Lawyer-rating site Avvo is violating a state statute barring unauthorized use of “an individual’s identity for commercial purposes,” an Illinois lawyer has charged in a putative class-action complaint filed last week in the chancery division of Cook County Circuit Court.
Fee- based marketing plan
The gist of the complaint is that without any authorization or
What was the most important development in the legal ethics arena over the past five years? I was honored to be asked by LexBlog, the folks who provide our blog platform, to share my views on this topic on the LXBN network, which has 8,000+ blog authors. But of course, the invitation also made
Here are three very recent reminders about what not to do online. These separate stories involve an Indiana lawyer and two judges: one state and one federal. Apparently human nature makes on-line misconduct irresistible to some people, even at the cost of their licenses to practice, and the risk of other professional embarrassment.
Don’t Steele
It’s pretty circular for a legal blogger to write a blog post about — blogging. But bear with me: there’s a legal ethics issue in here. Thomson Reuters recently introduced a new product for busy lawyers who “do not have time to write articles,” but want to produce a blog. (Hat tip to @kevinokeefe over
A Florida Bar rule blocking a personal injury law firm from stating that it specializes in mass-tort cases is unconstitutional as applied, a Florida federal district court recently held. The court enjoined the Florida Bar from enforcing its Rule 4-7.14(a)(4), which prohibits statements “that a lawyer is … a specialist, an expert, or other
With the goal of positioning his on-line legal forms company as a solution to America’s access-to-justice problem, Chas Rampenthal, General Counsel of LegalZoom, zoomed through my home state last week, with two speaking engagements. I caught his speech at a breakfast meeting at my home-town bar association, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (@clemetrobar).
A panacea
Your domestic relations client has some really unfortunate Face Book posts that she put up before you filed for divorce on her behalf. Your personal injury client has some pictures on Instagram that seem to depict him riding a surfboard, despite his claimed injury. And your business client, charged with producing a defective product, has
As Willie Sutton supposedly said, he robbed banks “because that’s where the money is.” That also explains why law firms and lawyers are increasingly the targets of cyber-intrusion, particularly phishing scams. Apparently, phishing in legal waters can yield a full net of stolen information.
“Most likely” to take the bait
Verizon’s 2015 Data Breach
This might be an odd confession for a blogger, but I’ve always been a little leery of technology. I’m not a Luddite, or anything, but I’m definitely a late adopter. So I’ve been following the buzz about the coming Internet of Things with some trepidation.
In case you’ve somehow missed it, the Internet
One of your ethical duties with respect to an Internet scam is to not fall for it, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Committee on Professional Ethics has said in a new opinion.
Competent? Don’t fall for Nigerian check scam
The Committee considered the ethics rules that apply to