Kevin O’Keefe over at LexBlog has a fantastic article discussing the question of whether ghostwritten Lawyer Blogs are unethical. This is an issue which has been percolating for some time. This has been hastened by companies such as FindLaw and other consultants feeding into the legal field’s FUD (Fear – Uncertainty – Doubt) over social media. As lawyers we are typically well behind the curve in adopting new technology and social media is no different. To combat this, lawyers have attempted to compensate by doing what most lawyers do, throw money at the problem. Unfortunately, social media battles are won by investing time instead of money. And time is not something lawyers are known to ‘give away’ very easily. Thus companies such as Findlaw and Lexis-Nexis have been making millions of dollars via lawyers trying to find the easy route into social media, taking money to quickly put up flashy websites, blogs, twitter and Facebook pages and populating those with breaking news and articles.
This is where the problem comes into play. Most often when these articles, posts or entries are published they are attributed to the lawyer/law firm on the account instead of the actual author. Unfortunately, misleading readers into thinking something was written by a lawyer runs afoul of most states’ rules of professional conduct, requiring:
A lawyer shall not make a false or misleading communication about the lawyer’s or the lawyer’s services. A communication is false or misleading if it contains a material misrepresentation of fact or law, or omits a fact necessary to make the statement considered as a whole not materially misleading.
As the Kevin’s article suggests, these posts and articles written under the auspices of being written by lawyers gives the impression of legal advise or opinions when in fact they are most likely written by college students at best. Of course, this may explain some of the content I have seen on many lawyers’ websites, but more importantly it goes to something far more important that the rules of professional conduct, it contributes to the public’s view of lawyers as liars and cheats who will do anything to make/save a buck. Let’s be honest, most legal blogs are not there to educate other lawyers, though they may do so as a bonus. They exist to increase search engine rankings and to improve the overall status of the lawyer/law firm who write them, to give them credibility in the area of law they practice. Taking credit for an informational article about the law that was actually written by a college student can hardly be deemed credible or trustworthy, neither to the public or other lawyers.
While I am not suggesting any ethics opinions are necessary to curb this practice, I would hope the members of the bar in general would refrain from this blatant degradation of our profession. As a self-proclaimed self-governing body, should not attorneys aspire to be seen better than this? Should we not encourage each other to something greater? Social media is an amazing tool which, when used properly, can be a boon to any business, including the law. But it can also be the converse, just another tool to artificially inflate a company and try and fool the readers into thinking something is what it isn’t. As Kevin O’Keefe aptly put it, “…this would be one that would draw a ton of publicity on and offline. Nothing gets more sensationalized when it comes to legal news today than lawyers and social media.” Or as we used to say in High School, “Don’t be THAT guy”.
A special thanks to Kevin O’Keefe for the article which prompted this post. If you have not read the original, head on over to his blog at kevin.lexblog.com and check it and the rest of his site out.