Following up on the earlier adoption of an ethics opinion on responding to clients’ online criticisms, the Professional Ethics Committee is now addressing a Bar rule change on responding to former client online comments and another proposed advisory opinion on comments from third parties who are not clients or former clients.

At its March 23 meeting, the committee approved a proposed amendment to Bar Rule 4-1.6 (Confidentiality of Information) and will send that to the Board of Governors. The amendment addresses a limited exception to allow lawyers to respond to online criticisms from former clients if those clients alleged a lawyer committed a prosecutable criminal offense.

The committee also worked on Proposed Advisory Opinion 21-1, which would say lawyers could respond to criticisms from third parties who are not former or current clients as long as they don’t reveal any client confidences. Committee members indicated support for the proposed opinion but sent it back to a subcommittee to add specific safe harbor language.