Lawyers: Don’t Sweat the Online Stuff
Following the rise of the internet, a cohort of once-dominant industries, including newspaper, music, and film companies all scrambled to adapt to emerging internet culture.
Now, the question for lawyers is: how will you adapt?
Over the past few years, a group of lawyers and law professors has answered that question by creating a community “blawgosphere” that continually shares legal news, opinions, and humor.
Kevin O’Keefe, the CEO of the LexBlog Network and author of Real Lawyers Have Blogs, for one, has championed this transition from old-world representation to internet-savvy lawyers. But, quoting popular author Doc Searls, O’Keefe warns that lawyers can go too far when it comes to building a personal brand. As Searls advises, “build a reputation by doing good work. Put that work where others can judge its value…Never promote for its own sake.”
I suspect that the lawyers yet to join the online community hold back for two reasons: computer incompetence and/or a fear of appearing to violate Searls’ advice. Fortunately, those fears can be assuaged by following a few key guidelines, and updating state laws that regulate lawyer marketing.
Last November, the American Bar Association’s Commission on Ethics released a report on “Preliminary Issues Online,” which warned that “the accelerating pace of technological innovation and the increase in globalized law practice raise serious questions about whether existing ethical rules and regulatory structures adequately address the realities and challenges of 21st Century law practice.”
Later, addressing lawyer accountability on the state level, the ABA asked “should all state lawyer disciplinary agencies and/or state bar associations make information about public lawyer regulatory actions available on the internet?” Avvo’s general counsel Josh King responded with an emphatic yes. “Every state should make public disciplinary decisions publicly available,” he wrote.
Recognizing the overwhelming exodus among lawyers toward greater online presence, states like California and Maine have developed progressive regulations governing marketing and client interaction online. Other states, like Florida and New York, have been less internet-friendly. Florida, for example, considers sending friend requests on Facebook unlawful solicitation, and says that attorney websites cannot disclose past results on their websites without a disclaimer. Both practices are expressly permitted in California.
That the public is critical of lawyers is nothing new. In movies, television and daily conversation, people relish jokes about the supposedly greedy, deceptive nature of the legal profession. By using social media to share interesting information or connect with others interested in common subjects, lawyers can begin to distance themselves from this misconception. But, if social media is misused, as the one-sided echo chamber designed to drive profits that Searls criticizes, lawyers will end up affirming every stereotype in the book.
The key to ethical online interaction is pretty clear. First, check your state’s guidelines to ensure that it doesn’t view social media use as unlawful. Second, go out of your way to separate your firm’s online advertising from its social media presence. And finally, if you blog, tweet, or use Facebook, do so to share information, not preach about your firm’s greatness.
As the next generation of lawyers joins the online community, they’re sure to be accompanied by an entirely new generation of online resources that will further complicate the line between online marketing and ethical use of social media. But as long as states are clear about what is and is not kosher, and lawyers remain conscious of their own ethical standards, the internet won’t force the profession to suffer the newspaper’s online fate.
About the Author: Ben Buchwalter is Director of Client Outreach for GJEL Accident Attorneys in northern California. Before joining GJEL, Ben studied political science at Haverford College and worked as a writer and researcher for Mother Jones Magazine and Talking Points Memo. Ben enjoys skiing, public transportation, and television detective dramas. Find GJEL at www.gjel.com, the blog at www.gjel.com/blog or on Twitter as @GJELblogger.
May 11th, 2010 at 10:27 am
[...] over at the Avvo Blog are running a guest post I wrote recently about the fine line separating acceptable use of social media and the tendency among some lawyers to go overboard, to appear overbearing online. Though an [...]
May 13th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Good insight Ben. One liine grabbed me though “First, check your state’s guidelines to ensure that it doesn’t view social media use as unlawful. but is there a state that limits the use of social media in any way?”
Is there a state that limits the use of social media in any way?
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 am
Kevin, Florida has specific restrictions on social media (http://www.floridabar.org/TFB/TFBLawReg.nsf/9dad7bbda218afe885257002004833c5/a502e8b302def7a5852576e3004fc685!OpenDocument) and most state RPCs limit certain use cases of social media (e.g., NY’s ad rules would preclude using Twitter searches to solicit personal injury clients).
Restrictions like Florida’s are overreaching and likely unconstitutional, but attorneys not wishing to be test cases for enforcement should be mindful of where the boundaries stand right now.