Facebook “Friendship” Leads to Judge’s Disqualification
The growth in popularity of social media has led to complicated ethics questions, particularly related to judges and lawyers. Facebook
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Breaking News: Fla Supreme Court Holds Judicial Facebook Friendship Does Not Necessarily Compel DQ
The Florida Supreme Court released its long awaited decision concerning a judge's Facebook friendship with an attorney as grounds for disqualification. In a nutshell the 4-3 opinion holds that:
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Facebook “Friends” Aren’t Necessarily Real Friends
Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal has decided that a Facebook friendship doesn’t necessarily signify a close relationship warranting automatic disqualification of a judge.
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Breaking News: Florida’s 3rd DCA Decides Facebook Friendship No Cause for Recusal
Today, Florida's 3rd DCA upheld a trial court judge's refusal to recuse herself based upon a Facebook friendship with an attorney on one side of a civil case in her courtroom.
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New Social Media Opinions: West Virginia and Colorado
Recently, two more states, West Virginia and Colorado, joined the legal ethics conversation regarding social media, issuing opinions that are generally consistent with most other states’ social media opinions.
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Judges on Facebook: Exercising First Amendment Rights or Violating the Judicial Canons?
There is no doubt that since the inception of Facebook in 2004, various other social media networks have sprung up allowing people to share and exchange information instantly.
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Florida Bar Releases Best Practices for Effective Electronic Communication
The Florida Bar has released guidelines for electronic communication that consider issues of professionalism and legal ethics that may arise when an attorney uses texting, emailing, a smart phone, and social media in his or her practice. Effective
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Florida Professional Ethics Committee: Social Media Advice to Clients–A Matter of Competence
On June 25th, The Florida Professional Ethics Committee affirmed, with some modifications, its January proposed opinion regarding advising a client about removing social media posts prior to litigation and changing privacy settings. Advice
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Breaking News: Florida Joins the Conversation on Advising Clients to “Clean Up” Social Media
The Florida Bar’s Professional Ethics Committee has just issued Proposed Advisory Opinion 14-1, which discusses the ethical obligations that an attorney has when advising a client to “clean up” the client’s social media pages before litigation is filed. Breaking
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Access to Facebook Photos Trumps Right of Privacy in Florida Personal Injury Case
Hot off the presses...In an opinion dated January 7, 2014, Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeals denied the plaintiff's petition for certiorari relief to quash an order compelling discovery of her Facebook photos in a case in which she is alleging injuries as a result of a slip and fall in a Target store. Trumps
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