The South Carolina Bar has moved to electronically post disciplines of lawyers on its Web site for a full 75 years - longer than a professional lifetime - once they are issued.

But there are those in the profession who say the bad marks shouldn't be posted at all.

"This creates a 'Scarlet Letter' for someone who happens to make a mistake," Columbia lawyer J. Leeds Barroll said Friday in Charleston at a meeting of the Bar's House of Delegates.

Barroll, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, said there are some lawyers who are perfect, have staffs who are perfect and never make clerical mistakes. But to point out and post the errors of others, "it's just ridiculous," he said.

Nevertheless, the delegates rejected Barroll's suggestion and voted in favor of electronically posting lawyers' records in the interest of public disclosure.

"Minor technicalities don't make it all the way" to a published discipline, said delegate Steedley Bogan, of Columbia, who supported the measure.

The House of Delegates is the Bar's governing and policy-setting body.

In January, the Bar voted to begin posting lawyer disciplines on its Web site, just as is done in about a dozen states.

Those disciplines are issued by the state Supreme Court on a weekly basis as they occur.

But the Bar wants to post them on their own easy-to-navigate site as part of an overall campaign to increase public accountability in the profession.

The marks would run from light reprimands to outright disbarment. Under the Bar's proposal, interim suspensions and administrative suspensions would remain posted only as long as the suspension is in effect.

The records are expected to go online later this summer. The postings would cover any living lawyer, no matter when the discipline was issued. The state has more than 11,500 attorneys.

Also at the meeting, Bradish J. Waring of Charleston was installed as the Bar's 122nd president.

Reach Schuyler Kropf at 937-5551, or skropf@postandcourier.com.