ABA SCEPR Increases Lifetime Batting Average.

Look at me with the super seasonally timely sports reference. Baseball. In January.

I have written on quite a few occasions in the past about the perils for lawyers in responding to criticism posted about them online. Well, the ABA has issued its latest ethics opinion to address the same topic. Behold ABA Formal Ethics Opinion 496 396 – Responding to Online Criticism.

Let’s have a double-header of untimely cultural references.

Issued January 13, 2021, ABA Formal Ethics Opinion 496 is the hottest ABA ethics opinion regarding online criticism ever.

This opinion has everything. Sound rule interpretation. Meaty footnotes chock-full of research material for disciplinary cases and state ethics opinions. Acknowledgement of the important role that Barbara Streisand plays on this topic. Good practical guidance for what a lawyer might do.

Seriously, go read it.

The only quibble I have with it is its initial conclusion that online criticism alone from a client does not qualify as a “controversy” under Model Rule 1.6(b)(5). I think that is wrong, but the opinion goes on to even make my quibble pointless because they acknowledge that even if they are wrong about that, the lawyer wouldn’t need to respond online in kind to “establish a claim or defense on behalf of the lawyer” with respect to the controversy. I’d prefer that the opinion just rely upon that point rather than arguing that an online dust-up could not constitute a controversy.

To me, the point that is unassailable is that whether or not it is a “controversy” isn’t dispositive, the issue is whether an online response would be necessary to establish a claim or defense. Given how the internet works currently, the answer to that question with respect to the Model Rule, and any state that has adopted the same language, is obviously “no.”

You can access the full opinion here.

(Edited to fix my embarrassing mistake on the opinion number.)