Intellectual Property Lawyer needed

It has been suggested to me that it is completely acceptable to place images containing recognizable people in your portfolio without securing a model release.

This is completely contrary to what I have heard and read many heavy-hitting ASMP members tell me, including past presidents, as well as the resources I have read on the ASMP website on the subject. All of those have spoken without variation that a release is required because a portfolio commercial use just as a photo of a smiling healthy person in a magazine ad promoting a medication.

What does the law say in the US?

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I don't chimp.