Ethical Use of Facebook by Attorneys

Ethical Use of Facebook by Attorneys
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Ethical Use of Facebook by Attorneys
Facebook is a social networking website that allows users to create their profiles and keep in touch with relatives, colleagues or friends by sharing information, messages, photos and other contents using words, videos, photographs and other communication methods
(Chester, 2012). Facebook offers fast-hand possibilities in how information is obtained or manipulated. Attorneys’ use of social media is an issue that has raised ethical issues regarding information following and reporting (Browning, 2010).
The ABA Model Rules, specifically RPC 4.1 (Truthfulness in Statements to Others) prohibits attorneys from making false or misleading statements. This rules have also been extended to social media websites. For example, The South Carolina Ethics Opinion 12-03, concluded that lawyers may not participate in social media websites that allow non-lawyer users to post legal questions (McHale & Garulay, 2012). Solicitations by an attorney in terms of advertising themselves using Facebook or offering to provide legal services for monetary gains are restricted under RPC 7.3 and equivalent state ethics rules (ABA, 2014).
Facebook and other social media platforms creates a potential risk of disclosing privileged or confidential information such as the identity of a current or former client. Consistent with, ABA Formal Opinion 10-457 rules, lawyers have a duty to protect confidential information of their current clients (RPC 1.6), former clients (RPC 1.9), and prospective clients (RPC 1.18) (ABA, 2014). The rules provides that lawyers must obtain the consent of the client before posting any information about them on social websites. Social media websites such as Facebook are a content-driven environments where users are accustomed to updating their profiles and commenting casually on day-to-day activities, including work-related activities. Attorneys must be very careful to avoid commenting or posting information that conceivably violates confidentiality obligati...