Use of Search Engine Company's Keyword Advertisements
Adopted: April 27, 2012
Opinion rules that it is a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct for a lawyer to select another lawyer's name as a keyword for use in an Internet search engine company's search-based advertising program.
Inquiry:
Attorney A participates in an Internet search engine company's search-based advertising program. The program allows advertisers to select specific words or phrases that should trigger their advertisements. An advertiser does not purchase the exclusive rights to specific words or phrases. Specific words or phrases can be selected by any number of advertisers.
One of the keywords selected by Attorney A for use in the search-based advertising program was the name of Attorney B, a competing lawyer in Attorney A's town with a similar practice. Attorney A's keyword advertisement caused a link to his website to be displayed on the search engine's search results page any time an Internet user searched for the term "Attorney B" using the search engine. Attorney A's advertisement may appear to the side of or above the unpaid search results, in an area designated for "ads" or "sponsored links."
Attorney B never authorized Attorney A's use of his name in connection with Attorney A's keyword advertisement, and the two lawyers have never formed any type of partnership or engaged in joint representation in any case.
Does Attorney A's selection of a competitor's name as a keyword for use in a search engine company's search-based advertising program violate the Rules of Professional Conduct
Opinion:
Yes. It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. Rule 8.4(c). Dishonest conduct includes conduct that shows a lack of fairness or straightforwardness. See In the Matter of Shorter, 570 A.2d 760, 767-68 (DC App. 1990). The intentional purchase of the recognition associated with one lawyer’s name to direct consumers to a competing lawyer's website is neither fair nor straightforward. Therefore, it is a violation of Rule 8.4(c) for a lawyer to select another lawyer’s name to be used in his own keyword advertising