New proposed CA attorney rules

Finally, the State Bar of California is adopting the ABA model rule framework like the rest of the state bars.  Here is a link to the proposed rules from the California State Bar website which buries the link so its not easy to find.  Two things to note regarding attorney advertising:

1.  Advertising and solicitation are no longer treated together as they are in 1-400 but clearly separated out with advertising covered in Rule 7.2 and solicitation now called, “direct contact with prospective clients” covered in rule 7.3

2.  The proposed rules for California have adopted the model rule prohibition on “real-time” electronic contact.  Exactly what is “real-time” mean in this context?  Does it cover only situations where you are in a chat window where the recipient instantaneously receives a response?  Could Twitter qualify?  Given the complexity and quickly changing technology in this area, they may need to spend some time really thinking about these issues.

Tags: ABA model rules, real-time electronic contact, rules of professional responsibility