Benchmarks: Lawyer breaks rules by posting prosecutor’s video on YouTube 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: April 2, 2013
Tags: Discovery, Facebook, YouTube
An Illinois criminal defense lawyer thought he would expose shady police tactics by posting a video of an undercover drug buy on YouTube.
Unfortunately, the only thing the lawyer managed to do was incur the wrath of Illinois courts for misusing prosecution evidence disclosed during discovery in his client’s case.
Benchmarks: Judge OKs service of foreign defendants via Facebook
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: March 29, 2013
Tags: due process, email, Facebook, Hague Convention, service of process
Experts say a recent decision by a New York federal judge marks a trend towards innovation in overcoming the challenges of serving parties outside the U.S.
EEOC sanctioned for delaying social media discovery
Published: March 15, 2013
Tags: Discovery, EEOC, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Facebook, Sanctions, sexual harassment, social media
A Colorado federal court has sanctioned the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for delaying an employer’s efforts to discover the emails, texts and blog posts of employees seeking damages for sexual harassment.
LegalTech 2013: from settlement predictions to social network tracking
By:
Correy Stephenson
Published: February 19, 2013
Tags: CLE, computer-assisted review, e-discovery, electronic discovery, electronically stored information, ESI, Facebook, iPad, iPad apps, iPad mini, legal technology, LegalTech, practice management, predictive coding, settlements, social media, technology
Lawyers USA reports on items of interest to solos and small firm attorneys from the annual LegalTech conference, including software that can predict where a case will settle.
Six states now prohibit employer, educator social media access
Published: January 14, 2013
Tags: Facebook, social media, social networking, Twitter
Six states now prohibit employers or educational institutions from requiring employees or students to provide access to their social media accounts: California, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan and New Jersey.
Ownership of digital assets concern for estate planners
By:
Correy Stephenson
Published: January 3, 2013
Tags: digital assets, estate planning, Facebook
So much of an individual’s life now appears online, including bills, Facebook accounts and photo-sharing websites. But what happens to those assets when a person dies?
Defamation case exposes social media controversy
By:
David Frank
Published: December 27, 2012
Tags: defamation, Facebook, First Amendment, Massachusetts, social media, Twitter, wrongful termination
A Massachusetts judge’s refusal to issue an injunction in a suit involving a car dealership allegedly defamed by the relatives of an ex-employee demonstrates the struggle for courts that are asked to strike a balance between the First Amendment and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Improving your firm’s social media presence
Published: November 26, 2012
Tags: 20 Things Lawyers Need to Know in 2013, Facebook, law firm marketing, LinkedIn, social media, Twitter
Given the current explosion of social media use, it’s more important than ever for lawyers and their firms to be part of the conversation.
Courts weigh in on social media discovery requests
By:
Correy Stephenson
Published: November 19, 2012
Tags: Discovery, e-discovery, electronic discovery, Facebook, Federal Rules of Evidence, Home Depot, social media, social networking, technology
Lawyers still making their way along the learning curve of social media evidence may struggle to find guidance from court opinions.
But two recent decisions with different results offer some clues on how to narrowly focus a discovery request to pass muster.
$9.5M deal in Facebook class action deemed ‘adequate’
Published: September 24, 2012
Tags: class action, consumer protection, Facebook, Video Privacy Protection Act
A $9.5 million settlement of a consumer class action against Facebook was sufficiently adequate to be approved, even if it represented only a fraction of what some class members claimed they could recover in individual lawsuits, the 9th Circuit has ruled in affirming judgment.
