Social Media Ethics for Attorneys

Social media is everywhere. Social media is used by individuals and businesses to communicate, investigate, advertise and store electronic information (ESI). Not surprisingly, attorneys and law firms use social media for all these reasons. Social media use by attorneys must, however, be considered in terms of the ethical rules which govern attorney conduct. Those ethical rules impact the competence of attorneys to use social media, attorney advertising through social media, giving legal advice through social media, review and use of evidence derived from social media, communicating with clients through social media, researching jurors through social media and reporting on juror misconduct, and communicating with judges through social media. This session explores how the rules of professional conduct address these topics.

Learning Objectives: 

1. Understand how the rules of professional conduct apply to attorney use of social media
2. Recognize ethical issues that might arise when attorneys use social media for various reasons
3. Appreciate how attorneys might use social media to their benefit while avoiding ethical problems