Bar associations address mis/disinformation
The New York City Bar Association and the New York County Lawyers Association have issued cautions to their members against dissemination of misinformation or disinformation: Attorneys should not “make claims of wrongdoing against officers of the court for which they have no factual basis, or which they know to be incorrect.” Nor should attorneys, especially in “a highly charged environment of public interest,” make comments about “the judicial processes or judicial officers” that “they know to be demonstrably misleading or palpably false.”
This article explores "the nuances in legal ethics rules regarding statements made during representation of a client and those made by lawyers not involved in the controversy," concluding that "the New York bar associations were right to rebuke flagrant falsehoods that target the very rule of law."