Social Media Marketing and Ethics Blog for Lawyers

In part three of Privacy v. Discovery: The Battle for Social Media Information, I analyze the seminal case holding that social media information behind privacy settings is discoverable. As explained below, the Southern District of Indiana makes a persuasive case that Internet users lack a reasonable expectation of privacy in social media information that shielded […]

Social media is eroding traditional notions of privacy in the law. Millions of people interact on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace every day to chronicle the intimate details of their personal and professional lives. As more people turn to social media for online interaction, it comes as no surprise that these new […]

What is the proper scope of social media discovery when Internet users have a certain expectation of privacy over  their social media content?  In the article Social Media Crossroads: An Analysis of the Law at the Intersection of Discovery and Privacy in the Realm of Social Media, I explain how federal reach different conclusions of whether social […]

The Florida Supreme Court does want any jurors in criminal cases to use social media to discuss their cases, Law.com reports. The high court recently adopted the work of its Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases. Trial judges must tell jurors they “must not use electronic devices or computers to talk about this […]

A New Jersey Superior Court judge ruled today that a woman who sent a text message to her boyfriend while he was driving cannot be held liable for the motor vehicle accident he subsequently caused, ABC News reports.  A different ruling could have sparked a series of  vicarious liability actions for “Facebook while driving” lawsuits. […]

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. […]

The Social Media Guide for Lawyers v. 2.0 is hot off the presses. The Guide serves as a practical resource for how lawyers and law firms can use social media to practically, ethically, and responsibly promote their practice. I had the pleasure of co-authoring the Guide with the esteemed members of the 2010-11 Meritas Leadership […]

Plaintiffs’ attorneys are jockeying for position to represent shareholders who invested in Facebook’s initial public offering, Law.com reports. Shareholders filed multiple lawsuits against Facebook, Zuckerber and the IPO’s underwriters, including Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants misled investors about Facebook’s financial health, resulting in the loss of […]

Shareholders sued Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg following for allegedly hiding the social media company’s weakened growth forecasts ahead of its $16 billion initial public offering (IPO), according to Yahoo! finance. The lawsuit claimed that Facebook, Zuckerman, and co-defendants Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase concealed “a severe and pronounced reduction” in revenue growth forecasts resulting from […]

Twitter is resisting an attempt by prosecutors to gain access to the message history of a writer and activist who was arrested during Occupy Wall Street protests last fall, Boston.com reports. The micro-blogging service filed court papers Monday asking a judge to quash a subpoena in which the Manhattan district attorney had ordered it to […]