Ethics of Web Marketing, Blogging and Social Media for Attorneys

As social media has become entwined with our personal and professional lives, attorneys must be aware of their ethical obligations. Many attorneys on a regular basis share information by blogging, posting, commenting, publishing and even podcasting. When putting this information out for the whole world to see, they must be sure they are not committing any ethical violations.  

The presentation will focus on the following;

Blogging

• Is it advertising?

• Where should you host it, on your firm website or independently?

• Can you discuss your cases and experiences?

• Can you be sued for what you write?

• Ghostwritten blogs                                         

Online Reviews

• Can you ask clients to leave for you?

• Can you respond to negative or misleading reviews? Should you?              

Use of social media to promote your practice

• Profiles on Public Networking sites

• How the use of social media and search engine optimization can sidestep the “No solicitation” rule

• Leaving reviews for other attorneys

• Keeping personal and professional pages separate

• Retention of media

• Disclaimers

• Your comments on social media platforms

Learning Objectives: 

1. Recognize how the rules of professional conduct apply to attorney use of social media
2. Identify ethical obligations that might arise when attorneys use social media
   

This course originally appeared as a part of our June 2017 Bridge the Gap Event.