With social media abounding, ABA book offers ethics roadmap for legal professionals
The rapidly changing and challenging landscape of technology and social media is having a dramatic impact on the practice of law and the legal profession.
A new book from the American Bar Association, "Legal Ethics and Social Media: A Practitioner's Handbook," will assist lawyers in understanding these challenges and in navigating the often slippery slope of digital communications, such as Twitter, Facebook and You Tube. The book, written by Jan L. Jacobowitz, lecturer in law at the University of Miami School of Law, and John G. Browning, civil litigator and shareholder in the Dallas firm Passman & Jones, is a project of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility.
"Legal Ethics and Social Media" covers social media use from litigation of a case to attorney advertising and client relationships. It includes topics such as digital competence in investigating a case, advising clients and the effective and ethical use of social media for service of process, discovery and the investigation of jurors. The book also provides references to legal ethics advisory opinions and a table of cases that provides additional information and guidance.
Browning, whose range of law includes employment, intellectual property, products liability, professional liability, media law and negligence matters, said the book comes at a critical time because social media is affecting the legal system at a dizzying pace.
"It's critical for lawyers to know where the ethical boundaries are drawn when using social media," Browning said. "And given the new standard of tech competence to which lawyers are being held, ignoring or failing to heed the significance of social media for our profession is not an option."
The authors believe that lawyers, judges, law students and other legal professionals will find "Legal Ethics and Social Media" an invaluable tool. The book provides an accessible question-and-answer format that allows for an easy-to-use handbook - to answer an occasional question or to engage in a social media immersion.
"Communication is a lawyer's stock in trade so lawyers must learn to navigate the social media highway, said Jacobowitz, who is also the director of the Professional Responsibility & Ethics Program at the University of Miami School of Law. "Our book provides a roadmap for lawyers - both the social media savvy and the uninitiated - to assist in ethically incorporating social media into the practice of law."
The ABA Center for Professional Responsibility is widely recognized as a national leader in developing and interpreting standards and scholarly resources in legal and judicial ethics, professional regulation, professionalism and client protection.
@ROUND UP Briefs Headline:New ABA book examines the pros and cons of becoming a solo practitioner
Prelaws, law students and recent graduates, as well as seasoned practitioners, will eventually come to a point in their law journey when they must decide where they best fit into the legal profession. An option may be to become a solo practitioner.
The new release "Solo Lawyer By Design: A Plan for Success in Any Practice" provides the tools to help weather the rapidly changing marketing developments that present new and difficult challenges to a successful practice. It also opens doors to opportunities to expand the reader's area of influence in new and efficient ways. This book is a resource that enables the reader to better understand opportunities and obstacles that may be encountered as a lawyer explores becoming established as a solo practitioner. This valuable information can help decide whether solo practice is the right choice.
"Solo Lawyer by Design" is the culmination of author Gary P. Bauer's efforts to help students and graduates succeed in the business of law. A professor of law at Western Michigan University's Cooley Law School since 1993, Bauer is a former captain in the United States Air Force and has a master's degree in Business Management from Central Michigan University. The book is project of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division.
Published: Tue, Jul 11, 2017
