Technological developments often bring in sweeping changes in the life
of people. Often such changes affect the economic conditions of persons
and may even affect their livelihood. Thus, the advent of auto-rikshaws
in a city has eliminated the manual rickshaws and the Jatakas (Horse Driven
Coaches), TV has affected Newspapers and now Internet is affecting every
walk of life.
The natural tendency of people in such cases is to "Resist Change" and
try to prevent technological developments taking root. Opposition to Napster
is an example to such a tendency. However the experience of other inventions
such as "Xerox" in the past indicate that eventually, people in the society
will allow innovations to take over and those who donot want to change
has to perish.
The same logic applies to professions. If a professional does not move
with the times, he will become marginalised. The advent of Internet has
made a significant impact on many professions, even in India. However when
it comes to "Online Practice", many professional bodies in India
have tried to ban it.
In India, many internet savvy legal professionals are itching to use
Internet for providing consultancy services. But the Bar Council has held
that even having a web site by a lawyer may be a violation of the norms
of the Bar Council.
Time has come to start a debate on whether lawyers are to be prevented
from using the power of Internet to further their business.
The issues are
1. If a lawyer creates a web site for himself and posts his credentials,
is it "Solicitation of Business"? or "Self Introduction"?
2. If a lawyer starts advising through Internet, does it amount to
legal counseling?
There are both ethical and legal issues involved in this debate. While
I strongly advocate that the lawyers should be permitted to use the Internet,
I am aware that there is a strong opposition for the same in the community.
I invite all lawyers to express their opinion in this regard so that we
can start preparing for the future.
As a thought starter, I invite attention of readers to the article published
by Stanford Law School which discusses with many of the issues involved
in the American context.
Read
a Detailed Article by Darren Franklin of Stanford University
Do readers have a views on this? or suggestions?. If so, Your
views can be sent here
