D.C. Bar Rules for Internet Websites for Law Firms

Attorney Advertising Rules for the District of Columbia Bar

For any attorney interested in website design and internet marketing for a law firm one of the first considerations should always be compliance with all applicable bar rules for the District of Columbia. The maze of regulations are often confusing. At Internet LAVA we help attorneys stay current on new technologies to market their D.C. law firm. Understanding how the bar rules might apply to each of these new technologies is critical to a successful internet marketing campaign.

D.C. Attorneys Generally Enjoy Less Restrictive Bar Rules

The Amended Washington D.C. Bar Rules for Attorney Advertising took effect on February 1, 2007. D.C. Bar rule 7.1 address communications concerning a lawyer’s services including advertising and marketing. The comments to Rule 7.1 provides:

Questions of effectiveness and taste in advertising are matters of speculation and subjective judgment. Some jurisdictions have rules regulating the type and content of advertising by lawyers that go beyond prohibitions against false or misleading statements. Such regulations create unneeded barriers to the flow of information about lawyers’ services to persons needing such services, and so this rule subjects advertising by lawyers only to the requirement that it not be false or misleading.

Creating an Professional Image

The most effective internet marketing strategies for law firms require showing the viewer that you are uniquely qualified to handle their particular type of legal problem. The internet will cause attorneys to become even more focused on particular niche areas of the law. Those niche areas of the law should represent the attorneys most profitable and enjoyable type of case. Like the medical profession, general practitioners are becoming less common.

Unlike television ads which use shocking images and slogans to catch the viewer's attention, such techniques are not effective for internet marketing. Instead, the internet allows the viewer to search for very specific information. That search can take the viewer directly to a particular page deep within the website that best answers that question.

Dominating the Internet Requires Viewing the Website as a Publishing Project

The website should conveys enough information to convince the potential client to contact the attorney for a consultation. The website must be designed to provide the viewer with more helpful information to answer their general questions as they begin the search for an attorney. We provide law firms with a powerful website based on more content and better content for particular niche areas of the law including criminal defense, DUI / DWI, personal injury, medical malpractice, divorce and family law or immigration law.

At Internet LAVA we provide a free consultation to discuss your website design and internet marketing needs with any attorney practicing law in Washington D.C. The consultation is designed to educate you about how the search engines rank attorney websites. Let us take you on a tour of what your ideal clients are finding when they begin a search for an attorney in your city. Let us show you what it would take to dominate the search engines to capture more business from your ideal clients. Our websites dominate the search engines because they are bigger and better than the competition. Understanding all of the applicable bar rules in Washington D.C. that regulate attorney advertising and internet marketing is an important first step.

Rules Governing the District of Columbia Bar - The Washington D.C. Bar is the second largest unified bar association in the United States. The role of the Washington D.C. Bar includes operation of an attorney disciplinary system and the regulation of lawyers.

District of Columbia Court - Homepage internet website for the D.C. Courts, including the court system, the trial courts, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, and the Court of Appeals. Information on the policy making body for the D.C. Courts, the Joint Committee on Judicial Administration.

District Court of Appeals Rules of Professional Conduct - The D.C. Court of Appeals on August 1, 2006, amended the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct. The new bar rules governing internet marketing, website design, and attorney advertising for attorney members of the District of Columbia bar association took effect on February 1, 2007.

D.C. Court of Appeals Committee on Admissions - All applications for admission to the District of Columbia Bar are reviewed by the Committee on Admissions pursuant to D.C. App. Rule 46. 

District of Columbia Bar News on Internet Marketing and Attorney Advertising

D.C. Bar News Announcement to Attorneys About Avvo - After several angry complaints by attorneys with prior disciplinary actions, the District of Columia Bar Association asked Avvo, an Internet-based for-profit attorney marketing service, to remove all "improperly acquired" D.C. Bar member information from its website. Although it is hard to imagine that the DC Bar has any copyright claim to this information, the DC Bar has also asked Avvo to cease all attempts to acquire such information from the DC Bar’s internet website, and cease using improperly acquired information for any commercial purpose. As far as the D.C. Bar's concerns about "privacy rights" the argument seems equally weak. The D.C. Bar also announced that it takes "no position" on the voluntary participation of individual members with Avvo. The D.C. Bar Association also announced that it does not warrant or endorse the reliability or accuracy of any content about Bar members on Avvo’s website or any other third-party website.

Read more about why we believe attorneys should embrace internet based social and business profiles, including rating services like Avvo.

District of Columbia Bar Ethics Opinions Concerning the Internet and Advertising

D.C. Bar Ethics Opinion 316: Lawyers' Participation in Chat Room

D.C. Bar Ethics Opinion 342: Participation in Internet-Based Lawyer Referral Services Requiring Payment of Fees

D.C. Bar Ethics Opinion 302: Soliciting Plaintiffs for Class Action Lawsuits or Obtaining Legal Work Through Internet-based Web Pages

D.C. Bar Ethics Opinion 281: Transmission of Confidential Information Directly Across the Internet

D.C. Bar Ethics Opinion 330: Unbundling Legal Services and Internet Chat Rooms

D.C. Bar Ethics Opinion 329: Non-Profit Organization Fee Arrangement with Internet-based Web Pages