Marketing

Despite CA Court of Appeals Case, Legal Marketing Pays Off

The Recorder published an article today about a 2011 defamation lawsuit San Francisco-based attorney William Gwire brought against a former client that may create new law and possibly will serve as a warning to lawyers: Market yourself enough, and you become an assailable public figure. The lawsuit against Elliot Blumberg, a hedge fund manager, resulted from Blumberg’s “scathing” review of Gwire on the consumer site complaintsboard.com. Review sites like complaintsboard.com have created a PR nightmare for lawyers and other professionals. It’s tough to get rid of them. I recently dealt with a possible ‘defamation’ situation involving a lawyer and a disgruntled defendant, but was told that the positing on the Internet is considered free speech and there was not much we could do to stop the individual from posting more defamatory comments. But Gwire’s case raises another question. Could it discourage lawyers from promoting themselves if a judge finds Gwire…

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