Does Your Malpractice Carrier Know About Your Blog?
Last week, the New Jersey Law Journal carried an article about a New Jersey law firm that put its plans for a blog on hold after speaking with their malpractice carrier, who said that having a blog would make the firm ‘uninsurable.’
Based upon the article, details are not yet available about the specific reasons behind the insurer’s position, although there is some speculation that perhaps the insurer was afraid that the blog posts would be considered legal advice. The firm is exploring whether a strong disclaimer would make a difference.
Blogging is booming, and more and more lawyers are joining the blogging ranks on a daily basis. Blogs are different than traditional websites in that they contain ‘posts’ which are usually displayed chronologically and can be identified by categories. But much of the same content can be generated by lawyers in more ‘traditional’ ways: for years, lawyers have been giving seminars, writing articles and posting information on their websites. They’ve been sending client newsletters containing ‘case updates’ or ‘decisions of interest.’
To my knowledge, none of the above activities have been considered inherently risky by malpractice carriers. Why single out blogging? Is it the sheer volume of content? Blogging is no more risky than sending a newsletter, providing seminars or writing articles.
In today’s marketplace, failing to keep clients and referral sources informed and failing to build expertise and credibility can be deadly to a law practice. Not only that, but bloggers provide a lot of legal information at no cost, and have greatly contributed to the education of both the legal community and the general public. First, the lawmakers make the rules for ‘advertising’ a law practice more restrictive, ostensibly to prevent the public from being misled. Now, the malpractice carriers are preventing lawyers from providing timely information to the public about legal topics.
Hopefully, this won’t become a trend among legal malpractice carriers. But in the interim, for all those who blog, if you haven’t already got a good disclaimer on your blog that makes it clear that your blog doesn’t consitute legal advice, now is the time to put one up. And maybe you should check with your malpractice carrier…