Bates v. State Bar of Arizona
Case Date: 05/05/1977
Court: United States Court of Appeals
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In Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977), the Supreme Court first allowed lawyers to advertise their services. By holding that lawyer advertising was a kind of commercial speech protected by the First Amendment, the Court upset the tradition among lawyers that it demeaned the profession as a whole for lawyers to advertise their services.
William C. Canby, Jr., argued for the appellants John Bates and Van O'Steen in the Supreme Court. At the time, Canby was a professor of law at Arizona State University. He currently serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. John P. Frank argued for the appellee State Bar of Arizona. Frank was a partner in the prominent Phoenix law firm of Lewis and Roca, and argued for the defendant in the seminal case of Miranda v. Arizona. Solicitor General Robert Bork argued on behalf of the U.S. government.
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