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New York Bar May Crack Down on Blogging Lawyers
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Oct 26, 2006 03:46 PM
from the barred-from-blogging dept.
from the barred-from-blogging dept.
An anonymous reader writes "While you might not guess it from watching late night TV, advertisements by lawyers are regulated by a web of regulations intended to protect potential clients from deceptive claims in such ads. Generally, these rules require lawyers to submit their ads to a review board, often with a filing fee paid with each new advertisement. The New York bar has proposed new rules which would define blogging as advertising. Should these rules be enacted, any New York lawyer who blogs on any legal topic in New York would be required to submit any new blog post to the New York Bar for review. For New York lawyers who write frequently updated blogs, this could force them to make multiple (and potentially expensive) reports to the New York Bar every single day."
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Or... (Score:5, Funny)
Or they could just stop blogging and do the job i'm paying them $100/hr to do.
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$100/hr??? 99% of my clients are lawyers and they regularly bill upwards of $300/hr
Of all the people to attempt to deprive of their rights, lawyers would be right at the bottom of my list. They seem quite well equipped to defend themselves.
So yeah, I'm not remotely worried about this. If Paypal wanted to prevent homeless people from asking for spare change via Paypal over the internet, then I guess I'd take even that a little more seriously.
Re:Or... (Score:4, Interesting)
He normally goes upwards of $1K+/Hr. His Jr. lawyers in his firm are $250-500/hr and do most the work. He usually only bills his hours when the client insists he handle the case, or when in court and such.
I helped him with his PBX and a couple other little PC things. He was quoted an absurd ammount of money (to the tune of $8K) for what took me about an hour or so to do. I told him "no worries" and went out to lunch with him (he bought) and that was good enough for me.
Some years later I had a *real issue* at work with a way out of control manager (involved verbal and physical abuse, threats, and a knife). Gary gave me about 10 hours of his firms time and saved me from making some stupid, but not so obvious, mistakes when dealing with HR and legal. The end result is that I am still employed (so unfortunately is the manager) and I will never have to work with or under him again.
FF another few years to the link in my sig, again Gary to the rescue. He proof read my response to the C&D letter and blessed it as "an excellent response" along with some other wonder advice.
Moral? It never hurts to have an excellent lawyer think he owes you more than he does
-nB
Sorry for the ramble, just got going and wandered around O_o
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When I was in college I worked at a mom and pop PC store. Mom and pop we're unfortunately going through a terrible divorce that involved the insurance saleswoman next door. My boss got a bill from his lawyer one day and called me into his office. His lawyer had a 30 minute minimum and billed him 30 minutes each for 1 or 2 minute phone calls. He was pissed. Anyway, the divorce was finalized and several months later his lawyer started calling with PC problems. I was instructed to carefu
Re:Or... (Score:4, Insightful)
I imagine the New York Bar has some pretty good lawyers of their own.
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The bar association can condition the practice of law on adherence to regulations that, were they laws rather than conditions attached to the practice of law, would be Constitutionally barred, because practicing law isn't a right.
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Assuming that the bar association is a private organization, I agree that they have the perogative to certify (or not certify) whoever they wish. However, one thing I've never seen properly explained: what keeps someone who isn't certified by the bar association from practicing
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In Washington state for example, the State Bar Act [wa.gov] defines who can and cannot practice law under various circumstances. It looks like the meat of the prohibition is at RCW 2.48.170 [wa.gov] and RCW 2.48.180(2) & (3) [wa.gov]. So google for your state's statutes -- they're almost certainly provided free online. This isn't legal advice.
Re:Or... (Score:5, Funny)
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To blog or not to blog (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah, I'm tired of searching out Lawyer's blogs to see who has the most annoying 1-800-ASK-____ phone number because late night TV doesn't show me enough of them.
to affect slashdot's own. (Score:2, Insightful)
I wonder if slashdot interviews would count?
Re:to affect slashdot's own. (Score:4, Insightful)
"Too bad for Newyorkcountrylawyer and his blog. I wonder if slashdot interviews would count?"
If those rules go into effect, both of my blogs, Recording Industry vs. The People [blogspot.com], and Ohio Election Fraud (formerly "Fairness") [blogspot.com], along with my web sites, info.riaalawsuits.us [riaalawsuits.us] and Ohio Election 2004 [ohioelection2004.com] would be taken down, as it would be far too costly and time consuming to comply with the new rules. See my collection of articles on New York's rules and the impact they would have on lawyer blogs here [blogspot.com]j.
Fortunately, though, the various bar associations and other lawyer groups are very concerned about the rules, and are putting in detailed comments explaining how the proposed rules are too overbroad. And the Appellate Divisions have postponed the proposed effective dates, in order to give the legal community and the public at large more time to comment.
Arguably my entire membership in Slashdot would indeed count, since my profile identifies me. It would of course be impossible to comply with those rules, so I might just have to stop participating in Slashdot, which for me would be sad indeed. I have really come to enjoy it here.
Blogs by lawyers are a pretty new thing, but I think they have made a significant contribution. I think it would be a shame if we had to stop blogging just because we're lawyers.
I don't think the proposed rules will be passed in that form, so I'm not too worried.
For those of you who haven't seen the proposed rules, they're posted here [nycourts.gov].
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Missing the point (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't be absurd. It won't force them to report more, it will force them not to update their web logs, which is, no doubt, the real point.
Re:Missing the point (Score:4, Funny)
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Can you say (Score:2)
"Generally, these rules require lawyers to submit their ads to a review board, often with a filing fee paid with each new advertisement."
Some blogging... (Score:3, Insightful)
Seems to me it makes more sense to regulate based on the content than the medium, in this case, but then, I'm not a member of the NY Bar.
How many can the bar handle? (Score:3, Funny)
Misleading article (Score:5, Insightful)
Basically, it applies the limitations currently in place for print and television ads to internet ads as well, which is a reasonable step to take... regulate all advertising, or regulate none.
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I think it's reasonable to call a lawyer's blog a public communication made by that lawyer about that lawyer. And that fits the proposed definition of advertisement. That seems to be a broad definition of advertising.
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New York Bar May Crack Down on Blogging Lawyers (Score:5, Funny)
Re: New York Bar May Crack Down on Blogging Lawyer (Score:2)
Am I the only one... (Score:3, Interesting)
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Damn those people, crashing into my right to get drunk and surf for porn with the resident old drunk geezer.
Help me! (Score:5, Funny)
Another stuffy oganization fears Internet's power (Score:3, Funny)
-Nothing to see here, move along. You've seen this story before.
505 (Score:2)
Yes that and the mounting server costs as he is slashdotted to oblivion.
Who would it affect? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm no expert on Greenwald, but doesn't he live in Brazil or something? Would this still affect him? Is he still practicing NY law from another country? Or is it Thomas Ellers that live in NY while Greenwald lives in Brazil?
What will this mean... (Score:2, Funny)
Odd (Score:4, Insightful)
The first is the relevant part. I don't, on the face of it, see how this would preclude blogging. It would prevent blogging as a form of advertisement, but that's the very point of the restrictions on professional attorney and counselor publications. Advertisements for lawyers are permitted insofar, but only insofar, as the advertisement aids the public's ability to make an informed decision. Extensions of that are generally barred as being potentially misleading.
The second comment is relevant because it shows that they are technologically savvy. This gives some hope that even if this comes into force and causes problems, they will be conscious of the problems it creates and amend it appropriately. Incidentally, before this amendment, by interpretation, there appears to be some technical requirement to have every partner's name in the law firm's domain name.
Again, though, I haven't read the criticisms, and I've only given it a once-over. I don't pretend to be defending the NY bar; I don't know the arguments against it. I've just read through it and this is all I could come up with. If there is something there that unduly inhibits an attorney or counselor-at-law's ability to publish online, I would be interested in seeing that amended before it goes into force. If someone points a good argument out to me, I'll be sure to send along my comments, as a member of the bar.
The only criticism I could see was an extraterritorial clause which makes the law apply to out-of-NY lawyers who solicit or advertise their services in NY. But that seems reasonable, given the nexus between the out-of-NY lawyers and their purported NY services, and is totally unrelated to this slashdot article.
Ha! (Score:2, Funny)
Usually they're the only ones that come out ahead...
Why censor lawyers? (Score:4, Interesting)
While limitations on advertising by lawyers have been around for a long time, they seem to have their roots in in pre-democratic times, when legal representation was to available to the wealthy if at all and the very practice of law was considered a somewhat questionable activity that had to be strictly regulated in order to be kept respectable. I fail to see any justification for restrictions on the speech of lawyers different from those that apply to everyone else. Lawyers would still be deterred from false advertising and libel by the existing laws of general application. Is there any good reason that censorship by the bar associations should not be eliminated?
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The practice of law is still widely considered a somewhat questionable activity (hence the regard many people have for lawyers), and it is still one that needs to be strictly regulated (both in the view of nonlawyers and tha
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Re:Who cares (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Who cares (Score:4, Informative)
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In the example given, Glenn Greenwald's blog, his entries are no different than letters to the editor published by the NYT, or live appearances on programs such as Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
I doubt this ruling would stand up to challenge. Perhaps lawyer/bloggers could be required to remove mention of their legal practices from their blog, or change their outlet to a third-party operated blog
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Re:Your rights online? (Score:5, Interesting)
This is just one occupation that is being censored. Because it is lawyers, nobody will stand up and argue. But what other occupations can be censored to make sure that you have to have your information certified on your blogs? Medical blogs? Engineering blogs? Government watchgroup blogs that happen to have a lawyer on their staff? Nutritional blogs? Technology blogs?
If this concept is slightly extended, anyone who has to be certified in any way will have to prove every statement they make on a blog is correct (and pay the fees to do so). There are a lot of jobs that require some sort of certification from the level of operating a nuclear reactor to the level of driving a truck.
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Re:Recording Industry vs The People based in NY (Score:4, Informative)
Fortunately, though, the entire legal community in New York agrees with you as well, that it is way over the top. So I don't think the rules will go through in that overbroad format.
For those of you who haven't seen the rules, they're posted here [nycourts.gov].
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