SATISFIED CLIENTS - FLORIDA BAR REGULATES WEBSITES AND SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
The Florida Bar started 2010 by issuing guidelines on lawyer and law firm websites requiring compliance with the general lawyer advertising standards set forth in Rule 4.72. However, these websites do not have to be filed with the Florida Bar for review. The Florida Bar will not accept volutnary filings of websites to determine if they comply with the Rule, but instead will respond to speciifc questions. Many websites currently do not comply with the advertising rules in that they contain testimonials and endorsements from satisfied clients, past results and statements characterizing the quality of legal services.
The Standing Committee on Advertising will permit websites to contain a feature allowing the viewer to request specific information from the lawyer or law firm, such as results. This information is not subject to the lawyer advertising rules. A disclaimer page must be provided for the viewer and the requested information can be accessed only after the consumer views the disclaimer page. The Florida Bar has provided a sample disclaimer page at the FLorida Bar's website.
The Florida Bar's Standing Committee on Advertising also voted to treat social networking sites such as Facebook the same as it it were a website.
