The People vs. Kreuzer, Turnwald-Wacker, Müller is a case in German law relating to advertising by law firms.
Contents
Background
In Germany, prior to 1990, it was considered professionally improper to market your law firm. Because of the opinion that the law was above advertisement, the use of a logo anywhere was forbidden, and something as innocuous as a telephone book listing was subject to scrutiny.
Prior to 1990, it was forbidden to give any sort of detailed information on your firm’s practice areas or specializations anywhere, not even in yellow page listings. Only the name of the firm, physical address and telephone numbers were allowed.
Not everyone in the legal profession agreed with this; as all other businesses were given rather free rein to market themselves in any way they chose, law firms began to question the fairness of this prohibition in their profession.
Challenge to status quo
In the 1990/1991 annual issue of the yellow pages for Nürnberg-Fürth published by Deutsche Bundespost Telekom, the listing Dr Kreuzer & Coll, Nürnberg, Germany, broke with the status quo: the listing was quietly placed and included not only the address, telephone, fax and telex numbers for the firm, but also the names of the founder of the firm, Dr. Günther Kreuzer, his partner Felix Müller, and the names of two of their attorneys as well as all of their specializations or areas of focus; Fachanwalt für Sozialrecht (Specialist for Civil Law), Fachanwalt für Arbeitsrecht (Specialist for Employment Law), Rechtsanwältin für Verkehrssachen (Lawyer for Traffic Law) and Rechtsanwalt für Familiensachen (Lawyer for Family Law).
As soon as that edition was published, there was an objection filed by a fellow member of the bar. They complained that Dr Kreuzer & Coll had broken the code of professionalism and asked for a disciplinary hearing, stating a severe breach of professional etiquette.
Court rulings
The disciplinary court, an appellant court and ultimately, the Federal Court of Justice of Germany's Senate for Law Matters returned a decision in favor of the defendants and ruled that no breach of professional etiquette had transpired as the information that was posted was true and that there was no reason that firms should not be able to give such detailed information in their listings.
The final ruling on 13 September 1993, in this landmark case "The People vs. Kreuzer, Turnwald-Wacker, Müller", opened the door for other German firms’ exploration of the field of marketing. Slowly, more and more firms began taking advantage of the lifting of this restriction to their benefit.
Current practice
Today, the use of newsletters, press releases, logos, advertisements, etc., are commonplace. While it is still forbidden to engage in the practice of "ambulance chasing", there are virtually no other restrictions on the marketing tools which law firms can use to increase their visibility in a very competitive industry.