Be Careful Who You Post For - You Might Just Get It...

You might just 'get it' from an ethics committee - and by 'it' I mean disciplinary action.

Social networking sites are becoming more and more prevalent on the internet. In fact, I recently discovered LinkedIn and I highly recommend it. However, professionals should be careful what they post on these sites.

I am specifically addressing the Q&A section on the LinkedIn website. Here, anyone can post questions and other users of the site can post replies. One of the sections in the Q&A area specifically addresses legal issues. While browsing the section, I was surprised that professionals, even partners at top shelf law firms, took the time to reply to other users' specific legal inquiries.

Now, I am all for addressing interesting issues, giving opinions, and supplying answers in the abstract. However, some of the conduct that I observed went far beyond that. For example, I found it quite common for lawyers to actually address the original poster's factual situation and giving a legal analysis.

This, I am afraid, is probably a violation of the rules of professional ethics. By addressing a poster's problem, you are arguably creating an attorney-client relationship. More importantly, you are supplying legal advice in an unauthorized manner (at least in NY, I believe). Lastly, an attorney may get into some real trouble with their malpractice insurance provider (see my earlier posting below).