Can Confidentiality Provisions In Settlement Agreements Limit Lawyers’ Marketing?
Often when parties resolve disputes, confidentiality provisions are requested and included in a settlement agreement. The scope of such provisions may range from a preclusion of releasing the fact and amount of the settlement to a broad prohibition on disclosing any information obtained during the dispute. Can one or both sides use such a provision […]
What Can You Say About Your SuperLawyer Or Other Rating?
Lawyer advertising cannot be false, deceptive or misleading. Most jurisdictions consider deceptive or misleading, communications that compare an attorney’s services with other attorneys’ services unless the comparison can be factually substantiated. (see, e.g., Georgia Rule 7.1(a)(3)). In light of that general rule, can lawyers publicize their Super Lawyers or other lawyer rating? If so, is […]
Can Attorneys Get Fees On Fees When Self-Representing?
You’ve done a great job for your client and it’s refused to pay the balance of the attorneys fees owed to your firm. You’ve worked very hard and deserve to be paid. But even if you were able to get a judgment for your unpaid fees, would it be worth the additional investment to obtain […]
What Do You Do If Your Client Dies During Representation?
Imagine this: You’ve been hired by a client to represent them, but during the representation, the client dies. Now what? Attorney-client relationship The attorney-client relationship is an agency relationship, in which the client is the principal and the attorney is the agent. Typically, the death of a client terminates the attorney-client agency relationship, and the […]
Social Media Endorsements, Recommendations, Reviews: What You Need To Know
Most social media sites allow users to receive and post likes, endorsements, recommendations, reviews, and comments. Having such posts on your profiles can provide social proof and evidence of your abilities as a lawyer. Clearly, lawyers are responsible for all content they post on their social media profiles. But what about posts by other users? […]
Social Media Use: Is It Advertising or Soliciting Under the Ethics Rules?
I’m going to answer like a lawyer: “It depends.” Here are the basic principles: If an attorney uses a social media account strictly for personal purposes, then advertising and soliciting rules probably don’t apply. (See, e.g., Florida) For accounts, profiles, unsolicited communications, or posts made primarily for the purpose of retention of the lawyer or […]
What To Do If Your Client Disappears
In another post, we discussed what lawyers should do if their client dies during representation. So what about if your client goes AWOL? As an agent of the client, a lawyer can only act via the authority given by the client. If the client is not available to authorize the lawyer, then what should the lawyer […]
Do You Tell Your Clients What You Expect From Them?
Practice law long enough and you’ll encounter a client that makes your job difficult, even if he is unaware of it. Clients may be unfamiliar with the legal process and may not understand what their lawyers need from them. A lawyer might make the attorney-client relationship a little bit smoother, if she clearly outlines what […]
Testimonials: How can lawyers use them?
Social proof is a powerful and well-documented phenomenon and is frequently used to great effect by businesses of all type to obtain customers and clients. One social proof technique is the use of client testimonials. Most jurisdictions explicitly allow attorneys to use client testimonials in some form or fashion. However, certain restrictions, prohibitions, and […]
Law Firm Website Domain Names: What Can You Use?
By now, just about every law firm has a website. (If you know a firm that does not, please bring them into the 21st century.) A website is designated by a domain address, otherwise known as an Internet Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”). For many reasons (marketing, availability, etc.), a law firm may want to use […]
