The confluence of First Amendment rights, the overarching current need for celebrity and self-promotion appear to have collided in a case where plaintiff retained attorneys to represent him, then resolved the case, and decided to speak to the Wall Street Journal in violation of a non-disparagement provision of the underlying contract.  Result: bad for the client.

Barr v Liddle & Robinson, LLP  2016 NY Slip Op 00744  Decided on February 4, 2016
Appellate Division, First Department tells us that such conduce can be actionable.  “Plaintiff alleges that he would not have lost his contractual right to certain deferred compensation if his attorneys had not acted negligently in speaking to the Wall Street Journal, in violation of the non-disparagement provision of the contract. These allegations state a cause of action for legal malpractice (see Nomura Asset Capital Corp. v Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, 26 NY3d 40, 49-50 [2015]). The documentary evidence submitted by defendants fails to establish a defense as a matter of law (see Leon v Martinez, 84 NY2d 83, 88 [1994]). As the motion court found, neither the arbitration award nor the subsequent opinions submitted by defendants unequivocally contradict plaintiff’s claim that, but for defendants’ alleged negligent conduct, he would not have lost his contractual benefit. Moreover, it does not matter whether the arbitration decision was reached on the merits or under a procedural bar to considering the deferred compensation issue in the arbitration.”