07 Saturday Jan 2017
Posted in Juror Questionnaires, Jury Selection, Trial Tips and Techniques, Voir Dire
≈ Comments Off on Voir Dire and The Internet – The Litigator’s Way of Getting To Know You.
Tags
Dennis Elias, Dr. Ken Broda-Brahm, Internet, Jury Selection, Litigation Strategies Inc., Social media, Voir Dire
Getting Up Close and Personal: Using Social Media in Jury Selection, by Dennis Elias, Litigation Strategy, Inc.
Are you more candid online than in person? Apparently, it’s true, which makes the Internet and social media a boon to litigators. Here’s why, how, and where to draw the ethical line before you go too far. -CCE
21 Saturday Nov 2015
Posted in Internet, Law Journals, Legal Databases, Legal Directories, Legal Directory, LexisNexis, References, Research, TLO for Legal Professionals
≈ Comments Off on How To Research Opposing Counsel, Judges, and Juries.
Tags
Anna Massoglia, Internet Research, Judges, Juries, Lawyerist Blog, LexisNexis, Opposing Counsel, Social media
Internet Tools for Researching Opposing Counsel, Judges, and Juries, by Anna Massoglia, Lawyerist Blog
https://lawyerist.com/92442/internet-tools-for-researching-opposing-counsel-judges-and-juries/
Knowing the ins and outs of how other courtroom players think is a key ingredient in successful litigation. Here’s how to do it. . . .
08 Sunday Nov 2015
Posted in Discovery, Social Media, Subpoena Duces Tecum
≈ Comments Off on How To Subpoena Social Media – Updated 2015.
Tags
Associate'sMind Blog, Discovery, Electronic Communication Service, Keith Lee, Remote Computing Service, Social media, Stored Communications Act, Subpoena Duces Tecum
Social Media Subpoena Guide 2015 Edition, posted by Keith Lee, Associate’sMind Blog
http://associatesmind.com/2015/01/26/social-media-subpoena-guide-2015-edition/
I cannot explain why people lose their sense of discretion and decorum on social media. I just know that it often happens. In some areas of law, Facebook is a lawyer’s gift from God. How many of you routinely tell your clients to close their social media websites and/or delete incriminating photos and posts?
If you get lucky, the person who swore in a deposition that he never drinks alcohol has a picture on his or a friend’s Facebook page in which he is chugging a beer with a big thumb’s up. Don’t you just love it when that happens? Ah, good times.
But it is not always easy to get your sticky fingers on the smoking gun. Keith Lee has some good advice for finding and obtaining social media, which he has generously shared with us. -CCE
I initially wrote about how to subpoena various social media sites back in 2011. Seeing as it has been a few years I thought it was time to provide an update.
27 Tuesday Oct 2015
Posted in Ethics Opinions, Judges, Legal Ethics, Legal Technology, Research, Rules of Professional Responsibility
≈ Comments Off on Is It Wrong To Research Your Judge And Jury? Is It Wrong If You Don’t?
The Do’s and Don’ts of Researching Judges and Juries Online, by Anna Massoglia, The Lawyerist Blog
It makes sense to research potential jurors, and social media makes it easier than ever. But courts have only recently begun to issue guidance now that researching jurors and other courtroom players online is becoming an increasingly common practice.
Researching judges, too, has its advantages. Some jurisdictions, like California, allow you to strike a judge once per case without establishing bias. Although there are limitations and technicalities on these rules, they can give you a say in who decides cases — making it important to know your judge. . . .
19 Saturday Sep 2015
Posted in E-Discovery, Evidence, Legal Ethics, Social Media
≈ Comments Off on Social Media – E-Discovery Waiting To Be Plucked.
Social Media E-Discovery: Its Time Is Here, by Dera J. Nevin, Canadian Lawyer (with hat tip to Allen Mihecoby, CLAS, RP®)
http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/5732/Social-media-e-discovery-its-time-is-here.html
Social media is an important source of discovery in an increasing range of cases and can often yield the most important evidence. Social media and its derivatives are prevalent with many people using social media as their dominant communications channel, preferring some in-app messaging tools to e-mail. Corporations, too, are using these media to target and communicate with their customers. Ignore these sources and you leave potentially game-changing evidence on the table. . . .
09 Wednesday Sep 2015
Posted in Jury Selection, Research, Trial Tips and Techniques
≈ Comments Off on How To Investigate Your Jurors’ Presence On Social Media And The Internet.
Tags
ABA Formal Opinion 466, Arianne Fuchsberger M.A., Internet, Juries, Persuasion Litigator™, Persuasion Strategies, Social media
Social Media Searches: Go Beyond the Google, Guest post by Arianne Fuchsberger, M.A., Research Associate, Persuasion Strategies, Persuasion Litigator™
Almost a year ago, the ABA released Formal Opinion 466 clarifying that it is permissible for ‘a lawyer to [passively] review a juror’s or potential juror’s [public] Internet presence.’ Since then, researching seated or potential jurors online has not only become an option, but a necessity. Any additional information on your panel can aid in jury selection and during the actual trial, and lawyers should be doing everything they can to gather information about the individuals who may become the deciders in their case. With the accessibility and abundance of information on the Internet, it would be senseless not to use it.
67 percent of adults use at least one social media website, with 52 percent of adults using two or more. Ranging from blogs to the all-mighty Facebook, there are hundreds of social media websites where you can gain information about a potential juror. Facebook alone has 1.4 billion active users, 25 percent of whom do not use any privacy settings on their account. LinkedIn comes in at 7th with 347 million active users, and the 10th-ranked social network Twitter had over 288 million active monthly users as of March 2015 (statista.com). Beyond social networks, there are also public Internet articles, company websites, public documents, and many more sources of information that can inform you on a potential juror. But with all that information out there, it can be challenging to filter through it and find useful information. I will provide several tips on how to go about locating the full range of an individual’s online presence, and share some guidelines on identifying useful information once you do find the person. . . .
27 Thursday Aug 2015
Posted in Apple, Apps, Cell Phones, Emails, iPhones, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Time Management
≈ Comments Off on App Resources – Save Time and Plug In!
Tags
Belle Beth Cooper, Buffer Blog, iOS Apps, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, RSS, Shawn J. Roberts, Social media
The Beginner’s Guide to Putting the Internet to Work for You: How to Easily Save 60 Minutes Every Day, by Belle Beth Cooper, Buffer Blog (with hat tip to Shawn J. Roberts)
So many great ideas and useful apps, even if you are not tech savvy. This is stuff you can, and should, use right now. -CCE
One of the most fun and useful things I’ve been doing lately is automating small processes I do all the time. It took me a while to work up the courage to dive into automation, as it always seemed like a really difficult, technical thing to do, which should be left to programmers.
Luckily, there are lots of tools being created lately to make automation easier for those of us without a solid understanding of how our computers really work. . . .
12 Thursday Feb 2015
Posted in Android Phones, Cell Phones, Criminal Law, iPhones, Legal Technology, Video
≈ Comments Off on Using Social Media In Police Criminal Investigations.
Tags
Cell Phones, Criminal Law, EvidenceProf Blog, Facebook, Jeff Bellin, Social media, Text Messages, Twitter
Monitoring Social Media: The New Face of Criminal Investigations, by Jeff Bellin, EvidenceProf Blog
A recent story illustrates the bonanza of social media evidence police can obtain without ever leaving the station.
From the Richmond Times Dispatch, someone allegedly crashed a van into a Richmond area high school.
‘After the crash, which occurred about 1:30 a.m., investigators monitored Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites for information on who may have been responsible. The effort paid off, police said.
In addition to incriminating tweets, text messages and phone calls, detectives recovered a cellphone video of the crash itself — footage that shows a 1996 Ford Club Wagon van slamming into the school, said Chesterfield police Lt. Steve Grohowski.’
25 Sunday Jan 2015
Posted in Admissibility, Evidence, Rule 403, Social Media
≈ Comments Off on Can Plaintiff Defeat Defendant’s Motion In Limine To Exclude Facebook Evidence?
Tags
Admissibility, Bow Tie Law’s Blog, Evidence, Facebook, Joshua Gilliland, Motion in Limine, Social media
Swabbing the Decks of Admissibility, by Joshua Gilliland, Esq., Bow Tie Law’s Blog
Working as a deckhand can be extremely dangerous. There are plenty of reality TV shows with fishermen, tugboats, and salvage crews to highlight the risks professional mariners face daily.
What is also risky in litigation is posting on social media information that could hurt your case.
In Newill v. Campbell Transp. Co., a former deckhand brought motions in limine to limit social media evidence and other testimony in what apparently was a trial over a shipboard injury.
Red Skies in the Morning
The Plaintiff attempted to preclude the Defendant from introducing Facebook posts that showed the Plaintiff could engage in physical activities, despite his claimed injury. Newill v. Campbell Transp. Co., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4350, 1-2 (W.D. Pa. Jan. 14, 2015).
The Defendant sought to introduce Facebook posts that the Plaintiff engaged in ‘painting, landscaping, flooring, going to the gym, undercoating a truck, and going physical.’ Newill, at *2. The Plaintiff further offered his skills as a handyman on social media. Id.
The Court held that the Facebook posts that reflected physical capabilities that were inconsistent with his claimed injury would be allowed at trial. Id. However, if during the trial the Plaintiff felt a social media exhibit was overly embarrassing, the Plaintiff could challenge that specific post under Federal Rule of Evidence 403 at that time. Newill, at *3.
Red Skies at Night
The Defendant had a witness [presumably an expert] who was to testify that the Plaintiff’s Facebook posts ‘probably [were] not giving the employers a good impression,’ was simply speculation and thus not admissible. Newill, at *4. This might have been different if there was some evidence that the connected the Plaintiff’s employment status to his social media posting, but none was offered. Id.
Bow Tie Thoughts
I am an Evidence geek. Love it as much as the Rules of Civil Procedure. The difference is Evidence goes to the heart of a trial: What is admissible? . . . .
21 Wednesday Jan 2015
Posted in Legal Databases, Legal Directory
≈ Comments Off on Research and Drill Down Into the Invisible Web.
Tags
Catalogs, Guides, Invisible Web, Legal Databases, Legal Directories, Science Research, Search Engines, Social media
99 Resources to Research & Mine the Invisible Web, originally from College Degee.com, posted by Marcus P. Zillman at LLRX.com
Be warned. Not all resources listed here – and there are many more at the link above — are sometimes fee based. You may need to sort and give each a test run to see whether it performs as you wish. Still, it includes some interesting search engines, databases, and other resources that are not usually found. If you are a serious researcher, you will find these useful. -CCE
College researchers often need more than Google and Wikipedia to get the job done. To find what you’re looking for, it may be necessary to tap into the invisible web, the sites that don’t get indexed by broad search engines. The following resources were designed to help you do just that, offering specialized search engines, directories, and more places to find the complex and obscure.
Search Engines
Whether you’re looking for specific science research or business data, these search engines will point you in the right direction.
Turbo10: On Turbo10, you’ll be able to search more than 800 deep web search engines at a time.
Agrisurf: If you’re searching for information related to agriculture and farming, check out this engine.
IncyWincy: This search engine canvasses the deep web.
Direct Search: Direct Search covers the invisible web, offering results in books, government, and much more.
SurfWax: The SurfWax search engine taps into the deep web and offers search tools for feeds, news, blogs, and more.
ZoomInfo: Get information about corporations and job searchers here.
Internet Archive: Here you’ll be able to find movies, music, text, and more, even including sites and pages that no longer exist.
TenKWizard: This business search engine covers Forbes, specific industries, and exchanges.
ZabaSearch: This search engine serves up public records like phone numbers and addresses.
Clusty: Perform your search across a number of engines at once with Clusty.
BusinessResearch: This deep web search scours the business web.
The Online Books Page: Here you can search for more than 25,000 full-text works.
E-Print: Check out E-Print to find sites and databases for scientists and engineers from one search engine.
Guggenheim Museum: Search for artists through this database.
Kompass: On this search engine, you’ll find entries for products, services, and companies.
Scirus: Search journal sources and more with this scientific information search.
TechXtra: On TechXtra, you’ll be able to search for resources in engineering, mathematics, and computing.
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery: Find portraits for more than 80,000 people in this database.
Science Research Portal: In this research portal, you can search the deep web for scientific topics.
Infoplease: Infoplease offers a search engine that combines reference tools like an encyclopedia, atlas and almanac.
Pipl: Pipl brings together profiles, public records, and documents to serve up relevant information about people. . . .
17 Saturday Jan 2015
Posted in Discovery, Document Review, E-Discovery, Native Format, Preservation, Requests for Production
≈ Comments Off on E-Discovery Is Scary!
Tags
Discovery, E-Discovery, ESI, Facebook, Molly DiBianca, Native Format, Social media, The Delaware Employment Law Blog, Wellin v. Wellin
How NOT to Produce Facebook Evidence, by Molly DiBianca, The Delaware Employment Law Blog
Electronic discovery, the collection and production of electronic documents in litigation, is a scary thing to many lawyers. Some are so scared by it, in fact, that they just deny that it exists and continue to produce only hard-copy documents. Of course, that is a terrible idea. And not at all in compliance with the rules of procedure. But, alas, it is what it is.
There are times that a lawyer will want to produce electronic records, such as text messages, emails, and, heaven forbid, social-media content, but simply not know how to do it. I had an opposing counsel call me once and say that he was willing to produce his client’s relevant Facebook posts if I would show him how to do it. Ummmm, no.
My point, though, is that lawyers are ethically bound to understand and comply with the applicable e-discovery rules but, as a matter of practical reality, that does not mean that they comply. Which is why e-discovery continues to be a predominant subject for discussion in the legal profession.
A recent case from South Carolina gives a pretty good example of how not to produce electronically stored information (ESI). In Wellin v. Wellin, the defendants moved to compel the production of certain ESI, including emails, text messages, and Facebook posts in ‘native format.’ (Native format means, in the most basic sense, that if it was originally in electronic form, you must produce it in electronic form, as opposed to paper form).
The plaintiffs apparently had attempted to produce the requested items but, instead of producing the responsive material in native format, they . . . [wait for it, wait for it] . . . .-
10 Wednesday Dec 2014
Posted in Civil Rights, Employment Law, First Amendment, Social Media
≈ Comments Off on NLRB “Likes” Facebook.
Tags
Employment Law, Facebook, First Amendment Right, John R. Martin, NLRB, Rhoads & Sinon LLP, Social media
Social Media Update: Recent Developments from the Land of Facebook…, by John R. Martin, Rhoads & Sinon LLP
I think we can all agree that, as a general rule, employers and social media are not Facebook friends. They don’t follow each other on Twitter. Or Instagram. And they would never (ever) be caught dead sending the other a Snapchat. (Mind out of the gutter, people. Not that kind of Snapchat.)
While employment relationships, for the most part, remain ‘at-will,’ social media has slapped the handcuffs on employers in many respects when it comes to the issue of employee discipline. Most notably, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) has come down hard on an employer’s ability to discipline an employee for social media-related conduct that has even a passing relationship to the terms and conditions of employment (e.g., complaining about wages, benefits, hours worked, etc.). The NLRB has also frowned on many social media policies and has declared nearly all of the ones it has reviewed to be unlawfully overbroad in restricting an employee’s right to engage in protected activity online.
Sorry employers… things aren’t getting any better just yet, as two recent cases have made clear.
An Employee’s First Amendment Right to ‘Like’
A federal appellate court recently ruled that clicking Facebook’s ‘Like’ button can be considered speech protected by the First Amendment. In the case, several deputies were not reappointed by the sheriff after winning his reelection campaign. What was the alleged reason for this decision? The deputies had (horror!) ‘liked’ the Facebook page of one of the sheriff’s opponents during the election….
The (now unemployed) deputies sued, citing a violation of their First Amendment rights. (A viable legal claim, as this is a public, i.e., government, employer. As discussed in a previous blog post, private employers need not concern themselves with such issues. However, when politics are at play, there’s always cause for concern, whether public or private, as was discussed in another prior post.) And guess what? The deputies won….
19 Wednesday Nov 2014
Posted in Recent Links and Articles
≈ Comments Off on Facebook And Its Big Brother Complex.
Tags
Advertising, Data Mining, Digital Privacy, Facebook, Matt Scutari, PC World, Privacy policy, Social media, Zach Miners
Facebook: You Post It, We Can See It, And That’s That, by Zach Miners, PC World
If you still think that Facebook allows you to have control over your privacy and no one is collecting your data, I have a dry well in Oklahoma that I know you’ll just love. Call me. -CCE
In fact, Facebook doesn’t think it would make sense to let users do that.
‘With most online services, there’s an understanding that when you use those services to share information, you’re also sharing information with the company providing the service,’ said Matt Scutari, manager of privacy and public policy at Facebook.
‘For users who are truly concerned with sharing their information with a particular platform, honestly, you might not want to share information with that platform,’ he said, speaking during a conference on digital privacy in Palo Alto, California, on Friday.
‘I don’t think there are many services out there who could claim they’re not using your information that you’re sharing with them for any purpose. They have to at least use that information to provide the service,’ he added.
Scutari was responding to a question from the audience about what tools, if any, Facebook might provide to people who want to post and share information but keep it from Facebook itself.
Lately, the company has been trying to improve its controls for sharing among friends. In September it introduced a ‘privacy checkup’ feature. And just this week it released a revamped privacy policy designed to be easier to use. The company also gives users information about how their data is used for advertising. But it has never offered users tools to limit what data Facebook can ingest when they share.
Data collection—what companies collect, and how it’s used—is an area of concern for Internet users in general, highlighted by some dramatic findings in a recent Pew survey. . . .
26 Sunday Oct 2014
Posted in Employment Law, Social Media
≈ Comments Off on Employees’ Privacy Rights, Social Media, And The Stored Communications Act.
Tags
Employment Law, Facebook, Randy Enochs, Social media, Stored Communication Act, Twitter, Wisconsin Employment & Labor Law Blog
Federal Court Allows Plaintiff’s Stored Communications Act to Proceed Highlighting Role of Social Media in the Workplace, by Randy Enochs, Wisconsin Employment & Labor Law Blog
A federal district court in Northern Illinois, in a rather interesting case given the widespread use of Facebook and Twitter in the workplace by employees who are looking to advance both their careers with an employer as well as market themselves better, has denied an employer’s motion for summary judgment on the plaintiff’s Stored Communication Act (SCA) claim. The case is super fact-specific and may not apply in every case, but highlights an important message to employers in the social media arena, which continues to present new and interesting issues every year. . . .
15 Wednesday Oct 2014
Posted in Litigation
≈ Comments Off on What Happens On Facebook Doesn’t Always Stay On Facebook.
Fun with Facebook, by Dan Nabel, Law Law Land Blog
I recently attended a presentation by retired judge Jacqueline Connor on the effect of social media in the legal system. After listening to her talk about a number of highly amusing cases, I went online to see just how many such cases are now out there. I was shocked to find that in the month of February 2014 alone, there were over 100 legal opinions issued in the U.S. just involving Facebook. While some of these cases were more disturbing than amusing, there were a few gems that cried out to be written about. . . .
25 Thursday Sep 2014
Posted in Admissibility, Authentication, Discovery, E-Discovery, Evidence, Litigation Hold, Metadata, Preservation, Social Media
≈ Comments Off on Philadelphia Legal Opinion on Duty to Preserve Social Media Evidence.
Tags
Evidence, Facebook, From the Sidebar Blog, Hayes Hunt, Jeffrey Monhait, Litigation Hold, Rule 3.4, Social media, Trial Tips & Techniques
Lawyer’s Duty to Preserve Social Media Evidence, by Hayes Hunt and Jeffrey Monhait, From the Sidebar Blog
Lawyers must take ‘appropriate’ steps to preserve their clients’ potentially relevant and discoverable social media evidence. That is the key take-away from an ethics opinion recently issued by the Philadelphia Bar Association. However, lawyers may advise a client to restrict access to the client’s social media so long as the attorney neither instructs nor permits the client to permanently destroy that information. An attorney may even instruct a client to delete information from the client’s page if the attorney preserves that information, including metadata.
You Can Hide, But You Must Preserve
Changing social media settings to ‘private’ merely restricts who may access a web page. The opposing party can still access relevant and discoverable information through discovery or by issuing a subpoena. The committee concluded that this position satisfied Rule 3.4’s prohibition against altering or destroying evidence. As long as the attorney preserves the complete evidentiary record, including metadata, an attorney may advise a client to restrict access to the client’s social media evidence, or remove social media content entirely.You ‘Must’ Produce Complete Social Media Content
To comply with discovery requests, a lawyer ‘must’ produce the client’s complete social media content if the attorney is aware of this content’s existence. This duty arises from Rule 4.1, which prohibits attorneys from making ‘a false statement of material fact or law to a third person,’ and Rule 8.4, which prohibits ‘conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.’ A lawyer that purposefully omits portions of social media content, or permits or directs the client to destroy social media content, violates these rules.Also, a lawyer must take reasonable steps to obtain relevant information from the client when the lawyer ‘reasonably believes’ that the client possesses relevant information, such as photographs, links, or other social media content. Despite being obligated to take reasonable steps, a lawyer need not obtain information that was neither in the client’s possession nor the lawyer’s possession.
Frankly, this isn’t groundbreaking or a new duty, it merely reinforces the need for lawyers to better understand social media for purposes of litigation.
21 Sunday Sep 2014
Posted in Law Firm Web Sites, Law Office Management, Legal Blogs, Marketing, Technology, Using Social Media
≈ Comments Off on Social Media in Law Office Marketing.
SEO and Social Media, by Lisa Pansini, Legal Productivity Blog
SEO has always been about one thing: publishing high-quality content that gets seen and linked to by as many people as possible. For years, the foundation of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has been dominated by two key elements: content and links.
Today’s online society has given rise to a third: social media. It wasn’t around during the dawn of the SEO industry, but it’s difficult to ignore the power and importance that social media has in any marketing strategy.
Social Media does more than allow companies to keep up with their competition. It allows them to reach out and interact with their customers while building their brand, creating a sense of community, and driving traffic to their website.
When it comes to social media, however, there is no ‘one size fits all’ rule. . . .
23 Saturday Aug 2014
Posted in Apps, Cell Phones, iPhones, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Using Social Media
≈ Comments Off on Refresh App Gives You Insight About Business Contacts Or Potential Clients.
App of the Week: Refresh L- Insight on People You Meet, by Lisa Pansini, Legal Productivity Blog
Have you ever had a meeting with a client or acquaintance who you know nothing about? If you want to make a favorable impression, use Refresh, the app that crawls through publicly available information to give you a snapshot of your contacts.
Featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Fast Company, Tech Crunch and more, Refresh searches the web and social networks to deliver insights about the people you connect with. It delivers information including mutual interests, shared passions, and important moments. It’s an incredible tool when it comes to business and social networking. . . .
20 Wednesday Aug 2014
Posted in Law Office Management, Using Social Media
≈ Comments Off on Twitter’s New Policy On Removing Images of The Deceased.
Tags
Twitter To Remove Images Of Deceased Upon Request, by Tim Hornyak, PC World
If LinkedIn has a similar policy, please let me know. -CCE
Twitter said late Tuesday it will remove images and videos of deceased people upon the request of family members, but it put conditions on the policy.
The microblogging service made the announcement a week after the daughter of the late comedian Robin Williams said she would quit Twitter after receiving gruesome images of him from online trolls.
The move also comes as Twitter tried to delete images and video depicting the death of U.S. photojournalist James Foley, who was apparently killed by the militant group Islamic State, better known as ISIS.
‘In order to respect the wishes of loved ones, Twitter will remove imagery of deceased individuals in certain circumstances,’ Twitter spokesman Nu Wexler said in a message about the update to its policies.
‘When reviewing such media removal requests, Twitter considers public interest factors such as the newsworthiness of the content and may not be able to honor every request. . . . ‘
06 Sunday Jul 2014
Posted in Administrative Law, Employment Law, Social Media
≈ Comments Off on This Time, Employer’s Social Media Policy Does Not Violate Employee’s Rights.
Tags
Administrative law judge, Employment Law, Jason Shinn, Michigan Employment Law Advisor, NLRB, Shinn Legal PLC, Social media
Employer’s Social Media Policy Found Not To Violate Employees’ Rights, by Jason Shinn of Shinn Legal, PLC, Michigan Employment Law Advisor
A recent social media case involving the NLRB should be cause for celebration for employers. Specifically, in Landry’s Inc., Case No. 32-CA-118213 (June 26, 2014), an NLRB administrative law judge (ALJ) had found a social media policy concerning its subsidiary, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Restaurants, Inc., did not violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
Initially, the General Counsel argued that Bubba Gump’s social media policy infringed on employee’s rights under the NLRA because it would tend to prohibit employees from discussing terms and conditions of employment with coworkers or third parties. That social media stated as follows:
‘While your free time is generally not subject to any restriction by the Company, the Company urges all employees not to post information regarding the Company, their jobs, or other employees which could lead to morale issues in the workplace or detrimentally affect the Company’s business. This can be accomplished by always thinking before you post, being civil to others and their opinions, and not posting personal information about others unless you have received their permission.’
The ALJ agreed that without ‘more,’ the first sentence could violate the NLRA. But the ALJ noted that the social media policy did not outright restrict speech on job related issues – job related subject matters – but, instead, the manner in which such issues are being discussed and debated, i.e., being civil to others and their opinions:
‘Without more, it would be reasonable for employees reading this language to conclude that the Respondent generally frowns upon all job-related postings of any type. However, the cautionary language is modified by the language in the next sentences which may be understood to clarify that the 40 avoidance of morale problems may be ‘accomplished’ by simply being civil to others and their opinions.’
Employer Take-Aways
From an employer’s perspective this case is a good result. But it is also a reminder that the NLRB’s General Counsel continues to closely scrutinize employers’ social media policies. For this reason, it continues to be important to carefully draft social media policies that will give ALJs the opportunity to sensibly read the policies so as to not find a violation of employees’ rights under the NLRA. . . .
24 Saturday May 2014
Posted in Advertising, Law Firm Web Sites, Law Office Management, Legal Blogs, Technology
≈ Comments Off on ClearView Social App – Sharing Social Media or Spam?
Tags
ClearView Social, Law Office Management, LinkedIn, Robert Ambrogi, Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites Blog, Social media, Spam, Twitter
Pseudo Social Sharing Isn’t Smart, It’s Spam, by Robert Ambrogi, Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites Blog
I have to admit I was taken aback by the premise of ClearView Social, the new app being developed by social marketing consultant Adrian Dayton. Targeted at medium and large firms, the app ‘helps attorneys more easily share content with their professional networks through LinkedIn, Twitter and other platforms,’ according to the press release last February.
That sounds harmless enough. But further reading reveals more about what the app does:
ClearView Social allows one person in the firm – for example, a designated marketer – to create a queue of content to be shared in an email template. When attorneys receive the email, they can click a link, which launches the application for sharing the content via various social media platforms, including LinkedIn and Twitter, which are integrated in the tool. This allows attorneys to share on those networks without leaving ClearView Social. It’s as easy as responding to an email.
So the app doesn’t actually help attorneys share content they find worthwhile. Rather, it makes the attorneys the conduits or redistributors of content someone else chooses to share. . . .
18 Sunday May 2014
Posted in Criminal Law, First Amendment
≈ Comments Off on Court Bars Woman From Facebook. First Amendment Violation?
Woman Barred From Ranting About Family On Facebook, by Matt Moreno, NEWSY
http://www.newsy.com/videos/0518facebook/
Hate it when people rant on Facebook? Well, one New Jersey mom has actually been banned from doing just that.
A judge has ordered one unidentified woman not to go on Facebook rants about her children or ex-husband. . . .
13 Sunday Apr 2014
Posted in Android Phones, Apps, Cell Phones, Clouds, Computer Virus, Disaster Preparedness, Dropbox, Emails, Encryption, Google, Heartbleed, Identity Theft, Law Firm Web Sites, Law Office Management, Legal Blogs, Legal Technology, Malware, Office Procedures, Passwords, PC Computers, Search Enginges, Technology, Using Social Media
≈ Comments Off on The Mashable Hit List.
Tags
Computer Bugs, Computer Fraud, Heartbleed, Identity Theft, Law Office Management, Password Managers, Passwords, Social media, The Mashable Team
The Heartbleed Hit List: The Passwords You Need to Change Right Now, The Mashable Team
http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/
If you wondered whether any main specific websites are affected, such as Yahoo, this list will help you. It will also help explain the Heartbleed bug, and why you should pay attention to what it is. If you want to know whether your specific bank was compromised, this list may not answer all your questions. So, if you’re not sure whether you should change your password, go ahead and do it.
Even better, find a password manager in this list of the best of the best from PC Magazine by Neil J. Rubenking — http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407168,00.asp. If you use one password for more than one website — and lots of people do — this is a good solution and a wise move regardless of the Heartbleed bug. -CCE
16 Sunday Mar 2014
Posted in Admissibility, Authentication, Discovery, Evidence, Relevance, Social Media
Tags
Dave Stafford, Discovery, Evidence, Facebook, Judge David Shaheed, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, Lyn Mettler, Marion Superior Court Master Commissioner David Hooper, Relevancy, Social media, Step Ahead Social Research, The Indiana Lawyer.com
Social Media Sleuths Find Evidence, But Admissibility Requires Authentication, by Dave Stafford, The Indiana Lawyer.com
What happens on Facebook stays on Facebook – forever – and attorneys conceivably run into risk if they fail to investigate pertinent posts, a judge suggested during a recent presentation about social media evidence. . . .
12 Wednesday Feb 2014
Posted in Advertising, Law Office Management, Marketing, Using Social Media
≈ Comments Off on LinkedIn – Checked Your Profile Lately?
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Brian Zisk, Derek Lazarro, Forbes, Jeremy Pepper, Karey Rees, Kathleen Kilian Wainscott, Klout Score, LinkedIn, Networking, Profile, Rachael Hand, Rob Asghar, Social media, Susan Wampler, Veronica Belmont, William Arruda
Your LinkedIn Profile: Go Big Or Go Home, by Rob Asghar, Contributor, Forbes
LinkedIn is an enigma. It now has some 260 million users, and it’s a daily routine for millions of ambitious professionals. But millions of others reluctantly create profiles, feel guilty for not having a stronger profile, and wonder, ‘Does anybody really get a better job through this thing anyway?’
Some do, but that’s not really the point. The point is that you need to take control of your personal and professional branding on the Internet.
For most people, their LinkedIn profile isn’t just their online resume, it’s a window into their existence. It allows others to quickly find out about your background, your competence, your network–and, above all, your sense of self. . . .
The Researching Paralegal 
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