Advising Clients
Even if you anticipate that a case will not go to trial, awareness of social media can allow you to better advise your clients. It benefits clients to know how social media can be used against them in court. As an attorney, you should be aware of any active profiles your client may have and how the client uses them. Understanding and explaining to clients how privacy settings work and encouraging them to use them can be an invaluable piece of advice. Clients are often unaware of how easily accessible their online presence is to law enforcement, opposing counsel, and the public in general.
The ready access to the internet we now experience can be a blessing or a curse. Social media are an area where organizations and clients are often more vulnerable than they realize. Not every generation grew up online. New millennials and Gen Zers have an advantage in this field. I encourage new attorneys entering the legal profession to recognize their unique skills in this area and their potential to be an asset to their organization.
Public Outreach
For many attorneys, recruiting clients or finding employees is important for their practice, and marketing through social media can be extremely helpful with these tasks. For example, even though the Office of the Public Defender doesn’t advertise to get hired by clients, social media are a valuable way to recruit future employees, spread messages about local programs clients may benefit from, and shed light on what the office does. As a newer lawyer, consider what your organization or firm does and what it would like the community to know. Be prepared with ideas to discuss how your digital skills can help reach the organization’s or firm’s target audience.
Social media presence for legal organizations is still new, and content creators who focus on sharing social media skills typically lack a legal education or any knowledge of the profession’s ethical obligations. While many firms outsource social media marketing, if you’re in a small firm or a legal position for which marketing isn’t typically considered, you can make yourself valuable by sharing your familiarity with social media. Even if you are denied the opportunity to help with this task, your proactiveness and willingness to help would demonstrate to your organization that you care about its mission.
Litigation
Social media are becoming more and more prevalent inside the courtroom. Even if you’re not in a litigation-focused position, keeping an eye out for possible social media evidence in your cases can pay dividends. For example, a plaintiff’s social media posts have been known to affect the plaintiff’s ability to settle.
Social media have particular quirks when it comes to evidence collection and authentication. We all know not to believe everything we read online. Deepfakes, anonymous profiles, filters, and artificial intelligence can all cast doubt on the veracity of potential evidence. Most major companies have a specific process to follow for obtaining an individual’s social media records. If you’re in a field where you expect to see social media evidence, do a quick online search to see what Google, Meta, Twitter, and TikTok will require of you (or your opposing counsel) to collect particular evidence. Reading up on these issues will allow you to strengthen potential evidentiary objections for leverage in negotiations and winning advocacy at trial. New platforms also provide newer and senior attorneys with a unique chance to engage with novel legal issues and potentially influence case law.
I encourage new lawyers entering the legal profession to put themselves out there and offer their skills.
