Is There a Time Bomb in your LinkedIn Profile?
Saturday, August 22, 2009 at 2:47PM 
I got an interesting email the other day.
It was from a North Carolina lawyer asking me my opinion about a facet of LinkedIn profiles. The question was (paraphrasing): do you think social networking profiles that ask users to list their "specialties" could yield potential violations of Rule 7.4 of the Rules for Professional Conduct?
He was asking about LinkedIn in particular, so I decided to take another look at the profile. LinkedIn profiles feature a field called "specialties." Here is a screen shot off of my profile (right before I nuked my own specialties section):
Rule 7.4 of the North Carolina Rules for Professional Conduct (which loosley conforms to the ABA Model Rules) reads:
The rule prohibits a lawyer from stating or implying that he is a specialist in a field of practice unless he meets the other criteria set out in the rule. Since that part of the LinkedIn profile is clearly labeled "specialties", the only safe thing to write is, "I am a NC State Bar Board Certified Specialist in [blank] law." Just about anything else one might write in this field might well be considered to be an improper statement or implication under Rule 7.4.
This could be a real time bomb for a lawyer in private practice. It would be frighteningly easy for a lawyer to go on autopilot here and interpret the term "specialties" like a layperson, as a synonym for "practice areas." A quick search on lawyer profiles on LinkedIn reveals that it's not a hypothetical problem.
Boom.
If you are practicing law in North Carolina (or another jurisdication with a similar rule) and have a LinkedIn profile, it appears that the only obviously permissible content to include under "specialties" is a recital of board certified specialization. If you want to include any information beyond that, I'd recommend calling the ethics counsel at the State Bar to make sure that you stay clear of a rule violation.
There's nothing particularly novel about any of this other than the application to social media.
It's a pretty straightforward application of a pretty straightforward rule. I've noticed in my work, though, that lawyers who don't understand social networking very well sometimes get it in their heads that the Rules of Professional Conduct don't apply on LinkedIn (or Facebook or Twitter or whatever).
They do. As far as the North Carolina State Bar is concerned (your mileage may vary in your jurisdiction), social networking activity is very much part of the real world governed by real rules and with real consequences.
Frankly, it pains me to write this kind of stuff because I worry that it will turn off lawyers to social networking (or any kind of networking, for that matter) altogether. That's the last thing I want to do. It's my job to help my bar association members -- particularly those in solo practice and small firms -- to build and run great law practices. Effectively marketing a practice is an exceedingly important part of that undertaking.
Don't let a time bomb deter you from social networking.
Just defuse it.
Ethics, Social Networking in Marketing 
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (4)
I'm a little proud that I caught the issue when constructing my LinkedIn profile for solo practice. My response is:
"Under the Rule 7.4(a) of the Maryland Lawyers' Rules of Professional Conduct, I may not claim to specialize in any area. My practice areas include...."
That's a good solution, Jason, nice catch! And thanks for stopping by.
Hi Erik,
Great post! There is a lot of talk about the intersection of lawyer's ethics and social media these days. Do you know if there have been any cases relevant to social media brought under the NC rule (maybe not involving Social Media per say, but about posting specialties online and what the requirements trigger the rule)? I ask b/c the language of 7.4 says "a lawyer shall not state or imply that they are certified as a specialist," which I would interpret as requiring the lawyer to hold themselves out as having a certification of that specialty, and that the specialty listed must be one of those that fall under a certified category. An arbitrary list of "specialties" on a social media profile (writing, speaking, IP, etc.) seems to fall short of the required threshold for an ethics violation, unless the ethics reviewer is broadly reading "imply." I like Jason's disclaimer and perhaps for the risk adverse crowd that we are such language is necessary. In any case, that is my take on it (of course I am NJ lawyer so please do not take my interpretation of NC ethics rules as having any authority!).
Thanks,
Mike
Oregon Rule of Professional Conduct 7.1 Communications Concerning a Lawyers' Services (a)(4) (4) states or implies that the lawyer or the lawyer's firm specializes in, concentrates a practice in, limits a practice to, is experienced in, is presently handling or is qualified to handle matters or areas of law if the statement or implication is false or misleading.
Excellent point, Erik! Have to keep lawyer hat on at social networking sites. Check the LinkedIn Specialites - if one's bar association recognizes certified specialities then okay. Otherwise, might be trouble with one's state ethics rules. Thanks, Sheila