How the New Rules of Conduct Affect Your Social Media Use

• Publication year: 2019
• Author: By Renee Stackhouse

How the New Rules of Conduct Affect Your Social Media Use

By Renee Stackhouse

Renee Stackhouse is a San Diego trial attorney and founder of Stackhouse, APC who focuses on plaintiff's personal injury, military, and criminal defense. She is Chair of the CLA Solo & Small Firm Section, Immediate Past President of California Women Lawyers, President of the CWL Foundation, and sits on the San Diego County Bar Association. She is faculty at the prestigious Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College and the founder of MSheLE.com. She can be reached at Renee@StackhouseAPC.com.

Potential clients and referrals are out there on social media platforms and you can't afford to ignore them. The new California Rules of Professional Conduct, effective November 1, 2018, take social media realities into account and require changes to the way lawyers use social media.

When communicating about your services, you're only responsible for what you say. Under new Rule 7.1, lawyers still can't make false or misleading statements about themselves or their services. But there's a change from the old rule on communication: Lawyers are not responsible for what others say about them.

You can say "specializes in" even if you're not a certified specialist. Under new Rule 7.4, a lawyer may now say that his or her practice "specializes in" a particular area even if the lawyer is not a certified specialist by the Board of Law Specialization. The key is to steer clear of stating that you're a "certified specialist" if you're not. To be on the safe side, it may be best to say that you "focus" your practice in a particular area of law instead.

The lawyer advertising rules apply to social media advertising. New Rules 7.2 and 7.3 state the rules of lawyer advertising. When directing the advertising to a particular person, you need to state that it's advertising. One easy way to do that is to add the hashtag "#ad" to your social media post or other advertising. If the advertising is going to the general public, e.g., a social media banner ad, you don't need to add the hashtag or other indication that it's advertising.

When is a statement advertising? If it includes a call to action. For example:

"Case finally over. Unanimous verdict! Celebrating tonight."

NOT Advertising. "It is...