Will Hornsby of the American Bar Association: LexBlog Interviews
Will Hornsby is the Staff Council for the ABA and currently staffs the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services. He deals with issues of legal services marketing and the extent to which policies govern those activities. Will presented two sessions at TechShow, including “Going Virtual with Web Applications: New Forms of Practice” and “Beyond the Ethics of Web 2.0—What’s Now, What’s Next, What If…”
Kelliann Blazek: What is your interest in TechShow?
Will Hornsby: I’ve been involved in issues of legal services marketing and the extent to which policies govern those activities. The policies are many times reflected in the rules of professional responsibility. We have different workshops here that are dedicated to ethics issues. Obviously people that are dedicated to ethics issues are exposed to the technology. That’s part of the problem—getting people with the different skill sets to come together and be on the same page.
KB: What are some of those issues involving ethics and the Internet?
WH: There are a lot of questions that have emerged because the rules were propagated before the Internet became a viable vehicle for communicating legal services. Some of these rules need to be re-examined and the ABA is in the process now of doing that with a project called Ethics 20/20. Hopefully we’ll have some solutions that give lawyers a sense of comfort that what they do is proper, give them some clarity in what the boundaries are, and make sure these services are in compliance with the intent of the rules.
KB: Is compliance the biggest issue right now then?
WH: Yes, because there’s clearly a need for lawyers to advertise their legal services. There’s a need for people to get lawyers. Lawyers have a need to get clients. So marketing endeavors are the obvious nexus to make that match. The new media, social networking, all of these things have aspects that create concerns.
KB: What’s an example of one of those concerns?
WH: Part of the problem is when you use a template. So if a social network has “friends,” the concept of friends on a social network is different then social friends. Some states have a rule that says you can solicit in person or by live telephone people who are friends. Well, are the people who friend you friends? So see, sometimes the templated nomenclature is inconsistent with the rules.
