On February 28, 2013, the Supreme Court of Virginia found that a lawyer’s blog can be considered potentially misleading commercial speech – and thus lawyer advertising – and be regulated by the Virginia State Bar. The posts predominately described cases handled by the lawyer himself where he had received a favorable result for his client.
However, the blogs only contained public information and were entitled to First Amendment protection. The Supreme Court agreed with the Circuit Court when it determined that the Virginia State Bar’s interpretation of Rule 1.6 – considering that the blog revealed information that “could embarrass or likely be detrimental to his former clients by discussing their cases on his blog without their consent” – violated the First Amendment. The state could not prohibit an attorney from discussing information about a client or former client that was not protected by attorney-client privilege.
Finally, the Supreme Court deemed that the blogs should have disclaimers to comply with Rule 7.2(a)(3).
Hunter v. Va. State Bar ex rel. Third Dist. Comm., 744 S.E.2d 611, 285 Va. 485, 2013 Va. LEXIS 28, 2013 WL 749494 is available at http://caselaw.findlaw.com…