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COMPLYING WITH THE ADVERTISING RULES WHEN PROMOTING YOUR PRACTICE ON THE INTERNET DEBRA L. BRUCE, JD, PCC Lawyer-Coach LLC 848 Little John Lane Houston, Texas 77024-3609 (713) 682-4353 [email protected] D. TODD SMITH Smith Law Group, P.C. 1250 Capital of Texas Highway South Three Cielo Center, Suite 601 Austin, Texas 78746 (512) 439-3230 [email protected] State Bar of Texas 24 th ANNUAL ADVANCED ADMINISTRATIVE LAW COURSE June 7-8, 2012 Austin CHAPTER 11

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Page 1: COMPLYING WITH THE ADVERTISING RULES WHEN … · WHEN PROMOTING YOUR PRACTICE ON THE INTERNET DEBRA L. BRUCE, JD, PCC Lawyer-Coach LLC 848 Little John Lane Houston, Texas 77024-3609

COMPLYING WITH THE ADVERTISING RULES

WHEN PROMOTING YOUR PRACTICE ON THE INTERNET

DEBRA L. BRUCE, JD, PCC

Lawyer-Coach LLC

848 Little John Lane

Houston, Texas 77024-3609

(713) 682-4353

[email protected]

D. TODD SMITH

Smith Law Group, P.C.

1250 Capital of Texas Highway South

Three Cielo Center, Suite 601

Austin, Texas 78746

(512) 439-3230

[email protected]

State Bar of Texas

24th

ANNUAL

ADVANCED ADMINISTRATIVE LAW COURSE

June 7-8, 2012

Austin

CHAPTER 11

Page 2: COMPLYING WITH THE ADVERTISING RULES WHEN … · WHEN PROMOTING YOUR PRACTICE ON THE INTERNET DEBRA L. BRUCE, JD, PCC Lawyer-Coach LLC 848 Little John Lane Houston, Texas 77024-3609
Page 3: COMPLYING WITH THE ADVERTISING RULES WHEN … · WHEN PROMOTING YOUR PRACTICE ON THE INTERNET DEBRA L. BRUCE, JD, PCC Lawyer-Coach LLC 848 Little John Lane Houston, Texas 77024-3609

Debra L. Bruce is President of Lawyer-Coach LLC, which provides executive coaching and training, customized for the needs of lawyers, law firms and legal departments. Topics include leadership, team effectiveness, time management, business development and social media. Debra is a frequent speaker and writer on law practice management topics. She practiced law for 18 years before becoming the first lawyer in Texas credentialed by the International Coach Federation. She has served as the Vice Chair of the Law Practice Management Committee of the State Bar of Texas and the Chair of the HBA Law Practice Management Section, as well as the leader of the Houston chapter of the International Coach Federation.

Page 4: COMPLYING WITH THE ADVERTISING RULES WHEN … · WHEN PROMOTING YOUR PRACTICE ON THE INTERNET DEBRA L. BRUCE, JD, PCC Lawyer-Coach LLC 848 Little John Lane Houston, Texas 77024-3609
Page 5: COMPLYING WITH THE ADVERTISING RULES WHEN … · WHEN PROMOTING YOUR PRACTICE ON THE INTERNET DEBRA L. BRUCE, JD, PCC Lawyer-Coach LLC 848 Little John Lane Houston, Texas 77024-3609

D. Todd Smith is the founder and president of the Smith Law Group,

P.C., a civil appellate boutique with offices in Austin and McAllen, Texas.

He launched the firm in 2006 after spending nearly a decade in the Dallas

and Austin offices of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., where he was a

member of the appellate and litigation practice groups.

Smith earned degrees from Texas Christian University, Texas Tech

University, and St. Mary’s University School of Law, where he was

editor-in-chief of the St. Mary’s Law Journal. Before joining Fulbright,

he served a two-year clerkship with Texas Supreme Court Justice Raul A. Gonzalez.

Smith has a statewide practice representing plaintiffs and defendants in all phases of civil appeals

and original proceedings. He has handled cases before most of the fourteen intermediate Texas

appellate courts, the Texas Supreme Court, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth,

Seventh, and Tenth Circuits. He is also admitted to the United States Supreme Court bar.

A significant part of Smith's practice takes place in trial courts, where he advises other lawyers

and their clients and often serves as additional counsel of record. When engaged as a litigation

consultant, he assists trial counsel with strategic analysis and briefing, jury charges, and

potentially dispositive motions, all with a focus on preserving error and positioning cases for

appellate review.

A committed bar leader, Smith has chaired the Austin Bar Association's Civil Appellate Law and

Solo/Small Firm Sections and recently won election to the ABA Board of Directors. He also

serves on the State Bar Appellate Section’s governing council and is former editor of its flagship

publication, The Appellate Advocate. He is a fellow of both the Texas Bar and Austin Bar

Foundations and serves on the St. Mary’s Law Alumni Board of Directors.

Smith is a regular author and speaker on appellate-related topics and teaches an appellate

practice and procedure course at Solo Practice University, an online resource for law students

and lawyers looking to start their own firms. He is the creator and publisher of the Texas

Appellate Law Blog (www.texasappellatelawblog.com), the first website of its kind to focus on

Texas appellate practice, and was among the first Texas lawyers to use social media as a tool for

marketing his practice.

Smith is certified as a specialist in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal

Specialization. In 2011, he was recognized as a Fifth Circuit litigation star in Benchmark

Appellate: The Definitive Guide to America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys. The

same publication listed Smith Law Group as a recommended Fifth Circuit litigation firm.

Page 6: COMPLYING WITH THE ADVERTISING RULES WHEN … · WHEN PROMOTING YOUR PRACTICE ON THE INTERNET DEBRA L. BRUCE, JD, PCC Lawyer-Coach LLC 848 Little John Lane Houston, Texas 77024-3609
Page 7: COMPLYING WITH THE ADVERTISING RULES WHEN … · WHEN PROMOTING YOUR PRACTICE ON THE INTERNET DEBRA L. BRUCE, JD, PCC Lawyer-Coach LLC 848 Little John Lane Houston, Texas 77024-3609

Complying with the Advertising Rules When Promoting Your Practice on the Internet Chapter 11

i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1

II. REVISED INTERPRETIVE COMMENT 17 ......................................................................................................... 1

III. FILING REQUIREMENTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES ........................................................................... 1

A. General Observations ....................................................................................................................................... 1

B. How Is Texas Bar Circle Different? ................................................................................................................. 2

C. What About Blogs? .......................................................................................................................................... 2

D. Must YouTube or Other Internet Videos Be Filed with Advertising Review? .................................................. 2

IV. OTHER ETHICAL ISSUES TO WATCH FOR ...................................................................................................... 3

A. LinkedIn “Recommendations” ......................................................................................................................... 3

B. Designating Specialties or Being Voted as an Expert on LinkedIn .................................................................. 3

C. Potential Problems with Status Updates ........................................................................................................... 3

1. Solicitation by regulated electronic contact ................................................................................................. 3

2. Breaching client confidentiality ................................................................................................................... 3

3. Ex parte communications ............................................................................................................................. 3

4. Pretexting ..................................................................................................................................................... 4

5. Lack of candor toward the tribunal .............................................................................................................. 4

V. CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................................... 4

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Complying with the Advertising Rules When Promoting Your Practice on the Internet Chapter 11

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COMPLYING WITH ADVERTISING

RULES WHEN PROMOTING YOUR

PRACTICE ON THE INTERNET

I. INTRODUCTION An increasing number of Texas attorneys and law

firms are using social media sites to enhance their

Internet presences. Although many lawyers have

embraced social media as part of a broader marketing

strategy, others have hesitated for fear of crossing a

murky line somewhere in Part VII of the Texas

Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct—the

advertising and solicitation rules.1

This article attempts to bring some clarity by

answering common questions about lawyers’ use of

social media2 and warning about the danger zones they

must navigate. In doing so, the article considers the

State Bar Advertising Review Committee’s latest

revision to Interpretive Comment 17, which is among

several comments designed to assist the Advertising

Review Department in determining whether specific

communications comply with Part VII of the

Disciplinary Rules.

II. REVISED INTERPRETIVE COMMENT 17

In 2005, the Texas Supreme Court broadened the

advertising and solicitation rules to include an

attorney’s electronic or digital communications. Since

then, interactive web-based communication tools have

developed at a rapid pace. As revised in 2010, the new

version of Interpretive Comment 17 was intended to

address issues with different kinds of Internet

advertisements, from websites and social media

websites to web-based display ads and blogs.

A side-by-side comparison reveals the differences

between the revised comment and the previous version,

last updated in 2003. Some changes—such as a new

emphasis on an “electronic communication” as the

triggering event—appear to update the comment’s

terminology to fit the times. The most significant

revisions involve entirely new sections focusing

specifically on social media sites and blogs and a

substantially rewritten section on filing requirements.

See generally State Bar Advertising Committee

1 The Advertising Review Rules, Interpretive Comments,

Ethics Opinions, and other resources are available at

http://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Adver

tising_Review.

2 The term “social media” encompasses many different

applications, but this article focuses primarily on five social

media sites frequently used by Texas lawyers: Facebook,

LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Texas Bar Circle.

Google+ is comparable to Facebook, but not as well

established.

Interpretive Comment 17 (Appendix A).

Regarding social media sites, the revised comment

states: “Landing pages such as those on Facebook,

Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. where the landing page is

generally available to the public are advertisements.

Where access is limited to existing clients and personal

friends, filing with the Advertising Review Department

is not required.” Interpretive Comment 17(C).

The revision has this to say about blogs: “Blogs or

status updates considered to be educational or

informational in nature are not required to be filed with

the Advertising Review Department. However,

attorneys should be careful to ensure that such postings

do not meet the definition of an advertisement subject

to the filing requirements.” Interpretive Comment

17(D).

The revision also clarified that the form of the

electronic communication is irrelevant: “Regardless of

the form of the electronic communication described in

this interpretive comment, the content, including words,

sounds, and images, shall conform to the requirements

of [P]art VII of the [Disciplinary Rules].” Interpretive

Comment 17(E).

Finally, with respect to filing requirements, the

revised comment states: “Electronic communications

described in this interpretative comment are

advertisements in the public media subject to the filing

requirements of Rule 7.07 unless exempt thereunder. It

is the communicating attorney’s responsibility to

demonstrate that any particular online communication

need not be filed with the Committee.” Interpretive

Comment No. 17(G). We will address that matter first.

III. FILING REQUIREMENTS AND SOCIAL

MEDIA PROFILES

A. General Observations

As the revised comment indicates, Disciplinary

Rule 7.07 addresses the filing requirements for public

advertisements and written, recorded, electronic or

other digital solicitations. Rule 7.07(c) requires a

lawyer’s website to be filed, unless it is limited to

certain exempt information enumerated in Rule 7.07(e).

Sometimes called a “tombstone advertisement,” the

exemptions include contact information, dates of

admission to the bar, areas of practice, acceptance of

credit cards, languages spoken, and other specified

information. Although the revised comment treats

social media profiles as advertisements, even the

previous version clarified that “a lawyer or law firm’s

listing on a web-based directory that is accessible by

the public shall be exempt from the filing requirements

of Rule 7.07 if it meets the requirements of 7.07(e)(1).”

To this extent, Interpretive Comment 17 seems to have

brought about no significant change.

Clearly, a social media profile containing only

information exempt under Rule 7.07(e) need not be

filed. Facebook, LinkedIn and Texas Bar Circle request

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educational history, however, and LinkedIn also

requests employment history. Those categories are not

specifically exempted pursuant to Rule 7.07(e).

Lawyers could choose not to include that information in

their profiles, but they would lose much of the value

provided by LinkedIn and Facebook. Social media sites

use that information to suggest people you may know

and want to connect to or “friend.” Additionally, your

former classmates and colleagues use that information

to find you or to distinguish your profile from that of

someone with a similar name.

Gene Major, the Director of the Advertising

Review Department of the State Bar of Texas, has

provided some reassurance on this issue since before

Interpretive Comment 17 was revised. In interviews,

CLE presentations, and articles, Major has consistently

affirmed that that the Advertising Review Committee

and the Advertising Review Department support Texas

lawyers’ use of technology, including social media, to

disseminate information about their services. E.g.,

Gene Major, The Effective Use of Social Media Within

the Texas Advertising Rules, 73 Tex. B.J. 530 (July

2010). Major asserts that attorneys can include their

true and factual educational background in their social

media profiles without triggering a filing requirement.

Id. at 531. He points to the language in authoritative

Comment 8 to Rule 7.02. The comment states that Rule

7.02’s prohibitions against false or misleading

communications do not prohibit communications about

various listed topics (some of which are not contained

in the Rule 7.07(e) list), “and other truthful information

that might invite the attention of those seeking legal

assistance.” He reads Rules 7.02 and 7.07 together to

discern the intent of the advertising rules.

The authoritative comments to the Texas

disciplinary rules include other indications that the

advertising rules were not intended to regulate the kind

of ordinary information included in a social media

profile. Rule 7.04 sets forth requirements relating to

advertisements. Comment 6 to Rule 7.04 references

basic factual information about a lawyer that we might

call a “tombstone advertisement,” and asserts that “the

content of such advertisements is not the kind of

information intended to be regulated by Rule 7.04(b).”

Probably the greatest comfort lies in authoritative

Comment 6 to Rule 7.07. It reminds us that

“communications need not be filed at all if they were

not prepared to secure paid professional employment.”

Using social media to build and enhance relationships

and to engage in discussions about topics of interest can

be distinguished from advertisement or solicitation. A

different conclusion would be reached, however, if a

lawyer’s profile said “Call me if you have been

injured,” and set forth prior successes. Those factors

would indicate a solicitation for professional

employment that had the potential to be misleading, and

therefore would be subject to regulation.

If you still are not comfortable, go ahead and file

your profile with the Advertising Review Department.

They report that they have received filings of LinkedIn

profiles from a few lawyers. Under Rule 7.07(d), if a

lawyer submits an advertisement or a solicitation

communication for pre-approval, a finding of

compliance is binding in the lawyer’s favor.

B. How Is Texas Bar Circle Different?

In contrast to other social media, Texas Bar Circle

is restricted to members of the State Bar of Texas. Rule

7.04(a)(3) permits lawyers to distribute to other lawyers

and publish in legal directories and legal newspapers

(whether written or electronic) their availability and

other information traditionally included in such

publications. Therefore, lawyers have more latitude on

Texas Bar Circle than on other social media.

C. What About Blogs?

Blogs usually consist of commentary or

educational information, rather than

advertisements and solicitations, and therefore

would not trigger a filing requirement. Comment 6

to Rule 7.07 references the intention of the

advertising rules to “protect the first amendment

rights of lawyers while ensuring the right of the

public to be free from misleading advertising and

the right of the Texas legal profession to maintain

its integrity.” Comment 1 to Rule 7.02 clarifies

that the rules “are not intended to affect other

forms of speech by lawyers, such as political

advertisements or political commentary.” Gene Major has stated, “Blogging has become a

very effective form of communication for attorneys to

get out information regarding, not necessarily

themselves, but specifically about the subject matter or

the events relating to their area of practice. Attorneys

who use blogs effectively are using them to

communicate information that is either editorial or

informational in its nature and its tone. That sort of

blog, as long as it’s editorial or informative or

educational, would be exempt from filing

requirements.” He cautions, however, that exemption

from filing does not mean exemption from the

prohibition against false, misleading, or deceptive

communications on which the advertising rules turn.

D. Must YouTube or Other Internet Videos Be

Filed with Advertising Review?

Filing online videos is not required per se, but if a

video goes beyond strictly educational, informational or

entertainment content to solicit business, it constitutes

advertising and must be filed. Gene Major says that

merely including an attorney’s contact information on

an educational video would not constitute

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Complying with the Advertising Rules When Promoting Your Practice on the Internet Chapter 11

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advertisement. So many lawyers go beyond the pale,

however, that the Advertising Review Department

posted this warning on their website before Interpretive

Comment 17 was amended:

Attorney or law firm videos disseminated on

video sharing websites such as YouTube,

MySpace or Facebook that solicit legal

services are considered public media

advertisements and are required to be filed

with the Advertising Review Committee,

unless exempted by Rule 7.07(e), TDRPC.

After the amendment, the catch-all provision

incorporating all forms of electronic communication,

“including words, sounds, and images” clearly brings

online videos within Part VII, subject to the Rule

7.07(e) exemptions. See Interpretive Comment 17(E).

IV. OTHER ETHICAL ISSUES TO WATCH FOR

A. LinkedIn “Recommendations”

Some states prohibit the use of testimonials, but

Texas does not. On LinkedIn, one can prescreen

recommendations (even unsolicited and unexpected

ones) before they get posted for public view. Take

advantage of that feature and make sure any

recommendations comply with the disciplinary rules.

For example, Rule 7.02(4) prohibits comparisons to

other lawyers’ services, unless substantiated by

verifiable objective data. Therefore, if your client

enthusiastically reports that you are “the best trial

lawyer in town,” you will need to diplomatically ask for

a revision before publication.

Lawyers would be well advised to avoid making

reciprocal recommendations, where the lawyer agrees

to post a recommendation in exchange for receiving

one. Rule 7.03(b) prohibits giving anything of value to

a non-lawyer for soliciting prospective clients.

B. Designating Specialties or Being Voted as an

Expert on LinkedIn

A LinkedIn profile has a field for “specialties.”

Unless you are board-certified by the Texas Board of

Legal Specialization, you should leave it blank. Rule

7.04(b)(2) prohibits a statement in an advertisement that

a lawyer has been designated by an organization as

possessing special competence, unless the organization

meets the requirements of that rule, which LinkedIn

does not.

The area accessed through the “Answers” button

in the LinkedIn toolbar can also pose problems. You

can ask questions in various categories, or respond to

them there. The readers vote on the best responses

posted. When you accrue a number of best response

votes, LinkedIn automatically designates you an

“Expert” in that category. Such expert designation

without board certification contravenes Rule 7.04(b)(2)

in an advertisement. Although your LinkedIn profile

may not be deemed an advertisement, the cautious

course would be to avoid answering questions in the

Answers section.

You can, however, demonstrate your knowledge

and build relationships by answering questions in

LinkedIn discussion groups that you join. There is not

an Expert designation or “best answer” feature in the

discussion groups.

C. Potential Problems with Status Updates

Social media platforms generally allow users to

post “status updates” consisting of relatively short

blurbs of information. The new Interpretive Comment

17 treats status updates as advertisements, but handles

them the same as blog posts: they need not be filed as

long as they are educational or informational in nature.

Identified below are some more specific issues

associated with status updates.

1. Solicitation by regulated electronic contact

Interactivity constitutes a defining element of all

social media. Twitter, however, has such open

conversation and rapid response time that a lawyer must

keep Rule 7.03(a) in mind. That rule forbids using

“regulated telephone or other electronic contact” to

solicit business arising out of a particular occurrence or

event from someone who hasn’t sought the lawyer’s

advice. Rule 7.03(f) defines “regulated electronic

contact” to include electronic communication initiated

in a “live, interactive manner.” Comment 1 to Rule 7.03

specifically references chat rooms, and both Facebook

and Twitter sometimes resemble chat room

conversation.

By way of illustration, when someone tweeted on

Twitter that she just got a DUI, a lawyer responded to

her: “If you are looking for a DUI lawyer, I can give

you my Twitter big break on fees…email me.” Unless

the lawyer already had the requisite prior relationship

with the tweeter, that contact may violate Rule 7.03.

On another occasion, a different person tweeted,

“Just got out of the Cobb County jail. Anyone know a

good inexpensive DUI lawyer?” The foregoing

response to this tweet probably would not violate Rule

7.03 because the tweeter asked for a lawyer.

2. Breaching client confidentiality

The casual nature of social media can lure

attorneys into unintentionally breaching client

confidentiality. In a tweet a lawyer wrote, “Just talked

to my client who totally lied to me about all the facts.”

Since the date and time of the tweet gets posted, it has

the potential of revealing information to someone who

knew who was meeting with the lawyer that day.

3. Ex parte communications

According to a public reprimand accessible at

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http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/coa/jsc/publicre

primands/jsc08-234.pdf, a North Carolina judge

engaged in unethical Facebook activity relating to a

case being tried before him. During a child custody

case, District Judge B. Carlton Terry Jr. “friended”

defense counsel, and each of them discussed aspects of

the case on Facebook, constituting ex parte

communications. Plaintiff’s counsel had indicated she

was not on Facebook. The judge also conducted ex

parte online research about the plaintiff by Googling

her and visiting her website.

4. Pretexting

Many lawyers have discovered useful information

about a litigation party or witness in their postings on

social media. Due to privacy settings, sometimes

valuable information would not be visible to the public

in general, but would be visible to hundreds of

“friends” of the target on Facebook or another media.

Lawyers may be tempted to disguise their identity to

“friend” the target, or to ask someone else to “friend”

the target and share what they see. That is often referred

to as “pretexting” because it involves getting

information by way of a pretext or false pretenses.

While there has not been a case or opinion

published in Texas directly relating to pretexting in

social media, in March 2009, the Philadelphia Bar

Association issued an opinion that provides guidance.

See Philadelphia Bar Association, Professional

Guidance Committee: Opinion 2009-02, accessible at

http://www.philadelphiabar.org/WebObjects/PBARead

Only.woa/Contents/WebServerResources/CMSResourc

es/Opinion_2009-2.pdf. The inquirer proposed to have

a third party ask to friend a witness on Facebook and

MySpace to gain information to impeach the witness.

The opinion cited provisions of the Pennsylvania

Rules of Professional Conduct that correspond to Texas

Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct 4.01,

8.04(a)(1) and (3), and 5.03(b). The Committee said

that such pretexting would involve dishonesty, fraud,

deceit or misrepresentation on behalf of the lawyer, or

the encouragement of such behavior, in violation of the

aforementioned rules.

Any lawyer seeking investigative information

about a party or witness through social media would be

wise to review the Philadelphia opinion and the Texas

rules referenced, for ethical guidance.

5. Lack of candor toward the tribunal

Rule 3.03(a)(1) prohibits a lawyer from knowingly

making a false statement of material fact to a tribunal.

Many judges report incidents where lawyers have made

statements in court that do not align with their recent

Facebook status updates. For example, Judge Susan

Criss of Galveston recounted to an ABA audience that a

lawyer who had friended her on Facebook posted a

string of Facebook updates about drinking and partying.

Then the lawyer told Judge Criss in court that she

needed a continuance because her father had passed

away. Molly McDonough, Facebooking Judge Catches

Lawyer in a Lie, Sees Ethical Breaches,

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/facebooking_j

udge_catches_lawyers_in_lies_crossing_ethical_lines_a

bachicago. Judge Alexandra Smoots-Hogan of Houston

has had similar experiences. “Lawyers, I read

Facebook!” she admonishes.

V. CONCLUSION

Interpretive Comment 17 leaves open the

possibility that the Advertising Review Department

may view legal-related posts beyond those that are

educational or informational as advertisements or

solicitations. Those hoping that the new version would

provide a litmus test for social media and blogs will no

doubt be disappointed. As a practical matter, the

comment simply steers lawyers back to the disciplinary

rules to guide their decisions about what they post on

the Internet. The medium may have changed, but how

the State Bar views communications between lawyers

and the public has stayed the same.

From the beginning, blogging and social media

advocates have cautioned lawyers against blatantly

selling themselves or their services. Doing so

diminishes the real value these tools are capable of

delivering: establishing or enhancing one’s reputation

as an expert in a particular field, relationship-building,

and generating goodwill. When done right, there are no

inconsistencies between social media and the

fundamental goal behind the disciplinary rules:

protecting the public against false, misleading or

deceptive communications.

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17. The Internet and Similar Services Including Home Pages. (March 1996, revised May 2003, Revised 2010) Part VII of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct applies to information disseminated digitally via the Internet. A digitally transmitted message that addresses the availability of a Texas lawyer’s services is a communication subject to Rule 7.02, and when published to the Internet, constitutes an advertisement in the public media.

A. Websites A website on the Internet that describes a lawyer, law firm or legal services rendered by them is an advertisement in the public media. For the purposes of Part VII of the TDRPC, “website” means a single or multiple page file, posted on a computer server, which describes a lawyer or law firm’s practice or qualifications, to which public access is provided through publication of a uniform resource locator (URL). Of the pages of a website subject to these rules, many may be accessible without use of the site’s own navigational tools. Of those pages, for the purpose of this Interpretative Comment, the “intended initial access page” is the page of the file on which navigational tools are displayed or, in the case that navigational tools are displayed on several pages, the page which provides the most comprehensive index capability on the site. The intended initial access page of a lawyer or law firm’s website shall include: 1) the name of the lawyer or law firm responsible for the content of the site 2) if areas of law are advertised or claims of special competence are made on the

intended initial access page or elsewhere on the site, a conspicuously displayed disclaimer regarding such claims in the language prescribed at Rule 7.04(b); and

3) the geographic location (city or town) in which the lawyer or law firm’s principal office is located. Publication of a link to a separate page bearing the required disclaimer or information required by Rule 7.04(b) does not satisfy this requirement.

B. Web-Based Display/Banner Ads An image or images displayed through the vehicle of an electronic communication is an advertisement in the public media if the ad describes a lawyer or law firm’s practice or qualifications, whether viewed independently or in conjunction with the page or pages reached by a viewer through links offered by the ad (“target page”). The content of a web-based display or banner ad will be viewed in conjunction with the target page.

C. Social Media Sites Landing pages such as those on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. where the landing page is generally available to the public are advertisements. Where access is limited to existing clients and personal friends, filing with the Advertising Review Department is not required.

D. Blogs Blogs or status updates considered to be educational or informational in nature are not required to be filed with the Advertising Review Department. However, attorneys should be careful to ensure that such postings do not meet the definition of an advertisement subject to the filing requirements.

Complying with the Advertising Rules When Promoting Your Practice on the Internet Chapter 11

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Page 14: COMPLYING WITH THE ADVERTISING RULES WHEN … · WHEN PROMOTING YOUR PRACTICE ON THE INTERNET DEBRA L. BRUCE, JD, PCC Lawyer-Coach LLC 848 Little John Lane Houston, Texas 77024-3609

E. Compliance Regardless of the form of the electronic communication described in this interpretive comment, the content, including words, sound and images, shall conform to the requirements of part VII of the TDRPC.

F. Records Retention A printed copy of the electronic communication including, where applicable, intended initial access page, profile page, web-based display/banner ads and target page are subject to the retention requirements of Rule 7.04(f).

G. Filing Requirements Electronic communications described in this interpretative comment are advertisements in the public media subject to the filing requirements of Rule 7.07 unless exempt thereunder. It is the communicating attorney's responsibility to demonstrate that any particular online communication need not be filed with the Committee.

H. Web-Based Directories A lawyer or law firm’s listing on a web-based directory that is accessible by the public shall be exempt from the filing requirements of Rule 7.07 if it meets the requirements of 7.07(e).

I. Internet Domain Names Rule 7.01 prohibits lawyers and law firms from advertising or practicing under a trade name or a name that is false and misleading. Therefore, an internet domain name or URL may not be used as the name under which a lawyer or firm does business. A domain name that is a reasonable variation of the law firm name as permitted under Rule 7.01 or that is a description of the lawyer or law firm may be used as a locater or electronic address only if such use does not violate the provisions of 7.02.

Complying with the Advertising Rules When Promoting Your Practice on the Internet Chapter 11

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