed personal publicity
as follows:
2.6.1 A lawyer should not advertise or seek personal publicity where this is not permitted. In
other cases, a lawyer should only advertise or seek personal publicity to the extent and in the
manner permitted by the rules to which he is subject.
2.6.2 Advertising and personal publicity shall be regarded as taking place where it is
permitted, if the lawyer concerned shows that it was placed for the purpose of reaching clients
or potential clients located where such advertising or personal publicity is permitted and its
communication elsewhere is incidental.90
84 See Mary C. Daly, The Dichotomy Between Standards and Rules: A New Way of Understanding the Differences in
Perceptions of Lawyer Codes of Conduct by U.S. and Foreign Lawyers, 32 VAND. J. TRANSNAT’L L. 1117, 1148 (1999).
85 Ibid.
86 Ibid.
87 The eight General Principles of the CCBE Code are as follows: (1) Independence; (2) Trust and Personal Integrity; (3)
Confidentiality; (4) Respect for the Rules of Other Bars and Law Societies; (5) Incompatible Occupations; (6) Personal
Publicity; (7) the Client’s Interest; and (8) Limitation of Lawyer’s Liability Towards His Client. See CCBE CODE, supra note
1, Rs. 2.1-2.8.
88 Changes to the CCBE Code publicity provisions were considered in 1998, but ultimately rejected. See Report to the
Presidency of CCBE Concerning Revision of Certain Articles in CCBE’s Code of Conduct § 2.1 (Sept. 6, 2002),
http://arizonajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Hill.pdf accessed on (Feb. 14th 2018.)
89 Ibid
90 CCBE CODE OF CONDUCT FOR LAWYERS IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY R. 2.6 (1998),
http://www.ccbe.eu/fileadmin/speciality_distribution/public/documents/CSR/CSR_Guides___recommendations/EN_CSR
_20080630_CSR-and-the-role-of-the-legal-profession-A-guide-for-European-Lawyers-update-n-2.pdf (last visited Feb.
16th , 2018).

35
For example, a lawyer who is permitted to advertise in his Home Member State may place
an advertisement in a newspaper published there which circulates primarily in that
Member State, even though some issues may circulate in other Member States where
lawyers are not permitted to advertise. He may not, however, place an advertisement in a
newspaper whose circulation is directed wholly or mainly at a territory where lawyers are
not permitted to advertise in that way.91
ENGLAND & WALES
The code of conduct of the Bar of England and Wales prescribes what is and isn’t acceptable
for attorney advertisement. It provides for advertising and publicity in section 710 as
follows:
Subject to paragraph 710.2 a barrister may engage in any advertising or promotion in
connection with his practice which conforms to the British Codes of Advertising and Sales
Promotion and such advertising or promotion may include:
a) photographs or other illustrations of the barrister; b) statements of rates and methods of charging;
c) statements about the nature and extent of the barrister’s services; d) information about any case in
which the barrister has appeared (including the name of any client for whom the barrister acted)
where such information has already become publicly available or, where it has not already become
publicly available, with the express prior written consent of the lay client.92
And paragraph 710.2 states:
Advertising or promotion must not:
a) be inaccurate or likely to mislead; b) be likely to diminish public confidence in the legal profession
or the administration of justice or otherwise bring the legal profession into disrepute; c) make direct
comparisons in terms of quality with or criticisms of other identifiable persons (whether they be
barristers or members of any other profession); d) include statements about the barrister’s success
rate; e) indicate or imply any willingness to accept instructions or any intention to restrict the persons
91 Explanatory Memorandum and Commentary on the CCBE Code of Conduct for Lawyers in the European Community,
reprinted in Terry, supra note 26, app. C, at 80.
92 Lay client is defined in section 1001 to mean the person on whose behalf a practicing barrister (or where appropriate in
the case of an employed barrister his employer) is instructed.

36
from whom instructions may be accepted otherwise than in accordance with this Code; f) be so
frequent or obtrusive as to cause annoyance to those to whom it is directed.93
The above rules try to achieve a delicate balance between protecting the public, and the
administration of justice, while recognizing the need for the advocate to advertise his or
her services.
SOUTH AFRICA
The South African legal profession is divided into advocates (barristers) and attorneys
(solicitors), and dual practice is not permitted. Clients approach attorneys who in turn
instruct advocates. Thus, the advocates’ profession is a referral profession.94 The rules on
professional conduct are contained in the Uniform Rules of Professional Ethics,95 and Rule
4.17 concerns advertising. Advocates are permitted to advertise, and the rule specifically
provides that “an advertisement must be factually true and must not be of a kind that is or
might reasonably be regarded as: false, misleading or deceptive; in contravention of any
legislation; vulgar, sensational or otherwise such as would bring a court, the counsel,
another counsel or the legal profession into disrepute or ridicule.”96 Further, “counsel may
on the basis of specialized qualification or experience and with the prior approval of his or
her Bar Council advertise or hold himself or herself out as being a specialist or as offering
specialist services.”97
3.2 Regional laws on legal/lawyer advertising in LDCs
The question of lawyer advertising pushes far from developed countries to less developed.
This also means that each country its own laws on advertising for the legal professions and
may vary according the nature of state regulations.
Kenya
93 Adopted from the bar standards board website, https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/, pp. 7-5 & 7-6, visited Feb.
22nd 2018.
94 General Council of the Bar of South Africa,
http://www.sabar.co.za/GCB%20CONSTITUTION%20Amendments%202015%20v2.doc, visited on Feb. 28th 2018.
95 See: http://www.sabar.co.za/GCB-UniformRules-of-Ethics-updated-July2012.pdf, accessed on March 7th 2018.
96 Rule 4.17.2 (1-3).
97 Rule 4.17.3.

37
In East African countries like Kenya, lawyer advertising is prohibited as provided in the
Advocates Act Cap 16 of the laws of Kenya. However, the Advocates Act and Section 32
provides for the following regulations;
(1) Notwithstanding that an advocate has been issued with a practicing certificate under this Act, he
shall not engage in practice on his own behalf either full-time or part time unless he has practiced in
Kenya continuously on a full-time basis for a period of not less than two years after obtaining the first
practicing certificate in a salaried post either as an employee in the office of the Attorney-General or
an organization approved by the Council of Legal Education or of an advocate who has been engaged
in continuous fulltime private practice on his own behalf in Kenya for a period of not less than five
years.
(2) The person employing an advocate under this section shall in the prescribed form notify the
secretary to the Council of Legal Education and the Registrar of the High Court of the commencement
and the termination of the employment at the time of commencement and at the termination.
However, Rule 2 of the Advocates (Practice) Rules provides as follows;
No advocate may directly or indirectly apply for or seek instructions for professional business,
do or permit in carrying on his practice any act or thing which can be reasonably regarded as
advertising or as calculated to attract business unfairly.
In the case of Okenyo Omwansa George & another v Attorney General & others [2012]
eKLR, the petitioners affirmed that rule 2 of the Advocates (Practice) Rules of the
Advocates Act (Chapter 16 of the Laws of Kenya) imposes unreasonable restrictions that
bar advocates from advertising. The constitutionality of rule 2 of the Advocates (Practice)
Rules was argued by Mr. Omwansa, the 1st petitioner who submitted that Article 46 of the
Constitution provides for consumers right to the information to gain the full benefit of
goods and services offered by either ‘a public entity or a private person.’ The petitioners
argued that legal services are included in the definition and by prohibiting advertising, rule
2 essentially suffocates and constrains a consumer’s right to have access to information
regarding where, when, from whom and how to get the services of an advocate or even
what issues can be dealt with by an advocate.

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE LEGAL REGIME ON ADVERTISING FOR LAWYERS IN UGANDA

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