Social media provides opportunities and ethics concerns for legal professionals. It allows attorneys to network, gain knowledge, and market their practice, but they must be careful not to form attorney-client relationships online or reveal confidential information. Attorneys should control their online presence by developing consistent profiles and monitoring what clients and the public see. They also need policies for firm employees' social media use and should educate clients and staff on related risks.

1. Social Media and the Legal Professional By: Stephanie Kimbro, Esq. Owner, Kimbro Legal Services, LLC Author, Virtual Law Practice: How to Deliver Legal Services Online, ABA/LPM 2010 Email: slk@kimbrolaw.com Twitter: @StephKimbro Blog: www.virtuallawpractice.org

2. Overview What is it and how are attorneys using it? Ethics Concerns Controlling and Monitoring your Online Presence Best Practices Other Resources

3. What is Social Media? Social media involves the use of web-based applications to communicate, share content and network online with others. It is used in both personal and professional contexts and often both the public and private spheres of an individual’s life are combined in the use of a single web-based application. User-generated content fuels social media. The individual who chooses to create and use a profile within a social media application has the responsibility for controlling the privacy and dissemination of the information they post online within the constraints of the application’s settings.

5. Different Forms of Social Media Internal Social Networking: Limited to legal professionals External Social Networking: Applicationsthat are accessible by the general public as well as legal professionals Free SM applications versus paid Why the distinction? There are varying degrees of security, privacy and malpractice risks that different applications carry with them based on the users.

6. Specifically For Lawyers JDSupra Legal OnRamp MHConnected NCBA listservs

7. Sharing with Everyone A few popular methods: LinkedIn Facebook Law firm “fan pages” Twitter Blogging For other attorneys versus for prospective clients Slideshare YouTube Vimeo Foursquare Customer rating & ranking sites: Avvo, Yelp Social bookmarking: Delicious Some managing tools: Friendfeed TweetDeck

9. Ethics Concerns Security Confidentiality Expectation of a Attorney/Client Relationship There is no clear establishment of an attorney/client relationship that can be formed through using social networking apps. This may be misleading to members of the general public who may use social networking sites as a way to obtain legal advice. UPL Copyright/Trademark Comply with the State Bar’s Rules & Regulations regarding online attorney advertising and marketing. Posting testimonials, recommendations from colleagues on a blog or in a forum

10. Privacy Head straight to the privacy setting immediately after registering on a social networking application. Be aware of the terms of the user agreement with the service provider. Know what information the site is able to share from your profile and how the flow of data is controlled, recorded, regurgitated, etc. Know if others are able to post messages, ads, photos or other items on your profile or site that could reflect negatively.

12. Creating an Online Presence Develop on an online image for your practice. Keep that image consistent throughout the methods of social networking that you use. Complete your profiles and use the same bio and other information consistently Ex. Firm photo in profiles, use Gravatar to post the same photo across the web. Consider assigning a single attorney in the firm with the responsibility of monitoring and being active on behalf of the firm within different SM applications. The danger of allowing individuals to speak for or build a reputation for your organization is that it can be difficult when using these social networking tools to keep the communications strictly business-oriented. While it may in some cases enable the dialogue, in others it could be damaging for the firm’s reputation. Monitor your online presence on a regular basis. Run searches on Google Alerts and TweetDeck. Copyright and Trademark issues

13. Educate Your Clients If you use any form of social networking, expect to run into your clients online. Let them know your policy towards social media from the beginning of your relationship. Ex: that you will not “friend” or “follow” clients Explain the risks and importance of protecting the confidentiality of their information. Teach restraint in posting information online related to their legal matters.

15. Where is it going?

16. Other Resources Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier, Carolyn Elefant and Nicole Black, ABA/LPM Publishing, 2010. ABA Journal podcast: Management on Social Media: Good Employee Communication Tool or Liability?, April 2010, http://alturl.com/t72n8 Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier, Michael Fertik and David Thompson, http://www.wildwest2.com/ Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives, John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, http://borndigitalbook.com/ ABA eLawyering Task Force, www.elawyering.com