Massachusetts Bar Association Ethics Opinion 14-5
[Approved by the Massachusetts Bar Association’s House of Delegates on May 8, 2014]
Topic: lawyer’s contact with unrepresented party via social network
Summary:
“A lawyer for a party may “friend” an unrepresented adversary in order to obtain information helpful to her representation from the adversary’s nonpublic website only when the lawyer has been able to send a message that discloses his or her identity as the party’s lawyer.”
Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 8.4
Mentioned Ethics Opinions:
- Philadelphia Bar Association Opinion 2009-2
- San Diego Bar Association Opinion 2011-2
- New Hampshire Advisory Ethics Opinion 2012-13/05
- Oregon Ethics Committee Opinion No. 2013-189
The full text is available at http://www.massbar.org…