Respondent lawyer referral service and an individual Florida attorney filed this action for declaratory and injunctive relief challenging, as violative of the First and Fourteenth Amendments, Florida Bar rules prohibiting personal injury lawyers from sending targeted direct-mail solicitations to victims and their relatives for 30 days following an accident or disaster. The District Court entered summary judgment for the plaintiffs, relying on Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350, and subsequent cases. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed on similar grounds.

Held:

In the circumstances presented here, the Florida Bar rules do not violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Pp. 3-16.

(a) Bates and its progeny establish that lawyer advertising is commercial speech and, as such, is accorded only a limited measure of First Amendment protection. Under the "intermediate" scrutiny framework set forth in Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commn of N. Y., 447 U.S. 557, a restriction on commercial speech that, like the advertising