Quote from: JCD3nton on June 12, 2011, 12:06:08 AM

Quote from: btclaw on June 11, 2011, 10:58:03 PM

Quote from: JCD3nton on June 11, 2011, 09:33:20 PM

I am also a lawyer and I can't even count the number of ethical violations in this thread. You should be ashamed of yourself and are at high risk of disciplinary sanctions or disbarment. To add to that, as a criminal lawyer, you aren't competent to comment on these issues.

You're made me sweat for a minute there! Just re-read ethical rules and tried my best to audit everything I have written on here. Doing my best to make it clear that this is just an educational discussion. I'm trying to BE educated about what legal issues there are surrounding bitcoin. I'm trying to discuss an emerging area of law in a public forum. I'm not a criminal and I'm not ashamed of trying to participate in an online discussion forum or blog.

Are you just trolling or was there a specific ethical violation you had in mind? Please enlighten me, I'm trying my best to follow all my state's ethical rules regarding internet communication.

Nobody called you a criminal. Nice straw man. As a criminal lawyer (if you are in fact a lawyer), you should know the difference between criminal violations for which you can go to jail, and ethical violations for which you can be disciplined by your state licensing authority.

As for specific violations, you are already aware that you didn't disclose your jurisdiction so that was a silly question to ask. In general though, some of your posts are solicitations that in some states would need to be filed with an advertising board and may have other requirements such as listing your name/address/etc and clearly disclosing that the communication is a solicitation. The rules are sometimes draconian and haven't really caught up with the realities of the internet, but it's still your responsibility to comply with them. You are also opening yourself up to malpractice liability if anyone relies on your poor advice.

It's hard for me to believe that you are a lawyer given how poor your judgment is, but I guess it's possible given that there are only about 18 worthwhile law schools out of the 200+ in existence. Regardless of what cesspool you graduated from, you should know that merely saying "this is not a solicitation" and "this is not legal advice" does not effectively cover you if you are in fact soliciting clients and offering legal advice. Given that you hold yourself out as "Bitcoin Lawyer," and make posts like:

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First let me say I'm biased, as I would love to be involved as a principal in any serious, well-funded effort to create a legitimate money service business and/or bank startup to exchange bitcoins for currency.

Yes, we need more exchanges. We need at least one exchange built on a rock-solid foundation of strict legal compliance. Run like any other financial institution. No dirty business. No dirty money. A full-time legal compliance staff. This means at least one person in who can act as a legal liaison to contracted legal counsel and later head of legal compliance.

your purpose here is pretty clear. There are also side issues with a lawyer becoming involved with a client's business venture as a principal, especially if you take an equity interest as payment for your services. The worst part is that you knew you were doing something stupid yet decided to do it anyway:

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Yes I am a real, fully licensed attorney. Yes I have an active, full-time brick and mortar practice. Both these things could be put at risk by my participation here. Therefore I am acting under a pseudonym to protect my identity.

What special experience, training, or education do you have that qualifies you to hold yourself out as a "Bitcoin Lawyer"? Traffic tickets and DUI pleas? Sorry your practice isn't doing well and you now have to resort to this.

Get over it dawg, he wants to help so he can if he wants.