The Metaverse for the Risk-Averse: Law Firms and Legal Advertising, Part 2

Law firms have begun to open for business in the Metaverse, raising questions as to how the Rules of Professional Conduct will apply in this new, entirely virtual context. This two-part article addresses the fundamental ethical norms lawyers must consider when practicing in the Metaverse, primarily through the lens of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and suggests areas of possible change for this new environment. In Part I, we focused on the lawyer-client relationship. Here, in Part II, we discuss how existing ethical rules may apply to law firms and associations in the Metaverse, as well as concerns raised by the advertising of legal services.

Supervision (Rules 5.1 & 5.3)

Under Model Rules of Professional Conduct 5.1 and 5.3, lawyers with managerial authority have ethical obligations to establish policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the ethics rules, and supervisory lawyers have a duty to make reasonable efforts to ensure that subordinate lawyers and nonlawyer assistants comply with the applicable Rules of Professional Conduct.