The ABA Model Rules Make the Case for Preserving a Lawyer’s Digital Publishing in a Library
Twenty-one years ago I wrote about a lawyer’s possible ethical obligation to blog. I asked, “Why not?”
”American lawyers have a moral and social obligation to serve the public. Providing free legal information via a blog whether it be to corporate officers, in-house counsel, consumers or small business people serves the public two ways.
One, legal information will be made freely accessible 24/7 at the World’s library – the Internet. According to the Pew Foundation, the Internet is now Americans’ ‘go to’ place for information.
Two, the image of our legal profession will be improved. A recent ABA study found our reputation to be at an all-time low. In the same study, the public said we lawyers can improve our image by providing legal information to the public via the Internet, of all places.”
Today, I am citing the same ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct for the argument that lawyers and law firms should be preserving and making accessible the insight they have published over the last twenty-one years. Millions of published works by tens of thousands of legal professionals across jurisdictions around the world. That insight is at risk with websites altered, firms merging and lawyers moving on.
Per paragraph [6] of the Model Rules: As a public citizen, a lawyer should seek improvement of the law, access to the legal system, the administration of justice and the quality of service rendered by the legal profession. As a member of a learned profession, a lawyer should cultivate knowledge of the law beyond its use for clients, employ that knowledge in reform of the law and work to strengthen legal education. In addition, a lawyer should further the public’s understanding of and confidence in the rule of law and the justice system because legal institutions in a constitutional democracy depend on popular participation and support to maintain their authority.” (Emphasis added)
Paragraph [7] supplies the force behind Paragraph [6]. Preserving legal insight is perhaps not mandated, but sits squarely within the ideals of public service:
“…[A] lawyer is also guided by personal conscience and the approbation of professional peers. A lawyer should strive to attain the highest level of skill, to improve the law and the legal profession and to exemplify the legal profession’s ideals of public service.”
- Improvement of the law
- Access to the law (secondary law)
- Quality of service
- Cultivate knowledge of the law
- Employment that knowledge in reform of the law
- Strengthen legal education
- Further the public’s understanding and confidence in the rule of law
Impressive list of the reasons that lawyers and law firms should have their legal insight preserved and structured for citation as secondary law by a library. For lawyers, the judiciary and the public.
I am optimistic that most lawyers and law firms will again step up to do what they have done before. Provide access to the law, cultivate knowledge of the law, strengthen legal education and further the public’s understanding of the law. And the preservation of your existing published works will be a much smaller lift than the penning of your original publishing.