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Benchmarks: Lawyer breaks rules by posting prosecutor’s video on YouTube

Pat Murphy — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:19:35 +0000

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.

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Benchmarks: Judge OKs service of foreign defendants via Facebook

Pat Murphy — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:16:24 +0000

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.

District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer in March granted the Federal Trade Commission’s motion to use Facebook as an alternative means of effecting service of
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EEOC sanctioned for delaying social media discovery

Pat Murphy — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:26:16 +0000

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.

“In certain respects, the EEOC has been negligent in its discovery obligations, dilatory in cooperating with defense counsel, and
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LegalTech 2013: from settlement predictions to social network tracking

Correy Stephenson — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:56:01 +0000

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

Correy Stephenson — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:20:27 +0000

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.

Last year, news reports claimed that employers and schools were requiring prospective and current employees and students to provide access
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Ownership of digital assets concern for estate planners

Correy Stephenson — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:52:34 +0000

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?

It should be standard practice for lawyers to advise clients to include digital assets in
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Defamation case exposes social media controversy

David Frank — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 22:13:56 +0000

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
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Improving your firm’s social media presence

Tony Ogden — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:52:05 +0000

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.

“Our future clients are communicating this way,” said Stephanie Kimbro, author of Virtual Law Practice.

Lawyers
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Courts weigh in on social media discovery requests

Correy Stephenson — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:33:58 +0000

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
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$9.5M deal in Facebook class action deemed ‘adequate’

Pat Murphy — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:38:49 +0000

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
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