South Carolina Bar News April 2012 : Page 23
ask questions. In turn, the professional, here a lawyer, would receive the questions from the member of the public and would answer the question. After the question is answered, the lawyer is paid a fee from the website for answering the question for the member of the public. Members of the public could be from and ask a question concerning any state or other jurisdiction and are not limited to South Carolina. The lawyer and the website enter an agree-ment that provides the terms of their relation-ship. In pertinent part, the following applies specifically to lawyers: Experts in the Legal categories must be attorneys licensed to practice law and be in good standing in at least one jurisdiction in the United States or foreign country. Such Experts shall provide general information only, such as providing descriptions of gen-eral principles of law, and shall not provide legal advice. In responding to questions, Experts in the Legal Category shall not apply their legal knowledge or skills to resolve or advise on the Customer’s spe-cific factual circumstances described in the question, such as by proposing a specific course of action (other than advising the User to seek the advice of an attorney licensed to practice in the relevant jurisdic-tion). Experts in the Legal Category shall not form an attorney-client relationship on the Site. Question: May a South Carolina lawyer answer questions on this site or similar sites for compensation without violating any Rules of Professional Conduct? Summary: The website’s use of testimonials, endorsements, the word “expert” and other mis-leading statements prohibit Lawyer’s participa-tion. The site invites specific questions about specific legal matters and offers specific legal advice but uses buried small-type statements to attempt to disclaim the creation of attorney-client relationships and to warn against reliance on the advice. The Committee believes Lawyer’s participation under these circumstances would be improper. As to legal information websites in general, if a website complies with all communications and advertising rules, Lawyer could participate in such a program but with specific caution against inadvertently forming an attorney-client relation-ship by offering more than basic information of general applicability. Where legal advice is pro-vided, it is improper for Lawyer to accept com-pensation from the website provider without complying with Rule 1.8(f). Cinderella , continued from page 3. To help ensure the girls have a memorable prom experience that might not have been other-wise possible, YLD teamed up with the Christian Youth Theater Upstate in Anderson, the Junior Service League of Orangeburg and the Upsilon Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. in Columbia. With the overwhelming support of the commu-nity and various media outlets, this year’s Cinderella Project has quickly become the best yet. Just this year, the project has been featured on the WLTX–Columbia nightly news and Friends @ 5 and seen in The State , Aiken Standard , Greenville News , Anderson Independent Mail and Times and Democrat . You can be a fairy godmother, too. If you have dresses to spare, please consider saving them and donating them to the 2013 Cinderella Project. Donations will be accepted starting in January. For more information, visit www.scbar.org/cinderella. April 2012 | SC Bar News | www.scbar.org 23
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