A Colorado lawyer was suspended from the practice of law for 18 months after disclosing confidential information about his clients in responding to their Internet complaints about his fees or services.  According to the disciplinary order, the lawyer responded to the complaints “with Internet postings that publicly shamed the couple by disclosing highly sensitive and confidential information gleaned from attorney-client discussions.”  This type of disclosure of confidential information is not covered by any  exceptions to confidentiality in Rule 1.6(b).  In addition, the lawyer sued the clients for defamation and communicated directly with them, even though their lawyer had repeatedly asked him to stop contacting them.  The order states that this violated the anti-contact rule, Rule 4.2.  A story in the ABA Journal about the discipline case is located here.