Comments on State Ethics rules to bar blogs? Horse pucky | Real Lawyers Have Blogs

issuethewrit@gmail.com (Michael Ehline) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:14:50 -0800

I just read your tweet. Great tweet and great site man. Lawyers who want to get ahead will "follow" you for certain.

kmspace@dougcornelius.com (Doug Cornelius) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:04:07 -0800

I agree with you Kevin.

I don't think the new rules prohibit blogging. I saw the Wolfe release and was concerned as well.

http://www.lsba.org/2007InsideLSBA/documents/ethics/ProposedLARules7-1_12-2006.pdf

It looks like 7.8(g) exempts an internet presence under 7.6(b). You just need to disclose the jurisdiction where you are licensed to practice and a bona-fide office location.

That seems pretty ease to do with a blog, twitter, Avvo and other online activity.

gbeck@citizen.org (Greg) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:36:08 -0800

I wouldn't write off the buzz over the NY rules so quickly. The initial draft of the rules would have required lawyers to print out their blog posts and mail them to the state, among other things. The drafters did explicitly provide that the rules would apply to lawyer websites, so the fact that they did not even think about the effect on blogs is not a point in their favor.

The reason there was ultimately nothing to it is that the outcry among bloggers got the state to change the rules before they were implemented. Of course, even without the blog related provisions, the rules were ultimately held unconstitutional.

scott@wolfelaw.com (Scott Wolfe) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:38:37 -0800

Hey Kevin - Scott Wolfe here. We just posted a comment on the Simple Justice Blog (http://blog.simplejustice.us) in response to an article about our complaint similar to your article.

You can read this comment here: http://tinyurl.com/blognoevil2

The jist: We never said that the new ad rules "ban blogging." In fact, our complaint states that our actual website is likely exempt.

We're more concerned about speaking elsewhere.

issuethewrit@gmail.com (Michael Ehline) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 09:49:55 -0800

Didnt the Supremes already devise a rule? Wasn't it that we lawyers can engage in commercial speech?

torkzadeh@gmail.com (Reza) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:48:12 -0800

Kevin, I think its time to revisit this post. Things have certainly changed over the past few years with the addition of various social media such as twitter and attorney review sites. I would be interested to see how the various states are responding to the various blogging laws or twitter posts that attorneys are posting whether related to current cases or not.