Social Media + The Regulation of Professional Speech
A couple of weeks ago, I asked the question of whether occupational licensing for lawyers really benefits consumers. While I’m convinced that the license requirement makes it likelier that people will get competent legal help, it also adds a powerful level of cost, by foreclosing other options that consumers might legitimately want to choose. In Avvo’s comments to the… Continue reading What Would A Meaningful Law License Look Like?
This New York Times article starts out with some well-deserved gushing over how Uber has disrupted the incumbent taxicab industry, but goes on to note the increasing skepticism over occupational licensing in general. The Obama administration has proposed sending some $15M in federal funding to the states to study the costs and benefits of occupational… Continue reading End Occupational Licensing . . . For Lawyers Too?
**Updated 2/24/16: The Bar has issued its proposed opinion, which addresses most – but not all – of the concerns I’ve identified below.** The California State Bar is seeking comment on a proposed ethics opinion on lawyer blogging – or more specifically, the conditions under which the California Bar would consider a lawyer’s blog subject… Continue reading California to Issue Ethics Opinion on Lawyer Blogging
I really hope Leo Mulvihill goes on to have a phenomenally successful career, because the kickoff of his solo practice would make an awesome origin tale for a future lion-of-the-Philadelphia-bar Leo to relate to wide-eyed baby lawyers. As Leo puts it: So there I was, a secretary performing law clerk work while running my part-time… Continue reading Birth of a Solo Practice
One limitation on lawyer advertising, found in ABA Model Rule 7.2(b)(2) and the rules of nearly every state bar, is the prohibition on anything but bar-sanctioned “lawyer referral services.” What’s a “lawyer referral service?” It’s a service that refers consumers to lawyers. Duh. But why would that be a problem? Attorneys have a right to… Continue reading On “Lawyer Referral Services”
At a recent talk, a young lawyer asked what lawyers in competitive practice areas (he, I later learned, was a PI lawyer) could do to stand out from the competition.One answer – an answer that might seem obvious, if it weren’t one that so many lawyers could benefit from – is to do outstanding work.… Continue reading Lawyer, be Interesting
Well, THAT was fast. It was only the end of January when UpSolve filed its lawsuit against New York and its overly-broad unlicensed practice of law — or “UPL” — law. I shouldn’t be too hard on the Empire State; every state has horrifically overbroad UPL laws. And what do these laws do? First, they… Continue reading UpSolve Delivers, and the Legal Monopoly Shrinks
The tide is coming in on professional speech regulation. While we still don’t have an official “professional speech doctrine,” since the 2018 decision in NIFLA v. Becerra, the pace of cases considering – and rejecting – overreaching restrictions on the speech of professionals seems to be quickening. The latest example is out of Pennsylvania, where… Continue reading Attorney Speech Restriction Violates First Amendment
Following on the heels of Utah, Arizona has approved sweeping changes to its rules regulating the practice of law. Once again, I’m pleasantly surprised that a state bar has gone for what I’ve long advocated: eliminating Rules 5.4 (the prohibition on attorney fee-sharing) and 7.2 (all sorts of unconstitutional limits on attorney advertising that predate… Continue reading Arizona Cuts Attorney Regulation
Lawyers. Hardly poor cobblers are we; as a profession that deals in the arcana of regulation we seem to delight in larding ever more regulation upon ourselves. The attitude of our profession might be summarized as “if a little regulation is good, then surely more regulation is even better!” So if diversity — and the… Continue reading More Speech Rules from the ABA?