Ethics

If you plan to place an advertisement for your law firm in your local newspaper, you know that you’ll have to include certain disclosures required by the legal advertising ethics rules. Well, guess what? The very same rules apply to your social media posts. Now, this should not come as much of a surprise if […]

Many lawyers hesitate to engage in social media marketing because they do not understand how the legal advertising ethics rules apply to social media. Trust me, I get it. As a practicing attorney and social media marketing consultant for lawyers, I understand the need to comply with our legal advertising ethics rules and how the […]

Social media marketing provides us with many opportunities to connect with friends and colleagues who may one-day become new clients. But communicating with friends in a manner that violates the ethics rule prohibiting improper solicitations on Facebook could result in a serious bar complaint. In this post, I will explain how the solicitation rule applies […]

A new legal ethics opinion highlights the potential ethics violations that lawyers face when importing contacts on social media sites such as LinkedIn. LinkedIn helps lawyers build their online professional network by asking lawyers to import their email contacts into the social media site so that it can suggest people who are already members of […]

While each jurisdiction contains unique rules, interpretations, and advisory opinions that clarify the appropriate use of technology for social media marketing and blogs, there is one rule of thumb that should be applied regardless of where your firm is located or where you are practicing: Ensure that your social media profile complies with your jurisdiction’s […]

A Virginia criminal defense attorney was charged with misconduct for blogging about cases he litigated. The blog “This Week in Richmond Criminal Defense” was accessible through his firm’s website and discussed a variety of legal issues and cases. But most of the posts described cases in which the attorney obtained favorable results for clients. The […]

Do you have an effective strategy to avoid ethical pitfalls when marketing your practice on social media? Are you ignoring social media because you’re worried about saying the wrong thing and getting in trouble with your state Bar? Attorneys and law firms are using social media more than ever before to promote their practice. This program […]

A Florida trial judge’s status as Facebook friend of prosecutor constitutes legally sufficient ground for disqualification, according to the Fourth District Court of Appeals. Pierre Domville, a criminal defendant, moved to disqualify a trial judge and submitted an affidavit averring that the prosecutor handling the case and the trial judge are Facebook “friends.”  Domville further […]

Lawyers may not be “friends” or “connections” with lawyers who may appear before them, the Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee confirms. The Advisory Committee opined back in 2009 that it was not permissible for a judge to approve a lawyer who may appear before the judge as a “friend” on a social networking site such as Facebook. […]

Earlier this year, the JAPCA Ethics Alert Blog reported on San Diego Bar Opinion 2011-2 (May 24, 2011) addressing a hypothetical involving a lawyer who represents former employees in an employment lawsuit and sends “friend” requests on social media websites to higher level employees of the opposing party/employer identified by the client as being disgruntled. Here’s a […]