Comments on: Can Lawyers Be Disqualified by Merely Viewing a Linkedin Profile? The Implications of Indirect Social Media Communications and Legal Ethics Rules

By: “Privacy is dead, and social media holds the smoking gun” – Pete Cashmore – Eleanor Carnes

Sun, 24 Apr 2016 22:13:04 +0000

[…] from: https://blog.x1discovery.com/2011/11/28/can-lawyers-be-disqualified-by-merely-viewing-a-linkedin-pro… on the 24th of […]

By: John Patzakis

John Patzakis — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:35:57 +0000

Nancy,
Thank you for your question. In the case of Twitter, for example, the notification to the account holder when you click the button to follow them is problematic because that is potentially considered an impermissible contact with a reprensented party. It is clearly not permitted in the case of a potential or empaneled juror. A more subtle example is viewing a juroror’s profile on Linkedin, which results them potentially being aware that you visited their profile. This and other related issues were discussed at length in our ethics webinar with Ralph Losey, and you can view the recording of it through the link above in the body of this post.

By: Nancy L. Bertolino

Nancy L. Bertolino — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:37:01 +0000

Interesting issues related to viewing of social media pages. Is it the viewing or the notification to account holder (e.g. unauthorized contact with opposing party) that presents the problem? If the “social media” information is posted and accessible publicly, why should it not be treated like other publicly available information? I’m assuming no tampering/tainting of the information. Many thanks for informative post, NancyB.