Ethics Rules for Using Social Media in Legal Matters

By Helen Geib, QDiscovery

Social media is increasingly important in eDiscovery, employment investigations and jury research. Using social media in legal and HR matters raises significant ethical issues. Lawyers and other legal professionals should keep these five ethics rules in mind.

1. Familiarity with relevant social media is part of legal competence.

Competence is ethics rule number one – literally. ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.1 reads:

A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client. Competent representation requires the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation.

All lawyers should be familiar with potential sources of relevant information in their area of practice.

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