by Ken LopezFounder & CEO
A2L Consulting
As social media have become an integral part of life in the 21st century, they have inevitably and dramatically affected law, litigation, and trial strategy. Whether it’s a question of jurors who tweet from the jury box, service of a subpoena through Facebook, ownership of a social media account after an employee resigns, the dollar value of a Twitter “follower,” or any number of other issues, no lawyer or trial consultant can remain unaware of the issues. Here is a collection of 20 interesting social media discussions from various online legal locations, with brief summaries.
- Social Media Litigation Risks & Opportunities: It’s important to seek discovery of social media content in litigation, to name one interesting opportunity.
- How to Get Social Media Evidence Admitted: Social media information is discoverable, but what’s the best way to ask for it?
- Using Social Media Evidence as a Defense Litigation Tool [pdf]: How insurers and others can use social media as a litigation tool.
- Social Media Evidence and Privacy Preferences: Not surprisingly, the rules governing e-discovery apply to social media and trump both a social media website's privacy guidelines and an individual user's privacy preferences.
- How to Avoid a Social Media Lawsuit: How to set up an appropriate social media policy for your employees to fend off a potentially ruinous lawsuit.
- Who owns a Twitter account when an employee resigns? It’s crucial to use discretion and good business judgment in launching a social media campaign, just as you would for any other aspect of your business.
- What can an employer do about employee communications: Interpreting the NLRB’s recent decision about when concerted employee conduct on social media is protected activity.
- Social Media and E-Discovery [pdf]: An overview of the risks and rewards of seeking social media information in e-discovery.
- Service of Process via Social Media [pdf]: The use of Facebook for service of process satisfies due process requirements, one judge recently held.
- The ABA's View of Judges Using Social Media [pdf]: The ABA’s view is that a judge may participate in social media but that in doing so, he or she must comply with the Code of Judicial Conduct and avoid any conduct that would undermine the judge’s independence, integrity, or impartiality, or create an appearance of impropriety.
- Texas State Bar Report on Social Media and the Law [pdf]: A full issue of the journal of the Texas State Bar’s litigation section on the interplay between litigation and social media.
- Authenticating Social Media Evidence [pdf]: Evidentiary standards for admission of evidence that were developed for other forms of electronic data may not be sufficient.
- New York State Bar's Social Media & Litigation [pdf]: An excellent broad overview of the issues that can arise.
- How Social Media Can Hurt You in Litigation: What small and midsize businesses need to know about the discovery of social media information.
- Social Media and the Federal Securities Laws: Here are some of the pitfalls that public companies can encounter when they try to disseminate company information through social media.
- Waving Attorney-Client Privilege via Social Media: Interesting decision that a client waived attorney-client privilege when she discussed, in chat rooms, her discussions with her attorney.
- Social Media and Antitrust Litigation: Companies can violate the antitrust laws through the use of social media, and antitrust compliance programs should include discussion of these risks.
- Getting the most out of Social Media for Litigation: How to use the resources of social media to test your litigation themes before you get to a real jury.
- The Social Media Trojan Horse: What you say in social media can come back to haunt you in litigation.
- The SEC and Full Disclosure in Social Media: The SEC just announced that public companies are allowed to use social media to make key corporate announcements as long as they alert investors about which sites they intend to use.
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