Social Networking in Your Elder Law Practice: Risks & Opportunities
Jennifer Ellis, Esq.
Freedman Consulting, Inc.
65+ Has Surpassed 50%
For the Elderly
Social Media has Positives and Negatives:
Mainly Positives
Positives
• Limit Isolation – Video/Audio Technology – chat with family
– Facebook/Other Sites • See what family is doing
• Meet new friends
• Find things to do off line
• Enables home/bed-ridden to communicate
• Research – Items won’t discuss with doctors
– Social Services
Negatives
• Scams
– Easy to prey on elderly
• Burglary risk
– Provide too much information
– Burglars can take advantage of
• Knowing elderly home alone
• Knowing when elderly are out
• Computer Malware
Mitigate the Risk
• Privacy Settings
• Careful about what posting
• Choose friends carefully
• Updated Malware Protection
– Automatically updates
• Government Website http://fightfraud.nv.gov/SocialMediaScams.htm
Ethical Concerns
The Two Rules of Jennifer
1. Rules & laws that apply off-line apply on-line
2. Amount of possible trouble is expanded by the reach of the Internet
Watch for the Streisand Effect
• Barbara Streisand sued to have an image of her house removed from the Internet
– Resulted in greater publicity and a lot of insults
• Lesson learned?
– Suing rarely works
Apologies are Good
• Best way to deal with such errors of judgment?
– Don’t make them
– Apologize (sincerely)
– Lay low
The Umbrella of Ethics
• 7.1 Don’t be misleading in communications either on or offline
• 8.x Obligation to “Maintain the Integrity of the Profession”
7.2 Attorney Advertising
• Copies/Records kept 2 years
• No celebrity endorsements
• Fee language restrictions
• Geographic location disclosures
• Etc.
What is Advertising?
• Ads on Google or Facebook – Yes
• Website – Yes
• Blogs?
• Facebook and Tweets?
• Does it feel like advertising?
• It’s the content not the format
Blogs
• In Virginia attorney disciplined for not including advertising disclaimer and blogging about his cases
• Overturned, can blog about his cases as long as “already available on the public record”
• Must have appropriate disclaimer • Some argue unique case because his site was
“blatant marketing” • Other states have no issue with blogging • Advice – include disclaimer
Preservation
• Archive website
• Screenshots of ads on Google or Facebook
• Pdfs of appropriate pages
Firm Name
• One attorney?
– Not & Associates
• One office?
– Not offices of
• Trade names ok
– Not confusing
– Not suggest results
8.5 Multi-State Practice
• Comply with rules where:
– Office is located
– All attorneys admitted
– Seeking clients
Solicitation
• Watch for “real time” communication – Chat on Facebook?
• Might not be ok
– Email? • Ok – reveal if advertising
– Friending on Facebook? • What is your content?
– Ad on Facebook encouraging people to “Like” a business page? • Fine
7.4 Specialization
• Attorneys in Pennsylvania: – Do not specialize – Are not experts
• They – Focus on – Limited to
• Exceptions – Patent – Admiralty – Actual certifications
• CELA (Certified Elder Law Attorney)
5.5 Unauthorized Practice of Law
• Careful answering questions
• Could
– Inadvertently form a client relationship
– End up practicing in a state in which not licensed
– Have a conflict problem
Include Short Disclaimer On All Pages
• Nothing on this site is to be taken as legal advice.
• No communication between FIRM and readers of this site is to be inferred to cause an attorney client relationship.
• For more information view the full disclaimer.
• The attorneys of FIRM are licensed to practice in Pennsylvania.
Full Disclaimer
• Comports will all requirements in all appropriate states
• Reminds that contact through site is not confidential
• Does not form attorney client relationship
Contact Form? Require Disclaimer
Avoid Trouble (Unlike These Folks)
Don’t Share Confidential Information
• Shared Confidential information
• Insulted judge
• Suspended
• Page after page of negative search results
Don’t Insult Clients
• Lawyer insulted client on personal blog
• Upset client, upset firm, bad PR
• Forced to apologize
• Numerous negative links in Google search results
• Now retired
Be Nice to Judges
• Florida Attorney Wrote Judge was: – “Evil witch” – “Seemingly mentally ill” – “Clearly unfit for her positions and knows not what it
means to be a neutral arbiter”
• Florida Bar Concluded: Attorney guilty of:
– Making false and reckless statements regarding the qualifications of a judge
– Engaging in professional conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of Justice
Not Practicing? Doesn’t Matter
• Attorney served as juror • Blogged about • case • Case overturned • 45 day suspension • $14k legal fees • Lost job
Remember No One Can See or Hear You
• No body language or vocal inflection
• Different senses of humor
• What is a joke to one person is an insult or a grievous threat to another
Tweeting “Jokes”
• Indiana AG Fired over Tweet
– “use live ammunition”
No Private Life
• Will be punished for behavior regardless of whether on a personal or public account or personal or public topic
Prosecutor Fired
• Attacked student for being gay
• His attorney, said his client was merely expressing his free-speech rights
• In explaining the firing his ex-employer stated “[he] repeatedly violated office policies, engaged in borderline stalking behavior and inappropriately used state resources”
Judges Should Be Careful
• Judges
– Friends with defendants
– Ex-parte communication on Facebook with attorney
– Not allowed to friend attorneys in Florida
Proper Use of Social Media
Social Media Is Very Useful
• Despite the malfeasance of some, social media is very useful
– As a networking tool
– As an advertising medium
– As a research tool
Keep Track of Your Image
• Set up Google and Yahoo alerts to see when you are mentioned online
Reputation Problems?
• Bury bad information with positive information
• Blogs
• Press releases
• Ask clients to write recommendations on Google, Avvo, LinkedIn, other sites
Brand Yourself and Your Firm
• Consistent message
• Consistent image
• Show level of knowledge
• Engage with your audience
Blogs
• Best SEO tool
• Best for showing level of knowledge
• 1 in 4 people read blogs
• 74 of top 100 AmLaw firms have blogs
– Some have several
• All attorneys should have completed LinkedIn profiles
• 161 million members
• Executives from 100% of Fortune 500 companies
Avvo
• Practicing a while
• Robust profile
• Never in disciplinary trouble
• Remember – Cannot remove Avvo score
• 900 million users
• Create a page for your firm
• Consider whether you want to share your personal account
• Top 10 most visited sites daily
• Easily connects to Facebook – (and vice versa)
• Excellent way to increase blog presence by sharing titles of posts and links to posts
• Good for short bits of information
• 1.1 million daily active users
• 10 million active visits per month
• Majority female
• Visual medium
• Link pictures to sites – Such blog posts
• Show personal side – Recommended books, movies, recipes
Google+
• 100 million people
• Not extremely popular for day to day use
• Valuable for SEO
– Google integrating Google+ posts and pages with other services including search and local
• Share useful information with appropriate keywords
• Both personal account and business page
Fill Out a Personal Google + Profile
YouTube
• 800 million unique users each month
• 4 billion videos viewed each day
• Great SEO value
• Create videos – Attorney bios
– Explanation of legal issues
• Upload on YouTube – Use proper title, keywords
• Embed on blog and other locations
Document Sharing – Scribd
• 100 million active users
• Upload presentations
• Other useful documents
• Connect to blog, other social media sites
Connect Everything
• Link everything
• Re-use content everywhere by linking and embedding
– Don’t repost
– Reposting harms SEO
Final Thoughts
• Don’t be afraid of social media
– It can be a powerful marketing tool
– It can be a powerful research tool
– Simply be sure to remember that many people will see what you post
– Obey the ethical rules
Blog
Website
Use Tools to Save Time
• Hootsuite
– Post once
– Put everywhere
– View several sites in one place
– Currently works with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and some other sites
