Ethics, sales and client advocacy.

• Author: Poston, Dave
• Position: ABOUT THIS ISSUE - Editorial

One of the best pieces of advice I have received is that legal marketers should not take sole responsibility for the final decision on whether certain marketing tactics are "ethical" under various legal marketing rules and regulations. (This is appropriate for another, paradoxical reason as well. Attorneys are, in fact, not ethically allowed to delegate this responsibility to us.)

But, in truth, we are the point persons for such decisions. We tailor our sales tactics in the planning phase to meet certain requirements, even ruling out creative and interesting ideas. We are asked to provide advice on whether certain activities meet state requirements. We must sign of on various tactics and hope for the best in many, many situations.

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The editors of Strategies wisely include a quarterly column titled, "the ethical Marketer," by our sage friend Will Hornsby. This issue develops that focus a bit further, because a good deal is happening right now with regard to ethics.

Michael Webb discusses Florida's new, tougher rules applying to online and social networking activities. Greg Beck addresses the recent New York decision that strikes down various rules. Rankings continue to rile us. And the industry is trending toward more aggressive sales efforts with each passing day. Both the international organization (see Kim Perret's article) and local...