September 23rd, 2010
Dana
On Saturday (September 25), at 2:15 pm, I will be on a panel presenting “Social Media for Lawyers” at the State Bar of California’s 2010 Annual Meeting. With 25% of my new clients during the past year coming directly from my online activities, I have been asked to help fellow lawyers understand that the law must be practiced with an eye on the future, rather than being stuck in the past.
As the sole business / transactional lawyer on the panel (Mark Ressa practices family law, and Brett Burlison is a personal injury lawyer), I have a different perspective from that of my colleagues. The topics that I will discuss include:
- Blogging successfully
- Using social media sites (LinkedIn, Avvo) to generate blog traffic
- Developing an effective social media methodology (why, who, what, where, when, how)
- Complying with ethical requirements (testimonials, confidentiality)
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Follow-up: What Lawyers Want from Social Media discusses what I saw and learned at the session and provides access to our PowerPoint slides.
Dana H. Shultz, Attorney at Law +1 510 547-0545 dana [at] danashultz [dot] com
This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact a lawyer directly.
This post is off-topic – nothing to do with startup or early-stage companies – but that is one of the privileges of having my own blog! (I think of this as a treat for my lawyer friends.)
Next Wednesday evening (April 14), I will participate in a panel discussion on Effective Electronic Marketing for Lawyers sponsored by the Congressman Don Edwards Inn of Court.
My two handouts for the event are available as Free Downloads using the Sign Up button in the sidebar:
- Lawyers and Social Media: Ten Tips for Online Marketing Success
- Lawyers, Social Media and Disclaimers: What, Where, When and Why
This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact a lawyer directly.
On December 28, 2009, RockYou, a developer of applications for Facebook and other social networks, was sued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The class action complaint alleges failure to encrypt users’ e-mail addresses and passwords and was filed shortly after a hacker copied that information for 32 million RockYou users.
RockYou’s potential exposure is huge. Among the various causes of action are:
The lesson for any company that stores users’ personally identifiable information: Make sure that information is encrypted!
This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact an attorney directly.
A few months ago, I posted Does your Employee Handbook address social media? This post discusses a specific social-media issue that is of great importance to every employer: Online endorsements of products or services by employees.
The Federal Trade Commission has published Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Actions that are inconsistent with the Guides may result in an FTC enforcement action.
Read more…
September 23rd, 2009
Dana
Megan Meier, the victim
Lori Drew is the woman who, using Myspace in 2006, cyberbullied 13-year-old Megan Meier into committing suicide.
Drew’s actions were, without question, reprehensible. The interesting issue for this post, however, is the U.S. government’s decision to bring criminal charges under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. Section 1030.
Read more…
An unhappy tenant wrote the following tweet about her landlord: “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.”
The landlord learned about the tweet and, in response, filed a $50,000 lawsuit stating that the tenant maliciously and wrongfully defamed the landlord.
More details on Avvo.
The moral: When using social media, be very careful about what you write about any company or person. If you would be reluctant to make the statement to its/his/her face, think twice before you post it.
This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact an attorney directly.
Dana Shultz is a business-savvy lawyer located in Northern California's San Francisco Bay Area (in the East Bay, near Oakland) who has in-depth knowledge of law, business, technology, and the needs of startup and early-stage companies.