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. Legal ethics

New “Brick and Mortar” column out this week (+ 2 other things you should read)

Unfortunately, it does not appear to be up and online as of yet at The Memphis Bar‘s website, but the latest issue of The Memphis Lawyer is out, and I have a column in it.  The column — The Revised RPC 7.3(b)(3): The Road to Constitutional Infirmity is Paved With Good Intentions — talks about a revision […]

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. Legal ethics

Coming to praise rather than to bury – West Virginia edition

Some, including possibly me, will argue that the greatest thing to come out of West Virginia is the My Brother, My Brother, and Me podcast.  But today, I write about another very positive contribution out of West Virginia, a very good, very thorough ethics opinion that overflows with common-sense with respect to social media issues for […]

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. Legal ethics

Bad ethics opinion or the worst ethics opinion? – Ohio 2015-2 edition

Let’s play a little game called:  Bad ethics opinion or the worst ethics opinion? Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Ohio Board of Professional Conduct issued Opinion 2015-2 about whether/how a lawyer presenting at a legal seminar can distribute brochures to prospective clients and whether the lawyer can answer legal questions posed by the […]

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. Legal ethics

I give you sprinkles today in hopes you will help me make it rain tomorrow?

About three months ago, I wrote about a New York ethics opinion that blessed a marketing effort that I stressed would likely be unethical in Tennessee.  That situation involved a lawyer giving client’s a rebate if they agreed to post a review of the lawyer’s work at an online site. In a fairly decent sign […]

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. Legal ethics

When is a phone not a phone?

In a world where people use their smart phones for seemingly everything, including actually talking to other people on the phone from time-to-time, an interesting ethics issue has been percolating in the world of attorney advertising.  Namely, for purposes of the ethics rules that exist to restrict how lawyers can go out about actively soliciting […]

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. Legal ethics

Why blog posts aren’t, and shouldn’t try to be, solicitations of clients.

So this little blogpost from a Michigan bankruptcy attorney that went viral would be a perfect example to use to answer a question I get asked quite frequently:  When do I have to worry about something I post online being treated as a solicitation of a client under the ethics rules?  It would be a […]

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. Legal ethics

Social media and advertising issues

Another bar association has recently issued an ethics opinion  over whether/how lawyers can make use of particular types of social media, whether such use constitutes advertising, and related issues.  The particular ethics opinion in question was issued March 10, 2015 by the New York County Lawyers Association and deals with LinkedIn. Many of the questions addressed […]

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. Legal ethics

Two ethics rule revisions on the way … one good, one not-so-much

After putting proposals out for public comment in 2014, the Tennessee Supreme Court in the span of a week in February 2015 ordered changes to Tennessee’s lawyer ethics rules that will each take effect on May 1, 2015.  For those lawyers who favor a robust view of lawyer speech rights, the two orders present a […]