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When is attorney blogging an advertisement?

Date 02/25/2015.

Proposed Opinion 12-0006 is issued now as Formal Opinion 2016-196. Please see here: http://www.technethics.com….     In the proposed Opinion 12-0006, the California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility opined on “under what circumstances is “blogging” by an attorney subject to the requirements and restrictions of the Rules of Professional Conduct and related provisions of the State Bar […]

Catherine Foti, Social Media for Attorneys: Good Business or Ethical Minefield?

Date 11/10/2014.

Author warns New York lawyers using social media that: –          attorney advertising and solicitation rules apply to social media posts; –          attorneys must beware of “pre-defined” headings used in social media networking sites. The full text is available at: http://www.forbes…

New York State Bar Opinion 1032

Date 10/30/2014.

Committee on Professional Ethics Topic: Responding to a former client’s critical commentary on a website   Digest of the Committee: “A lawyer may not disclose confidential client information solely to respond to a former client’s criticism of the lawyer posted on a lawyer-rating website.” New York Rules of Professional Conduct: 1.6(a); 1.6(b); 1.9(c) The full […]

New York State Bar Opinion 1014

Date 08/04/2014.

Committee on Professional Ethics Topic: Solicitation, client recommendation Digest of the Committee: “Lawyer may contact prospective client recommended by current client when prospective client has made known that lawyer should contact the prospective client and the lawyer did not make any payment or give any other consideration to the current client for the recommendation.” Rules: […]

New York State Bar Opinion 1009

Date 05/21/2014.

Committee on Professional Ethics Topic:  Advertising; solicitation; press releases and tweets regarding shareholder litigation Digest of the Committee: “Press releases and tweets directed to potential clients in shareholder suits constitute advertising and solicitation. They are thus subject to retention requirements, and, if directed to New York recipients, are also subject to filing requirements. The tweets […]

ECJ decides that hyperlinking does not Violate European Copyright Law

Date 05/12/2014.

  The Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) held that the owner of a website may — without copyright holders’ authorization – redirect internet users (via hyperlinks) to protected works available on another freely accessible website. Case C‑466/12 Nils Svensson and Others v Retriever Sverige AB. A Swedish website published a list of […]

Bidding on the name of a competitor firm to obtain a sponsored link above the competitor in a Google search does not violate Wisconsin’s privacy law

Date 05/05/2014.

Under Wisconsin law use of a person’s name for advertising purposes without the person’s consent violates the right of privacy.  In Rottier, v. Cannon, 828 N.W.2d 876 (WI Ct. App. 2013), rev. denied, 839 N.W.2d 616 (2013), the defendant law firm purchased the names of the plaintiffs from Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Whenever a searcher entered the names […]

Indiana lawyer sanctioned because he used a referral website that violated ethics advertising rules

Date 04/23/2014.

In Re Anonymous, No. 45S00-1301-DI-33 (IND, April 11, 2014) On April 11, 2014 the Indiana Supreme Court concluded that an Indiana attorney (whose name was not disclosed – “Anonymous”) should be privately reprimanded because of his affiliation with a referral website (“Law Tigers”) that posted testimonials and distributed promotional material that did not contain an […]