Member Mark gives consumer better choices

Members of the Illinois State Bar Association can use a new “ISBA Member Mark” to tell the public they are members, and benefit more directly from ISBA advertising appearing statewide.

Development of the ISBA Member Mark and a license agreement has been a project of the ISBA Committee on Strategic Marketing for Illinois Lawyers. Members can access and complete the license agreement by entering their member number at http://www.isba.org/membermark.

“A member’s display of the ISBA Member Mark will enable consumers to choose with greater confidence an attorney who can help them with their legal needs,” said ISBA president Joseph G. Bisceglia.

ISBA members, he noted, have access to a number of member services that help them stay abreast of new developments in the law. These include free electronic legal research, quality continuing legal education courses and the option to belong to any of 35 substantive law sections.

To use the Member Mark, ISBA members will sign a licensing agreement, verifying their active member status and agreeing to use the mark only on business cards, letterhead, envelopes, in signage at a member’s office or building, web site, print advertising in a newspaper or magazine, email signature available on some email software and/or direct mail solicitations distributed via the U.S. mail.

In signing the agreement, a member acknowledges that ISBA is not certifying his or her legal work.

Members will be prohibited from using the mark on pop-up Internet ads, email blasts to non-clients, press releases, goods such as pens or shirts, advertising on television or in a phone directory, on billboards, in a political campaign or in promoting non-legal services.

Law firms with 100 percent ISBA members also can use a Member Firm Mark under a similar license agreement.

Development of the Member Mark coincides with a statewide marketing campaign undertaken by ISBA that emphasizes the desirability of obtaining professional help when confronted by a legal matter. Ads appear weekly in more than 260 Illinois newspapers, and include the tagline “Who’s on your side? Ask if your lawyer is a member of ISBA.”

“Our research indicates that the public trusts the Illinois State Bar Association as a source of reliable information about legal matters,” Bisceglia said. “Use of the Member Mark is intended to help consumers find legal services from professionals who share the ISBA’s commitment to professional standards.”

Members who have questions about the license agreement or use of the Member Mark should contact Ann Boucher in the ISBA Membership Dept., (800)252-8908.