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Lawyer Communications On The Internet: Beginning The Millennium With Disparate Standards, Louise L. Hill

Washington Law Review

Lawyer communications on the Internet constituting commercial speech are subject to state ethics rules governing lawyer advertising and communication. Because each state operates as a separate entity with its own rules that govern the lawyers of its jurisdiction, the profession is faced with disparate standards on a jurisdictional basis. Of the forty-three states that have adopted the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, four-fifths have standards on lawyer communications that vary from those in the Model Rules. Not only is there variation in the rules themselves, but differences exist in the specific applicability and interpretation of these rules to components of …