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Law Practice,
Ethics/Professional Responsibility

Mar. 24, 2010

Choose Your 'Friends' Carefully

In the age of electronic communication and social networking, attorneys must be aware of their ethical responsibilities, writes Wendy Patrick of the San Diego District Attorney's Office.

Wendy L. Patrick

Wendy is a California lawyer, past chair and advisor of the California State Bar Ethics Committee (Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct), and past chair of the San Diego County Bar Association Legal Ethics Committee. Any opinions expressed here are her own, and do not reflect that of her employer. This article does not constitute legal advice.

When a modern lawyer sits down at her desk in the morning and turns on her computer, her home page may come up as anything from Yahoo finance, to the New York Times, to her Facebook "wall." Social networking Web sites are used heavily by modern lawyers, and offer many benefits to those who know how to use them safely and with the appropriate levels of caution. Lawyers are well advised, however, to choose their "friends" carefully on social networking Web sites. When a lawyer is conn...

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