blogging

On February 28th, the Virginia Supreme Court held that a disclaimer was required under the state’s advertising rules when posting results on a website. This is the latest outcome in the seemingly never-ending battle between Horace Hunter and the Virginia State Bar. This has been a widely watched case among ethics attorneys like myself that follow the bouncing ball of state bar advertising restrictions and first amendment scholars looking at the “free speech” argument. Is the next stop the U.S. Supreme Court?

Last April (2012), I was part of an ABA CLE panel that discussed “Is Your Legal Blog Compliant? Ethical considerations in the wake of Hunter v. Virginia State Bar.” The panel included Mr. Hunter, myself, employment law blogger Molly DiBianca and noted Virginia ethics attorney Tom Spahn. We discussed and debated the many issues in the case. It is effectively a case of first impression in the law blogosphere. That was prior to the case heading up the ladder to the state supreme court. Read more about the program in Your ABA’s e-news–Blogs can be legal minefields.

Blogs have been around since the late 1990s, yet this cyberspace battle in Virginia is the first real challenge by a state bar to the often cloudy areas of interpretation. Is a blog advertising, marketing, editorial, personal, or business? Where does the First Amendment end and the Model Rules of Professional Conduct begin? Should a state bar look at a blog as marketing or something else?

This month’s Web Marketing Today column discusses the good, bad and ugly in the world of law firm blogging. As the bumper sticker says, “If you can read this, you must be on my blog.” Anyway, that in itself highlights one valuable element of blogging–in cross-promoting other marketing and publishing efforts.

I’ve selected successful blogs in the small, medium and large law firm categories to highlight approaches and styles–from Silverberg Zalantis, Young Conaway and Reed Smith. In the world of blogs, they are all operating on an even playing field.

One of the ways I know that blogging is still “where it’s at” in cyberspace is simply following the steps of my long-time web collaborator Pavel Ushakov. Between Pavel and Justia’s Tim Stanley, much of the direction and advice I give myself (and others) comes from following their paths. Tim practically shamed me into getting back on the blog bandwagon. Pavel played a pivotal role in my original transformation from “marketing attorney” to an “internet marketing attorney.” We worked together on original website projects for law firms like Morgan Lewis and Simpson Thacher back in the 90s. Remember the 90s man? He was then instrumental in creating the Internet Marketing Attorney website, IMA reviews and Nifty Fifty awards for me. And in developing my original business website and blog. Of course, as one of the true web pioneers, he has bigger fish to fry than helping me–but always responds quickly whenever I shout out for help. But his focus now is on blog development and consulting with Blogconsulting.com–with “little” clients like Adobe, Time Magazine and the Harvard Business School. But he is one of the go-to guys for blogging, and knowing what will come next.

Articles Tagged with blogging

Hunter v. Virginia State Bar: The Blog Debate Continues — Disclaimers are a must

WMT: Blogging for Lawyers – Lessons Learned