tweeting while you work: social media and ethics for employment lawyers
DESCRIPTION
Slides from a CLE to employment lawyers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, regarding the rise of social media, social media as a tool in discovery and litigation, and ethics issues confronted by lawyers, employers and employees involving Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Vine, and so onTRANSCRIPT
Tweeting While You Work:
Social Media and Ethics
Lauren E. Godshall
WHAT WE’LL COVER
Social Media Platforms and Use
Social Media and Discovery
Ethical Issues Confronted by Attorneys
Ethical Issues Confronted by Employers
SOCIAL MEDIA
Source: HootSuite, November 28, 2013
Source: HootSuite, November 28, 2013
MORE STATS
Over 1 billion unique users each month; 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube each minute
Over 500 million tweets daily
Over 225 million users
FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
72% of all adult Americans have at least one social networking presence
One in every seven minutes spent online is spent on Facebook
Facebook users spend more than 10.5 billion minutes per day on Facebook
Twitter processed 5,000 “tweets” a day in 2007; by 2013, that figure had soared to over 500 million a day
DOES YOUR FIRM USE SOCIAL NETWORKING?
93% are on LinkedIn
71% are on Facebook
67% are on Twitter
See, e.g, Rodriquez v. Wal-Mart, 540 Fed. Appx. 322 (5th Cir. Sept. 19, 2013); In re White Tail Oilfield Services, No. 11-9 (E.D.La. Oct. 11, 2012) (Roby, Mag. J.)
See, e.g, Judeh v. LSU, No. 12-1758 E.D.La. (Oct. 10, 2013) (Vance, J.)
• Charles Wilson, Indiana Deputy Attorney General Out of Job after Live Ammo Tweet, The Washington Post (Feb. 23, 2011).
See, e.g, Pietrylo v. Hillstone Rest. Group, No. 06-5754 (D. N.J. Sept. 25, 2009)
ETHICAL ISSUES WITH TECHNOLOGY
Comment:To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology….
Client-Lawyer RelationshipRule 1.1 Competence
A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client. Competent representation requires the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation.
ETHICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Duty of competence; diligence (1.1; 1.4)
Confidentiality of information (1.6) Candor toward the tribunal (3.3) Fairness / spoliation (3.4; FRCP 37) No ex parte communications with
judges (3.5) Trial publicity (3.6)
ETHICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Truthfulness in statements to others (4.1)
No contact with represented party (4.2)
Dealing with unrepresented person (4.3)
Respect of third-party rights (4.4) Unauthorized practice of law (5.5) Advertising (7.2) No dishonesty, fraud, deceit or
misrepresentation (8.4)
ETHICS: DILIGENCE AND COMPETENCE
Lawyer sanctioned for accusing opposing counsel (who found a public image on plaintiff’s own Facebook page) of hacking. Allied Concrete v. Lester, 736 S.E.2d
699 (Va. 2013).
ETHICS: DILIGENCE AND COMPETENCE Failure to investigate social media
statement as inadequate assistance of counselCannedy v. Adams, 706 F.3d 1148 (9th Cir.)
• Online searching = reasonable diligence?Weatherly v. Optimum Asset Management, Inc., 928 So.2d 118 (La. App. 1 Cir. 12/22/05)
ETHICS: SPOLIATION
ETHICS: SPOLIATION
See, e.g, Gatto v. United Air Lines, Inc., No. 10-1090 (D. N.J. Mar. 25, 2013)
ETHICS: FRIEND REQUESTS
Friend request counts as contact, so do not friend a represented party.
Cannot pretend to be someone else to deceive and gain access to private page.
ETHICS: DISCOVERY
“In an era of increasingly pervasive social media use, employers must be mindful of the balancing act required between protecting the company and the employee’s individual right to engage in certain workplace discussions on social media…..”
Source: Intel.com, March 7, 2014
Although the Firm strongly discourages any lawyer or administrative employee from disclosing his or her association with the Firm when participating in discussions or asserting opinions on a Social Media site, if a lawyer or administrative Employee discloses his or her association with the Firm in such circumstances, a disclaimer along the following lines must be Included: “This material/opinion is my own and does not purport to represent the positions, strategies or opinions of my employer.”
But don’t forget Pietrylo!