The South Carolina bar association addressed a hypothetical website that listed attorneys without their involvement, and allows "clients" and others to "rate" the attorney. The bar association held that a lawyer could claim his listing in this service, but that all comments made about him were subject to the advertising rules. "[A]ll content in a claimed listing must conform to" the advertising rules, so held the opinion. It also basically says a lawyer can't solicit improper endorsements, and so on.
Frankly, this one baffles me. I can understand why you can't ask someone to say something about you that you can't yourself say, because of Rule 8.4, but am I really under an obligation to make sure non-clients comply with the lawyer advertising rules? Stay tuned, but in the meanwhile, you South Carolina lawyers better go read your various listings, I suppose including Face book!
It's not online yet, but presumably shortly will be here. If you want a copy, email me at [email protected]