Fake FirmsSeveral publications, including the BBC online, are warning the public to double-check the credentials of lawyers they find on the Internet before giving them any personal banking or credit-card information. There are growing numbers of reports of unscrupulous sites that have copied information about reputable lawyers from highly regarded firms onto their own sites, in order to scam prospective clients. In one case reported on the BBC and elsewhere, the scam involved  gaining access to the credit cards of unwary consumers by advertising lower costs on traffic fines. The American Bar Association has reported similar schemes in the U.S. and elsewhere.

News articles focus on steps that prospective clients should take, such as checking the credentials and law-firm locations of specific lawyers against law-society membership lists. Law firms and individual lawyers should also keep a heads up to ensure that their identities are not being stolen and their reputations placed at risk by imposters.

As always, I welcome your thoughts on this or any other matter. Contact me either in the comments section below or directly via email.