Recently, the California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct finalized its opinion that analyzes whether attorney-authored blogs should be governed by the advertising regulations.
The Committee concluded that blogs should be governed as attorney advertising if the blog directly or indirectly expresses the attorney’s availability for professional employment. Thus, a blog that is a part of an attorney’s professional website or a firm’s professional website is governed by the advertising guidelines.
However, the opinion distinguishes “stand-alone” blogs, which it defines as “a blog that exists independently of any website an attorney maintains or uses for professional marketing purposes.” An attorney may maintain a stand-alone blog that discusses legal topics “within or outside the authoring attorney’s area of practice.” The blog will not be subject to the advertising rules unless the blog “directly or implicitly expresses the attorney’s availability for professional employment.”
Interestingly, a stand-alone blog that discusses non-legal topics (e.g. travel and cooking) is not subject to the advertising rules, even if the blog provides a link to the lawyer’s professional website. “However, extensive and/or detailed professional identification information announcing the attorney’s availability for professional employment will itself be a communication subject to the rules and statutes.”
To access the final opinion, click here.
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