From our director Lisa Smith-Butler comes this article from Law.com, Finding Treasures for Cases on Facebook.
At Malbrough & Lirette in Houma, La., a secretary browses MySpace and Facebook Web sites each day.
She's not checking the online social networking sites for personal reasons, but is performing one of her job duties.
. . . .
In one case, Malbrough said she helped secure shared custody for the
father after finding his wife had posted sexually explicit comments on
her boyfriend's MySpace page. In another case, a husband's credibility
was questioned because, on his MySpace page, he said he was single and
looking.
. . . .
Steve Balash of Santa Barbara's Balash & Haaland-Ford said that
Jessica Binkerd was sentenced in January to five years and four months
in prison after she drove under the influence of alcohol and got into a
crash in which her passenger was killed.
Balash said he expected Binkerd to get probation, but she
received a prison sentence in large part because her MySpace page
showed her wearing an outfit with shot glasses and an alcohol
advertisement after the accident.
"That's all the judge talked about," said Balash, adding the
outfit was a part of a Halloween costume and his client had not been
drinking at the time. "He never got past that. He said she learned no
lesson and showed no remorse."
Future lawyers should also be careful about what they post on their social networking profiles. Here are some resources with tips about limiting public availability of your social networking profiles:
