Richmond, Va.-based criminal defense attorney Horace Hunter, who blogs about cases he’s worked on (and national and local criminal justice issues) at Richmond Criminal Defense News, has been charged with misconduct by the Virginia State Bar.
The charge comes amid concerns by bar authorities that Hunter’s blog on his firm’s website is actually an advertisement, rather than an informative news and commentary website as Hunter claims, a move that could make other lawyer-bloggers wary, reports the Washington Post‘s Capital Business blog.
“Hunter’s case has some lawyers—for whom blogging has become commonplace—as well as free speech and social media law experts questioning whether the bar is overreaching in its regulation of online speech in the social media age,” wrote the Post’s Catherine Ho.
LexBlog’s Kevin O’Keefe says it’s the Post’s particular analysis of the event, not the actions of the State Bar, that could have a chilling effect on lawyer-bloggers who do a service to the profession by making the law more accessible to consumers and businesspeople.
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