Comments on: Conflicts of interest in the age of Twitter and Facebook: neutrals must find right balance

By: Diane Levin

Diane Levin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:43:11 +0000

Sanda, thanks for the link to the opinion from the Florida AG’s office. Like you, I’d love to hear more discussion about this one – these kinds of questions are certainly going to crop up with increasing frequency.

By: Sandra Upchurch

Sandra Upchurch — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:37:20 +0000

These are great questions and I wish there was more discussion on this topic as it certainly is not going away. I personally have a fun facebook page for friends and family and I have a second facebook page that is for professional contacts only. The Florida AG’s office just issued an opinion regarding facebook and governmental entities at http://www.myfloridalegal.com/ago.nsf/Opinions/25F14F90483F3901852575A2004E46CB – I imagine there is much more to come.

By: My Shingle

My Shingle — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:04:53 +0000

Blawg Review #215…

It’s 2:30 am on the morning of World Oceans Day, as I sit here drowning in a sea of submissions for Blawg Review #215. Buoy, I’m in trouble, with a sinking feeling about all I have yet to do. But……

By: Diane Levin

Diane Levin — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:27:16 +0000

Chris and Tom – glad for your comments. I think with lawyers connecting with attorneys who mediate, it can be different. The bar in your particular state or geographic practice area can be so small and intimately connected anyway. It is a tough balancing act. I would still be concerned about what the other side’s client might think if they saw that I had “followed” their opponent’s lawyer. Like you, I use Facebook only for personal connections not for business, at least at present. Perhaps the better part of valor is not discretion but disclosure. Tom, like you, for now, I’m erring on the side of caution. These are definitely hard calls sometimes to make.

By: Tom Kosakowski

Tom Kosakowski — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:28:22 +0000

As an Organizational Ombuds, I frequently mediate conflicts. To preserve the appearance of neutrality, I shun any activity that would create the impression of friendship with individuals in the population I serve. Accordingly, I have turned down many social network requests over the years.

By: Chris Annunziata

Chris Annunziata — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:13:09 +0000

As a mediator, I see absolutely no problem with this. What is the difference between a lawyer or firm being in my Blackberry address book and my LinkedIn page? I guess, theoretically, there are enough lawyers in the metro Atlanta area so that I can mediate for each once and only once and still make a decent living. But I see many of them more than once. It’s a connection. Plain and simple.

I treat Facebook differently. For me, it is exclusively my personal relationships – family, friends, neighbors. There are a select few lawyers, but they are people with whom I have a relationship outside the law. I have only mediated for one of these lawyers and we disclosed to the other side that we had been associates together 8 years ago and maintain friendly contact and the occasional lunch. They had no problem with it.

The two mental giants involved in the reprimand are another story altogether…..