Panel offers guidance to bring lawyers' Web sites into compliance.

The Bar's Standing Committee on Advertising on December 29 approved guidelines to help lawyers meet the Supreme Court's new rules regulating the content of lawyers' Web sites.

Chair Adam Schwartz said the guidelines allow lawyers to use disclaimers to designate parts of their Web sites as "information upon request" zones, which would mean that those sections would not be subject to the lawyer advertising rules.

Schwartz said the guidelines were carefully drafted to balance lawyers' First Amendment rights to advertise their services with the committee's duty to protect the public.

The activity follows a ruling by the Supreme Court in November that all Bar advertising rules, except the requirement they be submitted to the Bar for review, apply to lawyer Web sites.

The court's ruling means several common attributes of attorney Web sites--including testimonials, statements that characterize the quality of work, or information about past results--are not allowed under the revised Web site rule.

In December, the Board of Governors voted for a six-month enforcement moratorium on new advertising regulations affecting lawyer Web sites, since the timing of the ruling makes it extremely difficult for lawyers to get their Web sites in compliance by the January 1 implementation date.

In reaction to the court's ruling, the board decided that the Bar will not review attorney Web sites, even if they are voluntarily submitted by lawyers seeking to comply with the rules, since the Web sites can run to hundreds of pages if printed out and can be changed several times a day. The Bar's ethics and advertising staff will, however, provide guidance to lawyers asking specific compliance questions.

Schwartz said the guidelines allow lawyers to use disclaimers to designate parts of their Web site as "information upon request" zones, which would mean that those sections would not be subject to the lawyer advertising rules. But first, the Web site visitor would have to view a disclaimer page that clearly indicates what information will be viewed. That page could include whether all results or client testimonials are provided; that the results or testimonials are not necessarily representative of results obtained by the lawyer or all clients' experience with the lawyer; and that a prospective client's individual facts and circumstances may differ from the matter(s) in which the results or testimonial are provided.

The page would also state that the information behind...