We recently posted How Law Firms Can Benefit from Social Media, covering how law firms are using various social media channels and the benefits they are receiving from doing so. Although the benefits are plentiful and clear, some law firms and their attorneys are still hesitant to fully adopt social media. Firms are getting their toes wet, but many are yet to dive in head first. They are creating and dabbling with social media pages, but not actively managing these pages, and in some cases eventually leaving pages dormant.
Some firms believe social media is a time-waster and negatively affects productivity, while other firms simply do not have adequate time to allocate to actively managing social media accounts. Some firms are also hesitant to adopt social media because of the lack of clarity on the existing rules relating to its use, and unfamiliarity with how social media works and what content is acceptable to post. However, once attorneys and law firms become educated in these areas, social media can serve as an excellent marketing tool for them. This article covers the ethics and best practices for the use of social media by attorneys and law firms.
Source: Rocket Lawyer
Lawyers are embracing social media, but so are clients, judges, jurors, witnesses, competitors, opposing counsel, government officials, the media and prospective clients, representing only a portion of the audience that is on social media and that can see what your firm and attorneys are posting. Additionally, attorneys have increasingly been using social networking sites as sources of evidence for use in litigation in the e-discovery process. Therefore, clients’ use of social media must also be managed. These are just a few of many reasons why it is vital that your law firm creates and instates a comprehensive social media policy with guidelines on the acceptable and ethical uses of social media by all employees of your firm. Not only should your firm instate a social media policy, it should train each employee on the proper use of social media to ensure they fully understand it. The legal industry in particular has some very specific rules of professional conduct, and different variations of these rules apply in each state. For a great site on creating social media policies, check out 123socialmedia.com.
When drafting a social media policy, law firms should take into consideration the following:
- American Bar Association (ABA) regulations or recommendations
- Laws/rules in each of the states in which:
- Your firm has an office
- Your firm’s attorneys are admitted to practice
- Your firm is advertising, marketing or seeking clients
- Acceptable and unacceptable uses of each social network
- Who may be “friended” and which connection requests may be accepted – judges, witnesses, journalists, competitors, etc.?
- How social media usage will be monitored, recorded and analyzed
Content of Social Media Posts
Lawyers should assume everything they say or do in social media is public information
Posts Cannot:
- Disclose confidential client information
- Provide legal advice
- Directly solicit business
- Be deceptive, false, misleading or confusing
- Omit necessary facts
- Compare one lawyer or law firm to another
- Contain subjective claims
- Create unjustified expectations
- Create a conflict of interest
Although there is quite a list of things that cannot be included in posts, there are a number of things that law firms can and should post about, including industry-level news and new legislations, as well as company news, achievements, events and webinars. Posting industry-related news can help position your firm as an industry thought leader, however, you must be careful not to include the opinion of your firm or firm’s attorneys with regards to the content of posts. Firms should also avoid posting about any past cases or current cases they are involved with.
The rules regarding social media, which fall under the Rules of Professional Conduct for advertising, may vary by state, so be sure to fully understand and comply with the rules for all states in which your firm has an office or is admitted to practice, and is seeking clients through marketing and advertising. For example, some states prohibit the use of testimonials in advertising, such as LinkedIn recommendations, unless a disclaimer is used, as can be seen under rule 7.1 of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct.
Additionally, although most states consider websites a form of advertising, many states do not categorize law blogs as advertising. However, if an attorney at a law firm starts their own blog, and it is not tied to the law firm, they should clearly indicate that the blog does not reflect the views of the firm. You must also be careful when adding areas of specialty to your social media pages. LinkedIn profiles, for example, have a field for “specialties.” Unless you are certified as a specialist by a state bar accredited authority in your jurisdiction, do not indicate any specialties, since most state rules prohibit lawyers from doing so without the proper accreditation.
Don’t rush into using social media. Take the time to learn all of the rules specific to your jurisdiction, become familiar with social media and create a social media policy before leveraging social media to promote your law firm.
Best Practices
- Create a Social Media Policy for your law firm and require all employees to understand and comply with it
- Stay up to date on all the rules that affect your firm and its communications, in all states applicable
- Include disclaimers with the language required by each state where your firm conducts or seeks business – Include the same disclaimers in social media as you do on your website
- State clearly on social media profiles that information you post is “void where prohibited”
- Establish a system for maintaining copies of your communications
- Monitor, record and analyze your social media efforts
- If any post content or information tied to a social media account sounds false or misleading, then assume it is and do not post!
- If you would not make a statement in person, do not make it online either!
- Be proactive, not reactive with regards to managing your social media presence
