As part of his crusade to keep attorneys safe from charges of ethical violations for their social media posts and technological gaffes, Teicher wrote a book about it. In Navigating the Legal Ethics of Social Media & Technology, Teicher advises lawyers the importance of being on the cutting edge of technology and social media without breaching the Code of Professional Responsibility.
“I want to help lawyers stay out of trouble,” says Teicher, who has served on the District Ethics Committee in New Jersey after being appointed there by his state’s Supreme Court. While it wasn’t a lawyer’s tweet at issue in a North Carolina case, a judge there recently approved a consent judgment for $500,000 to settle a defamation suit over a comment a woman made on Facebook that allegedly implied a onetime rival had caused the death of her child.
Beyond the potential for defaming a person or company for what a lawyer posts online, other matters should be paramount in an attorney’s mind before they click ‘post,’ Teicher says. For example, maintaining client confidentiality is extremely important, he says, so lawyers should be wary not to reveal too much information about their clients, whether online or otherwise.
Educating lawyers on how to utilize technology and social media ethically is so intrinsic to Teicher’s existence that he coined a name for that area of law. “Technethics,” he says, explains the fundamental duties attorneys have to their clients that have been forever altered by social media and other technologies.
His book also touches on the technical rules for attorney advertising and solicitation while also discussing the ethical concerns lawyers have when storing client data on the cloud. No matter how much social media and cloud storage morph over time, it’s still imperative attorneys are extremely careful when tapping into those technologies, he cautions.
Even though his book was published three years ago, and technology advances on an almost daily basis, he isn’t sure an update to the book is warranted. “The ethical issues haven’t changed although the platforms have,” he says.
Still, there are some burgeoning aspects of social media and technology that are slowly causing him to consider whether an update is appropriate. As the instantaneous reach and power of Twitter is made more obvious with each passing day, for example, he is wondering whether the “evolution of Twitter” needs to be addressed, he says.
“The changes are nuanced rather than being groundbreaking revolutions,” says Teicher, while recognizing some are weightier than others. According to Teicher, lawyers need to be wary of several Rules when utilizing technology and social media to ensure they steer clear of any violations, including:
- Rule 1.1 Competence
- Rule 1.6 Confidentiality of Information
- Rule 1.7 Conflict of Interest: General Rule
- 1.18 Duties to Prospective Clients
- Rule 3.3 Candor to Tribunal
- Rule 5.1 Responsibilities to Partners, Managers and Supervisory Lawyers
- Rule 5.3 Responsibilities Regarding Non-Lawyer Assistants
- Rule 7.1 Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services
- Rule 8.4 Misconduct
- Rule 8.5 Disciplinary Authority; Choice of Law
Two recent opinions published by the ethics committee of the District of Columbia Bar offer proof that lawyers and social media may be a lethal mix professionally. One, for example, involves attorneys taking positions on legal issues when blogging and tweeting, according to the ABA BNA Lawyer’s Manual.
The ethics opinion notes that when lawyers post opinions via social media on various issues of the day, those stances could be in direct opposition to the work they do for clients. That could create a conflict of interest.
Another area of caution for lawyers is how some social media outlets, such as LinkedIn, are permitted to tap into a subscriber’s email list. That kind of access could allow the social media site to suggest potential connections with people the lawyer may know who are already members of the site or even invite nonmembers to join and connect with that attorney.
These are just two examples of why Teicher urges lawyers to be careful when utilizing social media. “I just want to keep attorneys out of trouble,” he says.
Tami Kamin Meyer is an Ohio attorney and writer.