www.pad.org

• Home
•  » P.A.D. Spotlight
•  » P.A.D. Spotlight Archives
•  » March 2013

March 2013

March 20, 2013 - Spotlight on Sister Dierdre Baumann (Chicago Alumni Chapter)

A New Justice in Chicago By Kim Voichescu (Story Chapter)

The Chicago Alumni Chapter recently elected a new Justice for the 2013 term. Justice Deidre Baumann enthusiastically took the helm of the Chapter from departing Justice Pierre Priestley.

Deidre joined the ranks of P.A.D. in 2009 and continues to actively support our fraternity through various functions and events. Recently, Deidre successfully organized the 2012 Hon. Mary Ann G. McMorrow Service to the Profession Award event given by the Chicago Alumni Chapter. The event took place at the Hotel Intercontinental, featured a guest appearance by the award’s namesake (the late Hon. Mary Ann McMorrow), and included attorneys, law students and other members of the legal community in attendance.

Since 2001, Deidre has been a partner at Baumann & Shuldiner, a Chicago Loop civil litigation practice. Deidre has been practicing law since 1992 and has worked on a wide variety of matters, ranging from bankruptcy and personal injury to criminal law defense and employment issues. Deidre is especially passionate about constitutionally protected expression and civil rights. Deirdre obtained her J.D. from University of Illinois College of Law where she received the Rickert Award for Excellence in Public Service and was a member of the Civil Rights Moot Court Team. She had been admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Illinois, United States District Court (Northern District of Illinois and Eastern District of Wisconsin), and United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Deidre’s success as an attorney will help guide her as she strives to achieve her goal of a judgeship in the future. 

Additionally, Deidre provides mentoring support and guidance to several law students. Deidre has worked tirelessly to build her personal success through hard work and an affinity for the advocate’s role and believes it is important to pay it forward for other aspiring legal professionals. Her dedication to her clients, law students and to the organizations she is involved with is inspiring and we look forward to good things from her in the coming year.

P.A.D. is honored to call Deidre a sister. We congratulate her on her new position and look forward to a year of commitment and contribution. Her understanding of the vision of Phi Alpha Delta will give her the tools needed for a successful year as the 2013 Justice for the Chicago Alumni Chapter.

 

March 13, 2013: Spotlight on Social Media for Lawyers

As mentioned in last week’s Spotlight, lawyer’s social media use has shown an upward trend as of late. While social media can be a helpful tool for law firm development, there is a fine line between friend and foe. Most state bar associations have not yet developed concrete laws on social media etiquette. However, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, misconduct and other rules still apply to site usage.

Very few states have rules that are social media specific but, New York and South Carolina have been among the first to comment on lawyer’s social networking usage. New York has actually issued guidelines; however, these guidelines do not hold any disciplinary capability.

According to the guidelines issued by The New York State Bar Association, lawyers may search public social networking sites for “incriminating evidence against an opposing party in a lawsuit, but forbid lawyers to deceptively ‘friend’ someone to gain access to private profiles,” or anyone involved in a suit at all, for that matter.[1] Although The South Carolina Bar has not issued any specific guidelines such as New York’s, they commented on the issue last year in the form of an Ethics Advisory Opinion. The opinion stated that information “contained in a lawyer’s website listing (including peer endorsements, client ratings, and ratings) is subject to the rules governing communication and advertising once the lawyer claims the listing.”[2]

Social networking not only affects an individual attorney, but many different individuals involved in the litigation process. Information that is retrieved through networking sites can often be detrimental to a case. “Being blind-sided with your client’s Facebook information at a deposition or during cross-examination is a position no lawyer wants to be in…”[3] Moreover, there have been instances where jurors were fined for live-tweeting a trial and guilty verdict. In situations such as these, jurors are usually dismissed from the trial and fined for their actions.

Following proper social media etiquette is especially important for judges. “A 2009 Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee opinion made headlines when it set limits on judicial behavior online.”[4] The committee believes that when judges “friend” lawyers, it seems to create a conflict of interest and makes it seem like they can more easily influence the judge on a personal level.

According to Suzanne Craig Robertson, there are a few simple rules attorneys should keep in mind when using social media[5]:

1. Don’t comment about anything you wouldn’t want your mother, spouse or employer to see.
2. Be truthful when displaying factual information about yourself (or firm).
3. Do not use surreptitious means to gain access to someone’s social media information in an attempt to gain an advantage in your client’s civil litigation.

Furthermore, it is suggested that lawyers familiarize themselves with how sites like Facebook work before they post anything. For example, it is important to know the difference between a Facebook wall post and a Facebook message. The latter is a private message versus a public post that all can see. “The ethics issues are pretty clear, even if it may be hard for a lawyer to figure out the precise answers to them.”[6] Attorneys are urged to be careful in considering confidentiality, advertising and general personal embarrassment before posting on social networking sites.

Some sites that lawyers might want to check out are govloop.com, lawyrs.net, and legalonramp.com. These websites are all geared towards attorney networking.

 

March 7, 2013: Spotlight on Lawyers and Social Media

By Erica Gyimesi, Executive Office Intern

With the expansion of Pinterest and Facebook’s business and advertising features and the launch of Instagram’s Web version, it is no surprise that social media has become an intrinsic part of modern society. The rise in social media has revolutionized how we interact in both our personal and professional worlds. The proof lies in the statistics; in 2012, it was estimated that there were over 1 million websites that had been integrated through Facebook.^[1]

The social media frenzy began in the early to mid-2000s and has been escalating since. Today, many law professionals use social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, to create stronger relationships with clients. In a profession that relies on word of mouth, reputation, and relationships, the rise of social media has been the answer to attorney’s prayers everywhere.

As of late, online visibility has been crucial for accelerating business development.^[2] Social networking allows law firms to grow quickly, efficiently, and cost effectively.^[3] Unfortunately, some established legal practices have been outpaced by this up and coming technology.  The social networking era has created a clear divide between the modern and the antiquated.

Although the appeal of social media for lawyers is obvious, it can also be quite dangerous. While social media has been a promising tool for advertising and connecting with clients, most attorneys are still wary about the ethics involved.

The ethics rules and applications to social media, established by each state Bar Association, tend to be ambiguous, resulting in the need for lawyers to use those platforms cautiously. Due to the ambiguous nature of the ethics codes surrounding social media, lawyers see a higher risk of violating these codes. According to attorney Steven J. Venezia, “Legal advertising is highly regulated in many states and social media has made it much more cost effective and easy to advertise to large groups of people at once. Even though a post on Facebook seems more like informal communication, it may be considered an advertisement by the responsible governing body for ethics^.[4]”

Although lawyers must be cautious when using social media, its use promotes an increase in the number and quality of services offered and therefore will play an escalating role in the legal community.

Keep an eye out for next week’s Spotlight, where you can find tips on how to properly use social media in the legal profession.