On Friday, November 4, 2016, partner Scott Edwards of Schauermann Thayer Jacob Staples and Edwards PS provided an excellent one hour educational opportunity to Clark County attorneys as part of an end-of-the-year Continuing Legal Education program (CLE).  Scott's presentation was titled, “So You Think You Can Law Blog: The Who, What, Where, Why, and How of Law Blogging”, but it also focused heavily on ethical considerations inherent in attorney blogging.

The program as a whole, put on by the Clark County Bar Association, was a three-hour ethics program held at the Vancouver Red Cross Building (located in the historic army barracks by Fort Vancouver).

Being no stranger to technology, Scott grew up with computers as part of his youthful experience.  For him, blogging was and is a way to express himself, share his thoughts on topics he feels are timely, relevant and important, and reach out to others in our local community in a manner that otherwise might not be possible.

Scott has been authoring blogs and articles outside of his regular contributions to the Schauermann Thayer website and “The Boulevard” for several years now.  For example, he authors a monthly column for the online and print versions of Vancouver Family Magazine (see www.VancouverFamilyMagazine.com).  Up until a year or two ago, he also posted occasionally to another private blog site that he had created simply as a vehicle for self-expression (which can be found at www.MakeSafe.wordpress.com).  Most of Scott's blog posts tend to discuss matters affecting families, health, and community safety.

Other speakers and ethics topics addressed during the mid-day CLE included Jeanne Marie Clavere of the Washington State Bar Association discussing Washington's ethics rules governing attorney conduct, use of social media, and networking; and, local attorney Rick McLeod presenting on the state of Oregon's mandatory reporting requirements for attorneys in situations involving elder abuse.

The turnout for this event was lighter than expected (it is no secret among attorneys that ethics CLEs can be a bit dry, and, although they are very important – they don't always draw the largest audience).  But, those who did attend this particular CLE were not only treated to an interesting and informative CLE ethics program – but the brunch was quite delicious as well!