Social networking tips for lawyers

LinkedIn. Facebook. Twitter. Blogs. Some say that these social media sites offer lawyers brave new world of possibilities, marketing and cooperation. Others claim they are mine fields full of dangers for the unwary or unknowingly.

Which is correct? Both, of course. Yes, these different forms of social media present powerful opportunities. Yes, they are also significant dangers.

How lawyers can practice safe social networking? " In the spirit ofIssue, we turned to use social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, the question of a large number of lawyers and consultants.

From the feedback we receive, we distilled their advice up to this top 10 tips.

10. Be professional - always

Please note that you are a lawyer 24 / 7. Behave like a professional and always do whatever you are online.

That means being especially what you say about yourself, your true abilities and your practice.Be particularly careful in the bio you post on your website or blog and in the profiles you create for Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites. Do not portray yourself to be something you are not.

Being professional also means not calling others names online. In particular, do not call judges names. As comical as it seems to say that, a Florida lawyer was not laughing after he was disciplined and fined recently for writing on his blog that a judge was an "evil, unfair witch."

In whatever Book Online for respecting the privacy of your own "brand" and your own professional reputation. "Take it - as part of the conversation," advises Mark Beese, president of the consulting firm Leadership for Lawyers in Denver. "But not everything that could affect your reputation. Thinking."

9. Be nice, who you, in conjunction with

A simple way to protect themselves in social networks is to be careful that you enter in touch. Our story last month was a significantUnprecedented in the history of the judge who friended "on Facebook a lawyer if the lawyer had represented a party in a trial before the judge. Not surprisingly, the judge reprimanded, and the losing party has a new study.

Avoid Another connection that is made for a dishonest purpose. An ethics committee has said, for example, that there is inappropriate for an attorney to recommend to examine the person or to gain access to secret information relating toan action.

Also be careful to avoid connecting with others who can have their own ulterior motives in touch with you. And to test whether a compound or an endorsement might one day come back to be tracked as evidence of a conflict of interest.

"While social media has all the literally thousands of combination possibilities, the size of the ports issues much less than the quality of interaction," said Vanessa DiMauro, founder of the Boston social-media consulting firmLeader Networks. "Be deliberate in order to interesting things and value them that you get in touch or together with."

A common practice among lawyers is to separate professional and personal contacts in different networks. "I still deal with Facebook and LinkedIn, separately," says Reid Trautz, director of the Practice and Professionalism Center at the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington, DC "Facebook for personal use such as family,Friends and professional friends, LinkedIn is solely for professional connections and professional friends. "

Joshua Masur, a partner at the law firm Turner Boyd in San Francisco, does the same, but very professional with Facebook LinkedIn limiting his links to friends and close colleagues. "Of course this means that you will be ready to draw boundaries," he says, "which means being willing to say no when people in a network that have limited you ask in touch."

8.Do not fall victim to the myth of anonymity

"I would never deceive me, that sociability" anonymous "is truly anonymous on each of these platforms, including commenting on blogs," admits Susan Cartier Liebel, Connecticut-based founder of the Solo Practice University.

The recent history of the Web is full of stories about the unmasking of jurists who thought they were posting anonymously. It was the assistant U.S. attorney, who suspended by a largeMagazine as the author of an anonymous blog about the judge. There was the in-house attorney at Cisco, whose identity has been for a lawyer, he wrote about a patent as a reward offered for his unmasking troll showed.

These examples show that a lawyer should not feel safe to say anonymously, which would not feel the lawyer to say freely, with attribution.

Another dimension of this includes Facebook, where lawyers can create restricted groups, and to feel safer to tell their opinion. If youconsidering this option, make sure that you thoroughly on how to teach it properly, advises Courtney Kennaday, practice management consultant for the South Carolina Bar

Even then, she adds: "It is a severe limitation: Facebook groups are not limited to restrict everything. It is very difficult to know what types of products through slip and will be viewed by anyone."

7. Observe the line between networking and soliciting

Lawyers sometimes walk a fine linebetween speaking and canvassing their heads. You have every right to do, the former and professional responsibility, do not it.

An ethics opinion stated that a lawyer working in an inappropriate call, when he posted comments in a chat room for the mass production of disaster victims. It is easy to imagine how a lawyer could get into similar difficulties on Twitter too.

Several states have either ethics, ethics rules or opinions that specifically addresses the issue of the call inelectronic communications. Protect yourself by knowing the rules and the exercise of common sense.

6. Exercise editorial discretion - about themselves and others

Do not tell me that you're not online, that you will put yourself on the back cover of the New York Times. Do not assume that nobody is reading your blog, or find tweet. Once it is online, it is always online and it can and will be found.

This does not mean that you can not prove any personality orCreativity, says Matthias Jung, head of the legal one marketing in Houston. "It is well with your personality to shine through to your audience, but it is important to do this, as if your mother or daughter is sitting beside you."

However, not to remember that show customers and colleagues to see what you mean to say. Lawyers seem to sometimes forget that their clients are following them online. If you do not tell yourself to face a customer, do not say it online.

Not only thatCustomers read what you say, but they are judging what you say. Apart from the risk of saying something stupid, this is a further concern about the lawyers whose clients you read online is, Eric Turkewitz, a trial lawyer and blogger in New York City. "If you are frequently off topic during working hours that they wonder why you are not working on their case. "

If it is important to censor themselves, it is also important to censor others."If you have a blog, make sure you approve all comments before they are published," advises Lorraine Fleck, a trademark lawyer and blogger in Toronto. "That was a good tip I got from an experienced legal blogger, my blog has not prevented a haven for the advertising of fake Viagra."

Blogger and intellectual property lawyer Ronald Coleman, puts it this way: "Above all, accountability is the key. Do not say, unless you are willing to live, or live with it. And if itcan not be back - as a legal proposition or a real statement - well, why do you want to say it in the first place? "

5. Do you know your state rules on advertising

Each state has its own version of the rules, lawyer advertising and prompt. Some require that copies be preserved of ads, including copies of Web pages. Others require specific disclaimers on ads.

Be sure to understand the rules in the state in which you arelicensed in each state in which your firm has an office. Keep up with ethics opinions interpreting the rules.

4. Avoid illicit practices

Avoid it, is charged with unauthorized practice of the geographical boundaries of their own license and clear about the geographical location of others with whom they communicate online.

"Protection against UPL should be disclaimers in online communication is an order to include the licensing and geographical restrictionPractice, "said James S. Bolan, a Boston-area lawyer who concentrates in professional responsibility law." Do not depend on a relationship in a country where they are not allowed. "

Please note that unauthorized practice is not only ethics, but challenged by the loss of legal fees for work in accounting.

Protection against unauthorized practice is often difficult, but perhaps nowhere more so than in a virtual reality environment such as Second Life. If your avatar advises other Avatar, then in what jurisdiction you are practicing? Are you the advice to the avatar or the person behind it? In what jurisdiction is this person is?

3. Do not give out legal advice

Online is a significant risk the unintended creation of an attorney-client relationship. Sites like LinkedIn or Avvo users can send your questions and other answers. Simply by answering a question, can a lawyer give his legal advice and the creation of a> Attorney-client relationship.

This can also be done through a simple exchange of e-mails. Presented a Massachusetts Ethics, said that a lawyer receiving an unwanted, the query from a potential client through an e-mail link on a website was needed to protect the confidentiality of information, even if the lawyer was the presentation.

The best way to keep this is to avoid saying anything that the provision of on-line could be interpreted as specific legalAdvice. If you answer a question online, include a disclaimer saying that you do not provide counseling.

2. Do not talk about your clients or their cases

Take the example of Kristine Ann Peshek. Her blog chronicles her work as a lawyer in Illinois, she sometimes wrote about clients and cases. Although she never used a customer's last name, she now faces disciplinary charges because authorities say they found articles, enough information about their customers thatothers could identify them.

Peshek provided information on cases, some would say that she is an extreme example. But even seemingly harmless speeches you can have a lawyer in hot water. A simple status update on Twitter and Facebook could show your next step in a case to your opponents. Your tweet! "Drafting resolution ruling on summary federal case I am handling," one might need all the warning the other side.

May ask for anyone other than a single doctor this, running aTo examine conflict before posting. You want to avoid that, not only about your own customers, but also on all your customers.

1. Use common sense

It sometimes seems almost to be in these days, but common sense is the best way to get out of trouble. Therefore, you should apply to everything you do online and you can probably forget about it, all other rules.

"While I'm a fan of politics," says consultant Mark Beese, "I tend to keep to a single maxim: Do not do anythingdumb. "

Common sense rather covers all bases. It prevents you from saying something you regret later. It keeps you from crossing a line you should not. It keeps you from, in trouble in court with a client or with the bar.

As Ron Friedmann, a lawyer, blogger and frequent speaker on issues of management and technology consulting firm, concluded: "Lawyers should think before they press the Enter key."