Bates Debated: A Brief History of Attorney Advertising in the United States
Long before the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, attorney advertising in Britain was frowned upon by both barristers and the courts. Incitement of vexatious litigation and financing litigation without an interest in it were punishable, not by statute, but by an antiquated custom of professional disgust and shunning that could go all the way up to the bench.
