California Committee issues final draft of opinion on whether blogs are subject to advertising rules

Legal Ethics in Motion is reporting that the California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct has finalized an opinion on whether attorney-authored blogs should be governed by the advertising regulations. The Committee concluded that blogs should be governed as attorney advertising if the blog directly or indirectly expresses the attorney’s availability for professional employment. Thus, a blog that is a part of a firm’s professional website is governed by the advertising guidelines.  “Stand-alone” blogs, or blogs that exists independently of any website an attorney maintains or uses for professional marketing purposes, are also subject to the rules if its content has the same effect as professional blogs.  For more information go here.