Spam law is enacted under 15 USC 7701, titled "Controlling the Assault of Non- Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003", or the "CANSPAM Act of 2003 (Act)." This public law prescribes methods of sending emails, instant messages, and other electronic messages of commercial or pornographic nature. This article discusses the law's scope in the commercial domain.

What Can’t I Do When Sending Unsolicited Commercial Email?

Spammers have a large arsenal of deceptive methods to collect potential recipient’s email addresses and relentlessly distribute mass amounts of unsolicited emails without being identified. Many of these methods have been discovered and are addressed by the Act. The Act proscribes initiation, conspiring, or aiding of deceptive electronic messaging practices whose goal is to conceal or disguise the identity of the sender to make investigation of an alleged violation difficult or make it difficult to reply to the message. These practices include using a false, forged, or fraudulent email address, IP address, or domain name, in order to send multiple unsolicited commercial electronic messages. The Act also proscribes the practice of collecting recipient email addresses by automated means, also known as address harvesting and dictionary attacks, and creating email addresses of possible recipients by automated permutations. Less ingenious but nonetheless proscribed practices include providing misleading or false information in the message’s subject lines with regard to the message’s content, and the practice of omitting procedures to be removed from the sender’s mailing list (opt-out mechanisms), not honoring opt-out requests, or otherwise making it difficult or impossible for the recipient to be removed from the mailing list.

What Must I Do When Sending Unsolicited Commercial Email?

Given the elaborate nature of these deceptive practices it would be clear whether or not your business was violating the Act. But even if you aren’t a bonafide spammer, businesses who distribute emails should be aware of this Act and comply with its rules when sending unsolicited emails of commercial nature.

• Header: Make sure your email address, IP address, and domain name is legitimate. That is, it is not false, was not acquired by fraud or false pretenses, and genuinely represents the message’s origin.
• “From” Line: Make sure the “from” line contains the accurate email address of any person who initiated the message.
• Subject Heading: The subject line should relate to the contents of the message.
• Return Address: The return address should be functioning in a way that would allow the recipient to reply to the person initiating the message, or there should be a functioning mechanism in which the recipient can effectively request to be removed from the mailing list.
• Identifier: There must be clear and conspicuous identification that the message is an advertisement or solicitation. Examples include adding the words “Ad”, “Advertisement”, “Unsolicited Commercial Email”, or “Spam” to the beginning of the subject heading.
• Opt-out Mechanism: There must be clear conspicuous notice of the opportunity to decline to receive further commercial electronic mail messages from the sender.
• Physical Address: You must include a valid physical postal address of the sender.

For more information regarding spam law visit: http://www.ftc.gov/spam.

Practice Management and Operations

John Tagliabue discusses a new phenomenon – the incursion of American law firms in Europe – and the cooperative exchange of attorneys between American and European law firms.
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20070725/ZNYT01/707250377/1003/NEWS

How much is your time worth?

In this guide, a 20-year veteran technology entrepreneur discusses some of the time management techniques that lead to his success. http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/beyondstartup/a/timeismoney.htm?nl=1

A Business Plan and Budget

Established attorneys give their advice for composing effective business plans and budgets.
http://www.abanet.org/lpm/lpt/articles/fin07071.shtml

Legal Marketing and Advertising

Nader Anise is the highest paid legal marketing strategist in the United States. Anise recommends billing based on the quality rather than quantity. Many attorneys who followed Anise’s strategies have doubled or tripled their income.
http://www.mmdnewswire.com/at-3-000-n-hour-
who-cn-afford-attorney-mrketing-guru-nder-anise-1928-2.html

Kathryn E. Brown discusses the importance of relationship marketing – keeping all the attorneys and staff in your firm feeling “important, informed, and involved.”
http://wvrecord.com/news/contentview.asp?c=198394

Nader Anise warns of the pitfalls of conducting general practice and stresses the importance of practicing in a niche. Anise’s free guide to tripling referrals can also be found at this link.
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/7/emw539158.htm

Your unique marketing strategy is a trade secret so make sure you keep it under lock and key. Here’s a checklist of marketing IP whose secrecy you’ll want to maintain.
http://practice.findlaw.com/law-practice-management-articles/00006/000216.html

Law Firm Technology

The once exclusive social network has expanded its user base to include the general public. Attorneys are now finding that the site can be a key networking tool for the legal professional.
http://kevin.lexblog.com/2007/07/law-firm-internet-marketing/
facebook-turning-mainstream-for-us-old-guys/

Advologix offers firm management software for the Apple iPhone making the hip phone a legal professional’s choice PDA.
http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/07/16/advologix/index.php

Notable Mentions

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York ruled in favor of an advocacy group’s request for an injunction against recent legal advertising rules. The ruling held that previous attorney advertising laws violated the right to free speech.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/business/media/24legal.html?
_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

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