Blogging:  Ethical considerations for the lawyer, legal implications for the client

Just how rampant are blogs?  How and why would you use them?  And – perhaps most important – why should I care?

These were some of the myriad issues discussed during a recent CLE program, "Blogging: Ethical Considerations for the Lawyer, Legal Implications for the Client," sponsored by the Law Practice Management Section; General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division; and the ABA Center for Continuing Legal Education.

Panelist Tim Stanley, CEO at Justia, Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif., tracks the rampant escalation of the creation of blogs, and says that there are now between 15,000 and 20,000 lawyer blogs. He cites the relative ease in creating and putting up blogs, as well as the low- or no- cost in building and maintaining them as reasons for the boom. Still, the popularity of blogs has surprised people, he said. 

Stanley shared a tip on creating a successful blog. Those that are more personal in nature – where a sense of the blogger's personality comes through – tend to do well, advised Stanley. 

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Fellow panelist Robert Ottinger, founder of The Ottinger Firm, offered other suggestions for business-related bloggers.  "Associate yourself with the best people in the field," including technological and marketing folks, Ottinger relayed.  This way, blogging lawyers can focus their time on writing blogs and lawyering.  One way to stand out, Ottinger continued, is to determine one's audience and make sure you write to them at their level.

The impact of blogs is increasing as quickly as the blog phenomenon is growing. It's now common to get quoted and be promoted in traditional media through one's blog.

Moderator Micah Buchdahl, vice chair of the ABA's Law Practice Management Section, cautions that blogs can be a labor issue within your firm as well as raise ethical considerations.  Buchdahl noted how some of the ABA model rules of professional conduct apply to blogging.

It's important to have policy relative to blogs in one's workplace, just as one would have policy on use of the Internet or of electronics such as e-mail, stressed William W. Bowser, a partner in the employment law section at Young Conaway Stargatt and Taylor in Wilmington, Del., who has represented both private and public employers on a range of labor and employment matters.  Blog policies should be updated and passed along periodically to employees. 

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