Solo practitioner reprimanded for website's 'lowest fees in the state' claim
A solo practitioner who once practiced law in Oakhurst, New Jersey, has been sanctioned partly for false or misleading website statements, including a claim that his law firm had the “lowest fees in the state.” Image from Shutterstock.
A solo practitioner who once practiced law in Oakhurst, New Jersey, has been sanctioned partly for false or misleading website statements, including a claim that his law firm had the “lowest fees in the state.”
The New Jersey Supreme Court reprimanded lawyer Alan N. Walkow in a Dec. 8 order, Law360 reports.
The New Jersey Supreme Court’s disciplinary review board found that two statements on Walkow’s firm website were false or misleading in violation of ethics rules. One was the lowest-fees claim, made in conjunction with a touted legal fee of $495 for real estate legal services “from contract to close.”
“It is difficult to see how respondent could have substantiated his claim,” the disciplinary review board said in an Aug. 15 decision. “He could not have known the rates of all lawyers in the state.”
In addition, the disciplinary review board said, Walkow failed to include a disclaimer that his website had not been approved by the New Jersey Supreme Court.
A second false or misleading claim was the website’s reference to “our attorneys,” even though Walkow was the only lawyer in the firm, the disciplinary review board said.
The disciplinary review board ruled for Walkow, however, on two other alleged ethics violations: using a photo of four unidentified people on his website and including this statement: “With 8 Locations in New Jersey It’s Easy to Meet for Your Free Consultation.”
The photo did not identify the four people pictured, nor did it suggest that the people were attorneys, the disciplinary review board said. As a result, there was no ethics violation.
The reference to eight locations was not a proven violation of an ethical requirement to sometimes include the words “by appointment only.” The phrase is only required when referring to virtual offices, and it’s unclear whether the locations were indeed virtual, the disciplinary review board said. The phrase is not required for a listing of satellite offices.
Walkow’s website later became associated with a different firm.
Walkow also violated ethics rules when he failed to participate in the investigation by the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics and failed to answer the ethics complaint, the disciplinary review board said.
The Committee on Attorney Advertising and the Office of Attorney Ethics repeatedly failed to receive a response from Walkow by sending letters to what investigators thought was his office and home address, the disciplinary review board said. Some letters came back as undeliverable or person not known. One email went to a firm that said it had no association with Walkow. Disciplinary notices were also published in two newspapers.
Walkow called the Committee on Attorney Advertising in February 2020 and said he had been out of the country, his law office had been closed for a year, and he was no longer practicing law. He provided a new email address, which was used to resend older communications. He called the Office of Attorney Ethics in December 2021 and said he had moved and was not getting his mail. He also said he had not practiced law “since before the COVID-19 pandemic.”
He still failed to respond to ethics inquiries, the disciplinary review board said.
Walkow was previously reprimanded for representing three clients while his license was suspended for failing to comply with requirements for continuing legal education.
Walkow has been licensed in New Jersey since 2012 and in New York since 2001.
The ABA Journal was unable to reach Walkow for comment. The phone number listed for him by New Jersey and New York courts is answered by a fax machine. An email sent to an address listed by New York courts came back as undeliverable.
