CAN LAWYERS INCENTIVISE ONLINE CLIENT REVIEWS? ONE JURISDICTION SAYS YES
Can lawyers offer bill credits to clients who agree to submit online reviews about the quality of the lawyer’ s services?
CAN LAWYERS INCENTIVISE ONLINE CLIENT REVIEWS? ONE JURISDICTION SAYS YES
JUSTICE DANIEL CROTHERS North Dakota Supreme Court
Can lawyers offer bill credits to clients who agree to submit online reviews about the quality of the lawyer’ s services? A New York ethics committee answered“ yes.” 1 Whether North Dakota lawyers can make similar offers is beyond the scope of this article, and a North Dakota lawyer contemplating a similar course of conduct may want to first seek guidance from the SBAND ethics committee. 2 the scores in the ratings, or whether a client checks the box recommending the lawyer to others.” 4
The New York committee first looked at their ethics Rule 7.2( a) stating,“ A lawyer shall not compensate or give anything of value to a person or organization to recommend or obtain employment by a client, or as a reward for having made a recommendation resulting in employment by a client ….” 5 North Dakota’ s equivalent rule provides,“ A lawyer shall not give anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer’ s services ….” 6 violated its rules on“ testimonials” and“ advertising.” The committee noted,“ Rule 7.1( d)( 3) allows lawyers to advertise testimonials from current and former clients – but Rule 7.1( e)( 4) requires that‘ in the case of a testimonial or endorsement from a client with respect to a matter still pending, the client gives informed consent confirmed in writing.’” 10 However,“[ a ] client’ s freely given review or rating is not an‘ advertisement’ within the definition in Rule 1.0( a) because the review is not made‘ by or on behalf’ of the lawyer.” 11 The committee continued, stating:
The question asked in New York was whether a lawyer may give a client a $ 50 credit on their legal bill if the client rates the lawyer on an internet website such as Avvo. The New York opinion explained:
“ A lawyer would like more of his clients to rate him on Avvo, a website that allows clients to rate their lawyers with one to five stars. To rate a lawyer, a client would visit the Avvo website, look up the lawyer by name, and submit a review. * * * * Clients also rate the lawyer on a scale of 1 to 5 for five categories:‘ Overall rating,’‘ Trustworthy,’‘ Responsive,’‘ Knowledgeable,’ and‘ Kept me informed,’ and clients either check or do not check a box saying that they would‘ recommend’ the lawyer.” 3
The New York lawyer’ s bill credit“ would not be contingent on the content of a review,
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Can lawyers offer bill credits to clients who agree to submit online reviews about the quality of the lawyer’ s services?
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The New York committee concluded the bill credit did not violate Rule 7.2 because the client was not required to“ recommend” the lawyer. 7 Nor was the rule violated because the bill credit was not contingent on another person actually retaining the lawyer. 8“ If the inquirer made the credit contingent on receiving a positive review or high scores, or if the inquirer made the credit contingent on being retained by a new client as a result of the rating, then the credit would violate Rule 7.2( a). Those are not the facts before us.” 9
The New York committee next answered the question whether the rating incentive
“ If the inquirer were to coerce or compel a client to rate the lawyer with respect to a pending matter, then the rating( i. e., testimonial) would be‘ on behalf of the lawyer, and would hence be an“ advertisement” subject to Rule 7.1( e)( 4). And if the lawyer, rather than the client, were to write the review or fill in the ratings, then they would be“ by … the lawyer,” and would be advertisements under Rule 1.0( a) subject to Rule 7.1( a), which prohibits advertisements that are“ false, deceptive or misleading.”’” 12
North Dakota’ s Rules of Professional
24 THE GAVEL