Terms of Service

User Agreement & Terms of Service

Welcome to The Missouri Bar’s Online Community. To ensure the best possible experience of all members, we have established some basic rules for participation, which are set out below. By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules.

Please note that The Missouri Bar does not regularly monitor this community site, meaning that messages and posts are not screened before you send or post them.  Communities will be self-moderated as members may flag posts to report communications they believe are inappropriate or violate the Terms of Service. If a user flags a post or the community administrator is otherwise made aware of an alleged violation of the Terms of Service, the author of the post will be notified by the Bar and provided the opportunity to respond, modify or remove the post. The Executive Director may remove the post immediately if, in her discretion, she determines it is a clear violation of the Terms of Service. If the user fails to respond, the Executive Director will determine whether the post should be deleted. Based on the severity of the offending post, the Executive Director may request an Executive Committee determination regarding whether the user’s status should be changed to full moderation or continued access to communities for that user should be suspended. Full moderation of a user’s status allows the user to continue to submit posts, but requires that each post submitted by the user be approved by a community administrator prior to publication. A user who has been suspended or whose post has been removed may submit a written request to the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors for further review. The Executive Committee will make a determination at its next regularly-scheduled meeting or as soon as reasonably possible. The Executive Committee’s determination may be appealed to the Board of Governors in writing to be reviewed at is next regularly-scheduled meeting.

Rules & Legal Information

1. This site is provided as a service for the members of The Missouri Bar, which is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others.
   
   
2. Participation in these communities is open to any member of The Missouri Bar who is in good standing.
   
   
3. Discussion posts are not the official position of The Missouri Bar.
   
   
4. Exercise caution and consider your ethical obligations when disclosing specific case/client information. While this is a private online community, The Missouri Bar cannot ensure or warrant the confidentiality or security of the information transmitted.
   
   
5. The Missouri Bar abides by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by responding to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the DMCA and other applicable laws. If you believe that your content has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide us with the following information:
   
   
   1. a physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf;
   2. identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
   3. identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;
   4. your contact information, including your address, telephone number, and an email address;
   5. a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
   6. a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
      
      The Missouri Bar's designated copyright agent for notice of alleged copyright infringement is the general counsel at The Missouri Bar, PO Box 119, 326 Monroe, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0119, or via email to mobar@mobar.org.
      
      
6. Do not violate anti-trust laws, including posting messages that encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another’s business or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade.
   
   
7. Do not post commercial messages on any discussion list, calendar, resource library entry, or other area where others might see it. Commercial messages include notification or promotion of CLE events offered by any entity other than The Missouri Bar or MoBarCLE. This provision does not prohibit posting information about free continuing legal education programs or products that you believe would benefit members of the community. Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the lists and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws. Contact people directly with product and service information if you believe it would help them. Committee chairs may post announcements of CLE events other than those sponsored by The Missouri Bar or MoBarCLE that they deem beneficial to the members of the community.
   
   
8. Do not post messages intended to solicit donations for any purpose unless approved in advance by the Executive Committee or the Board of Governors.
   
   
9. Do not initiate discussion for the purpose of supporting, endorsing or opposing any candidate for partisan or non-partisan office or for any position within The Missouri Bar.
   
   
10. Do not initiate discussions that are off-topic or not relevant to the purpose of the community. Note that non-substantive discussions of personal opinions about politics and religion are off-topic for every community except for the Sidebar community. This rule does not, however, prohibit community members from initiating discussions related to legislation relevant to their area of practice, proposals for Bar-drafted legislation or from members of the Executive Committee, Board of Governors, Legislative Committee or Legislative Review Subcommittees requesting feedback on proposed bills.
    
    
11. On the Sidebar community discussion forum, users may discuss any topic, including the topics specifically prohibited by Rules 8, 9, and 10. Members of the Sidebar community, must abide by Rules 1 through 7 and Rule 12, and should consider the Suggested Etiquette Guidelines when initiating discussions. To join the Sidebar community, users must agree to the Terms of Service & User Agreement for the site and in doing so agree to abide by Rules 1 through 10 and Rule 12 when participating in any other community on this site.
    
    
12. All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you. The Missouri Bar cannot ensure that your post will not be forwarded or printed and shared with others.

Revised TOS approved by the Board of Governors May 5, 2016