This is the property of the Daily Journal Corporation and fully protected by copyright. It is made available only to Daily Journal subscribers for personal or collaborative purposes and may not be distributed, reproduced, modified, stored or transferred without written permission. Please click "Reprint" to order presentation-ready copies to distribute to clients or use in commercial marketing materials or for permission to post on a website. and copyright (showing year of publication) at the bottom.
Subscribe to the Daily Journal for access to Daily Appellate Reports, Verdicts, Judicial Profiles and more...

Law Practice,
Ethics/Professional Responsibility

Apr. 9, 2010

Communications With Judges, Jurors And Potential Clients

Wendy Patrick of the San Diego District Attorney's Office explains how communicating on social networking sites can violate professional conduct rules.

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.

As we saw with bloggers, frequent Facebook users or Twitterers sometimes can't resist the temptation to carry on a stream of consciousness-like play by play of their day in court, sometimes sending these messages to recipients they shouldn't be communicating with during the pendency of the case. Communicating with others involved in the court process on social networking sites can potentially violate the California Rules of Professional Conduct. California Rule of Professional Conduct 5...

To continue reading, please subscribe.
For only $95 a month (the price of 2 article purchases)
Receive unlimited article access and full access to our archives,
Daily Appellate Report, award winning columns, and our
Verdicts and Settlements.
Or
$795 for an entire year!

Or access this article for $45
(Purchase provides 7-day access to this article. Printing, posting or downloading is not allowed.)

Already a subscriber?

Sign up for Daily Journal emails