Wakefield attorney Jon Pincince says he keeps a blog on Rhode Island legal issues, court cases, laws, legislation, social issues and political issues mostly to stay up to date on what’s happening – not to attract potential clients.
But some states see legal blogs differently, and they are talking about regulating them so they are subject to the same requirements as advertisements under each state’s rules of ethical and professional conduct for lawyers.
Rhode Island has not amended its rules of professional conduct for attorneys to include any changes relating to blogs, said David Curtin, chief disciplinary counsel of the R.I. Supreme Court Disciplinary Council.
“An attorney has a right, just like anyone else, to publicly express his or her opinion, and without government regulation,” he said. “Whether a blog is [considered] an advertisement would depend on the content of the blog.”
If an attorney’s blog were to bolster his firm’s services in a particular area, that might be considered advertising, Curtin said.
If that were the case, it would be subject to the same regulations as other forms of advertising, meaning it could not be false, deceptive or misleading, he said. And a copy of each blog posting might have to be sent to the disciplinary council prior to or within 48 hours of its dissemination.
But that determination would be made on a case-by-case basis, he said. It hasn’t happened yet.
That might be because only three Rhode Island attorneys maintain blogs, and all three are relatively new and purely informative.
Pincince, a general practice attorney with McKinney & Associates, created his blog, Rhode Island Law Journal (www.rilawjournal.com), in March. Jeffrey Padwa, a civil-justice attorney based in Warwick, created his blog, Rhode Island Nursing Home Neglect (nursinghome-injury-attorneys.com), in November. And Joshua Stockwell, a patent attorney with Barlow, Josephs & Holmes Ltd. in Providence, created his blog, Quantum Quahog (www.quantumquahog.com), about a year ago.
None has been subjected to regulation under Rhode Island’s rules of professional conduct, Curtin said, because none are considered a form of advertising.
But that doesn’t mean the attorneys aren’t attracting clients through the blogs.
Pincince said he’s had a few clients make first contact with him because they saw the blog.
Stockwell said he hopes his blog does get his firm’s name “out there” and that it encourages potential clients to contact him. Quantum Quahog contains postings of patents for which Rhode Island inventors qualify each week.
“It lets people know who’s getting patents for what,” Stockwell said. “You wouldn’t think Rhode Island is a hotbed for inventions, but things are happening.”
Padwa’s blog has not attracted potential clients. That’s not the intent, he said.
“Over time I hope to get a readership, become a place people come for a resource,” Padwa said. “The main purpose is educational.”
Padwa’s blog summarizes local and national cases related to nursing home neglect and abuse – the sector on which his practice, Padwa Law, focuses.
“I write about cases in the news around the country on a timely basis so that people can have an awareness of what’s going on,” he said. “I try to tie it into what is happening locally.”
None of the bloggers feel their blogs should be regulated as advertisements.
“It’s just pernicious,” Stockwell said. “This is First Amendment speech. You just don’t want regulation there.”
Curtin agreed that a blog on legal issues or any other issue is protected under the First Amendment. He added: “If a potential client contacts a lawyer after reading a blog, there is nothing wrong with that.”
But attorneys may solicit potential clients by direct communication over the Internet, such as via e-mail or chat rooms. The state’s attorney rules of professional conduct were recently amended to include regulations for “real-time electronic communication.”
Chat rooms, especially, raise potential ethical issues because “the lawyer may not know the identity of the other person and could be communicating with a party adverse to the attorney’s own client,” Curtin said.
Also, an attorney who gives advice in a chat room might create an attorney-client relationship that could give rise to legal malpractice issues.
Stockwell said he placed a disclaimer on his blog – stating the information posted there is for informational purposes and should not be construed as legal advice or as forming an attorney-client relationship – just to be on the safe side.
Though legal blogs have been slow to take hold in Rhode Island, Padwa said, he expects they could grow in popularity.
“[Blogs] are a chorus of voices,” he said. “There’s really good information out there, information that you don’t get from traditional sources.”
