Committee on Professional Ethics Lawyers’ participation in “Questions and Answers” websites is allowed but cannot import solicitation of clients. In Ethics Opinion 899, the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics opined that a lawyer may provide general answers to legal questions from laymen on interactive websites, but the lawyer cannot solicit clients […]
The basic obligation of lawyers with regard to confidential client information is clear: lawyers must take reasonable steps to protect the confidentiality of such information. South Carolina Rule of Professional Conduct (SCRPC) 1.6, comment 18 states: “When transmitting a communication that includes information relating to the representation of a client, the lawyer must take reasonable precautions to prevent the information […]
In this case employment discrimination case Defendant (Ferrellgas) filed a motion to compel Plaintiff (Held) to produce data from Plaintiff’s Facebook account. Plaintiff objected, stating that the information is “irrelevant, confidential and private”. The court granted Defendant’s motion to compel discovery as it appears that Defendant is attempting to mitigate Plaintiff’s privacy concerns by allowing […]
Committee on Professional Ethics Topic: Offering a Prize to Join Attorney’s Social Networking Sites Digest of the Committee: The Rules of Professional Conduct do not prohibit an attorney from offering a prize to join the attorney’s social network as long as the prize offer is not illegal, but if the primary purpose of the prize […]
Topic: Lawyer Friending Opposing Party From the Opinion: “Attorney’s request to be invited as a friend of Plaintiff’s Facebook/MySpace account would be a “communication” for purposes of Rule 4-4.2. Attorney may not send such a communication directly to plaintiff, in light of that rule”. Relevant Law: Missouri Rule of Professional Conduct 4-4.2 The full text is […]
Professional Ethics Committee Topic: Hiring Private Investigator to “Friend” Opposing Party on Social Networking Sites From the Opinion: “In conclusion, in the Committee’s opinion, under the facts presented, a lawyer may not hire an investigator to “friend” an adverse party in litigation. to develop evidence to be used against that party”. Relevant Law: Connecticut Rule of […]
Association of the Bar of the City of New York Committee on Professional and Judicial Ethics Topic: Lawyers Obtaining Information from Social Networking Websites The full text is available at: http://www.nycbar…
Committee on Professional Ethics Topic: Lawyer’s Access to Public Pages of Another Party’s Social Networking Site, Pending Litigation A lawyer who represents a client in a pending litigation, and who has access to the Facebook or MySpace network used by another party in litigation, may access and review the public social network pages of that […]
73 ALB. L. REV. 113, 115 (2009) From the Article: “This article briefly addresses some of the ethics issues lawyers may face when they use social networking tools”. The full text is available at: http://www.albanylawreview…
The full text is available at http://www.nathancrystal.com… Open pdf