Monday, February 7, 2011

Model Rule 7.4 and how meta tags can get you disbarred

This blog presents an interesting issue that most would not even consider: meta tags.

As the attorney blogger explains, “Meta tags are words and phrases built into the website but only visible when you switch from the normal page view to a reveal codes type of view that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the page.”

Model Rule 7.4 prohibits the use of the word “specialize” unless “the lawyer has been certified as a specialist by an organization that has been approved by the ABA.”

How this fits in the context of blogging: By a strict reading of this rule, if a lawyer uses a meta tag such as the word “specialize,” they have breached the code of ethics unless they can show that they were “certified as a specialist by an organization that has been approved by the ABA.”

Is this really what the ABA intended when it wrote Rule 7.4? This problem shows that, unquestionably, the Model Rules as they currently stand are not equipped to handle the countless issues that may arise regarding the use of lawyers and blogging.

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