Internet Marketing for Attorneys an Ethics Quagmire?

Internet marketing for attorneys and lawyers is viewed by many lawyers with a high level of suspicion due to concerns about potential ethics violations.  When I moderated a panel at the Utah Bar Fall Forum last week about blogging, social media and new media for lawyers, I was struck by how worried many attendees seemed to be about somehow committing an ethics breach and getting in trouble.  Rather than being open to the new possibilities opened up by social networking and social media, many attendees were afraid that they or their colleagues would run afoul of the Utah Rules of Professional Conduct or of the ethical rules in another state.

Of particular concern to the attendees at the Fall Forum were blogging and microblogging in the law firm context.  The speed and irreversibility of publishing via the Internet were viewed by many lawyers as negatives.  One participant, for example, asked whether a Tweet posted on Twitter could be recalled.  In summary, many lawyers were extremely skeptical about using new media and social media.  The highly conservative and risk-averse attituded reminded me of law firms in the late 1990s who were considering whether to take the "plunge" into actually having a website.  Of course, virtually all lawyers now have websites.  In five to seven years, virtually all lawyers will have blogs and other social media tools for communicating and marketing their services.

Lawyers have traditionally been late adopters of new technologies, but now is the time for lawyers to put aside ethical concerns and fears.  Rather than looking for ethics rules that would prevent them from plunging into social media, lawyers should quickly examine relevant ethical rules, then proceed.  The Rules of Professional Conduct should not be viewed as a barrier for lawyers who are considering the use of social media and new media in their marketing efforts.