Law firms respond to FL bar website rules changes.

• Position: Dicta

In late July, the Florida Supreme Court granted a request for an extension of time until Aug. 16, 2010, for submitting comments on the proposed amendments to the Florida Bar website rules. The proposed rules prohibit presentation of testimonials, case summaries, and "deceptive, misleading, manipulative" or confusing audio or visual content. As a result of many law firms and organizations protesting these changes as vague and unfair, The Bar proposed a compromise allowing existing sites to meet the criteria by requiring visitors to click through a disclaimer box. However, this solution still creates a number of issues--financial, technological and market-related--for the targeted law firms. A number of law firms banded together to collaborate in drafting comments protesting the...