NJ lawyers need a social media policy for employees
Thursday, April 9, 2015
NJ lawyers need a social media policy for employees
Jennifer Marino Thibodaux of Gibbons writes:
The subject attorneys were retained to defend a town and its police sergeant in a personal injury action. One attorney directed his paralegal to conduct Internet research about the plaintiff. The paralegal accessed the public portions of the plaintiff’s Facebook page, and sent the plaintiff a “friend” request without disclosing her association with the attorneys. The plaintiff accepted the friend request, and the paralegal obtained information the attorneys could use to impeach the plaintiff’s personal injury claims.
The paralegal’s use of Facebook here, as you can tell from the headline, did not turn out well for the attorney-employer. This story is a simple, quick warning to New Jersey attorneys: implement a social media policy reflective of the Rules of Professional Conduct so your employees know (and you can show later that your employees knew or should have known) that it’s inappropriate to contact the opposing party on social media without identifying yourself and your employment.