Ethics Opinions

Responding to Inquiries Posted on a Message Board on the Web

 

Opinion rules a lawyer may respond to an inquiry posted on a web page message board provided there are certain disclosures.

 

Inquiry:

 

P Law Firm represents Company, a telecommunications switch manufacturing company. Company's website includes a web page that is designed to appeal to emerging service providers including local exchange carriers and Internet service providers. The website is accessible to anyone with Internet access.

 

The web page includes a link to a message board. Visitors to the message board are invited to post questions. The message board is not interactive. Responses to inquiries are not posted immediately. Company has asked professionals from several disciplines to monitor the message board regularly and to provide responses to the posted inquiries that are within their respective areas of expertise. Company asked P Law Firm to monitor the message board for inquiries concerning the telecommunications regulatory law. Company will pay P Law Firm a fee for monitoring the message board and providing responses to inquiries posted there.

 

Company's web page will identify P Law Firm as the law firm responding to inquiries relative to regulatory matters. P Law Firm will limit the scope of its responses to federal law. The following disclaimer will appear on the message board:

 

Members of the telecommunications practice of P Law Firm provide responses to regulatory questions posted to the Message Board. Responses are limited to matters of federal law and decisions of the Federal Communications Commission. Responses posted should not be considered as legal opinions or as providing conclusive answers to specific legal problems.

 

May lawyers with P Law Firm respond to inquiries on Company's message board?

 

Opinion:

 

Yes, it is not a violation of the Revised Rules of Professional Conduct for a lawyer to respond to inquiries posted on an Internet message board provided the lawyer clarifies the nature of the lawyer's relationship with the person or company making the inquiry and the limits of the information that the lawyer is providing.

 

Participation in a message board is not improper solicitation, prohibited by Rule 7.3(a), because there is no direct communication, by telephone or in-person, with the individuals or companies making the inquiries. Moreover, the lawyers with P Law Firm are not making the initial contact and they do not know that the inquirer is in need of legal services in a particular matter until the lawyers retrieve an inquiry from the message board. Therefore, the message board does not have to include an advertising disclaimer such as the one required by Rule 7.3(c) for targeted direct mail.

 

Limiting responses to inquiries involving federal law should avoid the unauthorized practice of law in jurisdictions where the P Law Firm lawyers are not licensed to practice law. It is assumed a lawyer with an active law license from any state may practice federal telecommunications law. However, to avoid the possibility of misleading a user of the message board, a lawyer responding to an inquiry should state the jurisdictions where he or she is licensed to practice law. See Rule 7.1(a) and RPC 241.

 

If, as the result of responding to an inquiry, a client-lawyer relationship is created between an inquirer to the message board and a lawyer with P Law Firm, the lawyers with the firm will be required to comply with the duties to a client set forth in the Revised Rules of Professional Conduct including maintaining client confidences and avoiding conflicts of interest. If the lawyers from P Law Firm do not want to create a client-lawyer relationship with a party using the message board, the message board and any subsequent communications with an inquirer must clearly and specifically state that no client-lawyer relationship is created by virtue of the communication. Even so, substantive law will determine whether a client-lawyer relationship is created. See Cmt. [3], 0.2 Scope, Revised Rules. As an example, a disclaimer might state the following:

 

Although a response is provided to the specific question, there may be other facts and law relevant to the issue. The questioner should not base any decision on the answer and specifically understands and agrees that no client-lawyer relationship has been established between a lawyer with P Law Firm and the inquirer.

 

As a precautionary step, visitors to the web page should be warned not to include any confidential or proprietary information in an inquiry posted on the web page.

 

Finally, if the lawyers responding to the inquiries posted on the message board are influenced or affected by the fact that P Law Firm represents Company and Company is paying P Law Firm to respond to the inquiries on the message board, the relationship between P Law Firm and Company must be disclosed to those using the message board to avoid misrepresentation. See generally Rule 7.1.