Ethics Opinions

Professional Guidance Committee  The Committee addressed the following inquiry: “The inquirer proposes to ask a third person, someone whose name the witness will not recognize, to go to the Facebook and Myspace websites, contact the witness and seek to ‘friend’ her, to obtain access to the information on the pages. The third person would state only […]

Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics of the New York State Unified Court System’s Office Topic: Judge’s Use of Social Networks Digest of the Committee: “Provided that the judge otherwise complies with the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct, he/she may join and make use of an Internet-based social network. A judge choosing to do so should exercise […]

Professional Responsibility and Ethics Committee Topic: Lawyers’ participation in listserv communications and chat rooms – “Do lawyers participating in e-mail communications with a listserv or ‘chat room’ risk  engaging in improper ex parte communications if judges in front of whom the lawyers may appear also have access to that same information?” Summary of the opinion (by […]