Daniel Lust (Associate-White Plains) wrote an article titled "Ghost of Snapchat Past: Pairing Social Media Legal Ethics with New and Future Functionalities," featured in the ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct, Current Reports, 33 Law. Man. Prof. Conduct 183, 4/5/17. Citing what he calls the "Social Media Catch-22," Dan explains: "Across the country, ethical guidance essentially is uniform in allowing attorneys to view the 'public pages' of another party's social networking website to obtain impeachment material for use in litigation ... so long as a 'communication' does not occur between the attorney and the other user. In the early days of the social media boom these rules were crystal clear. What was considered 'public' depended on one's individual privacy setting, or lack thereof. Similarly, what was considered a 'communication' was straightforward, e.g., a direct message, a post on a wall, a friend request.... Now, rigid application of our old black-and-white definitions of 'public' and 'communication' results in a troubling catch-22 scenario for litigators."
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
