This is part III of a hilarious article by Robert Ambrogi on the IMS Expert Services blog. I am an Indiana technology lawyer focusing on entrepreneurial law, SaaS business law and technology law. As such, this article hits home as it lies at the intersection of social media and legal process. Enjoy.4. Lawyer's blogging backfires
A California lawyer learned the hard way to watch what you say on your blog. His posts helped earn him a suspension from law practice. But the case has an unusual twist. The lawyer in the felony trial was there not as an advocate, but as a juror. Not only that, but he had not disclosed to anyone that he was a lawyer.
Even though the judge warned jurors not to discuss the case, the lawyer wrote about it on his blog. His posts identified the judge by name and described her as "a stern attentive woman with thin red hair and long, spidery fingers that as a grandkid you probably wouldn't want snapped at you." He gave the first name of the defendant and described his alleged crimes, referring to him as "a stout, unhappy man."
If the defendant was unhappy at trial, he later had reason to smile. When the lawyer's blogging came to light, the defendant's conviction was lifted and he was given a new trial. As for the blogging lawyer, he earned an 18-month suspension from the practice of law.
3. Blogging makes bad medicine
When a doctor decided to blog his own med-mal trial, it was a prescription for trouble. The doctor, known to his readers only as Flea, was already writing his blog when he was served with a lawsuit. As the case progressed, he periodically posted about it, describing his feelings when he was served with the complaint and reported on his own deposition.
When the trial finally got underway, he continued to blog, relaying his impressions of the plaintiffs' lawyer (whom he nicknamed "Carissa Lunt"), describing his "dress rehearsal," and accusing jurors of dozing off. While he may have thought his blogging had gone unnoticed by others in the courtroom, that was anything but the case.
During cross-examination of the physician, the plaintiff's attorney – the very one the doctor had described on his blog – surprised him with the question, "Are you Flea?" Yes, he sheepishly admitted. It was, according to one news account, a "Perry Mason moment."
The next morning, the parties entered into a confidential settlement reported to be "substantial." Ironically, jurors probably had no sense of the import of the question. But it was enough to signal that the plaintiffs' lawyer was prepared to delve into the blog in open court. Given some of what Flea had written there, settlement no doubt seemed the wiser course.
2. MySpace, my downfall
When an attractive New York model sued a high-profile billionaire claiming he had pressured her into sex when she was only 16, the tabloids were in a tizzy. Soon, the story was all over the gossip pages.
But it did not take long before reporters at one newspaper discovered the model's MySpace page. Based on what they found there, the newspaper reported that she was in fact a he. It also reported a graphic description taken from the MySpace page of the model's sexual fantasy involving multiple men and women. Further snooping revealed evidence that the model may have been much older than 16 at the time of the alleged affair.
After the MySpace page came to light, the model's lawsuit against the billionaire seems to have fizzled. But the model filed a second lawsuit, this time against the newspaper that discovered the page. She alleged that the newspaper's description of her fantasy defamed her by portraying her as a "promiscuous slut."
An appellate court disagreed. Because the newspaper reported only that the model had a fantasy – not that she actually engaged in the conduct – it did not defame her, the court reasoned. "The references to the Myspace pages merely served to highlight the ambiguity regarding the sexual identity of the person who sued the billionaire," the court said.
1. YouTube, Your Honor
Nothing, it seemed, could derail the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court. Nothing, that is, but the resurrection online of her own long-forgotten words.
First it was that now-famous YouTube video. It showed a 2005 speech by Sotomayor to law students interested in becoming law clerks. The difference between serving in a trial court and in an appellate court, she told them, is that a "court of appeals is where policy is made." Conservatives jumped on the comment, saying it showed her to be a judicial activist.
As if that was not enough of a blow, next came the resurfacing of her 2001 speech, published by Berkeley's La Raza Law Journal, in which she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life."
Fortunately for now-Justice Sotomayor, neither her comment about judicial activism nor her "wise Latina" remark was enough to derail her track to the nation's highest court. But both serve as reminders that no matter what might be at stake, in the age of social media, the shadow of one's past is never far behind.
A California lawyer learned the hard way to watch what you say on your blog. His posts helped earn him a suspension from law practice. But the case has an unusual twist. The lawyer in the felony trial was there not as an advocate, but as a juror. Not only that, but he had not disclosed to anyone that he was a lawyer.
Even though the judge warned jurors not to discuss the case, the lawyer wrote about it on his blog. His posts identified the judge by name and described her as "a stern attentive woman with thin red hair and long, spidery fingers that as a grandkid you probably wouldn't want snapped at you." He gave the first name of the defendant and described his alleged crimes, referring to him as "a stout, unhappy man."
If the defendant was unhappy at trial, he later had reason to smile. When the lawyer's blogging came to light, the defendant's conviction was lifted and he was given a new trial. As for the blogging lawyer, he earned an 18-month suspension from the practice of law.
3. Blogging makes bad medicine
When a doctor decided to blog his own med-mal trial, it was a prescription for trouble. The doctor, known to his readers only as Flea, was already writing his blog when he was served with a lawsuit. As the case progressed, he periodically posted about it, describing his feelings when he was served with the complaint and reported on his own deposition.
When the trial finally got underway, he continued to blog, relaying his impressions of the plaintiffs' lawyer (whom he nicknamed "Carissa Lunt"), describing his "dress rehearsal," and accusing jurors of dozing off. While he may have thought his blogging had gone unnoticed by others in the courtroom, that was anything but the case.
During cross-examination of the physician, the plaintiff's attorney – the very one the doctor had described on his blog – surprised him with the question, "Are you Flea?" Yes, he sheepishly admitted. It was, according to one news account, a "Perry Mason moment."
The next morning, the parties entered into a confidential settlement reported to be "substantial." Ironically, jurors probably had no sense of the import of the question. But it was enough to signal that the plaintiffs' lawyer was prepared to delve into the blog in open court. Given some of what Flea had written there, settlement no doubt seemed the wiser course.
2. MySpace, my downfall
When an attractive New York model sued a high-profile billionaire claiming he had pressured her into sex when she was only 16, the tabloids were in a tizzy. Soon, the story was all over the gossip pages.
But it did not take long before reporters at one newspaper discovered the model's MySpace page. Based on what they found there, the newspaper reported that she was in fact a he. It also reported a graphic description taken from the MySpace page of the model's sexual fantasy involving multiple men and women. Further snooping revealed evidence that the model may have been much older than 16 at the time of the alleged affair.
After the MySpace page came to light, the model's lawsuit against the billionaire seems to have fizzled. But the model filed a second lawsuit, this time against the newspaper that discovered the page. She alleged that the newspaper's description of her fantasy defamed her by portraying her as a "promiscuous slut."
An appellate court disagreed. Because the newspaper reported only that the model had a fantasy – not that she actually engaged in the conduct – it did not defame her, the court reasoned. "The references to the Myspace pages merely served to highlight the ambiguity regarding the sexual identity of the person who sued the billionaire," the court said.
1. YouTube, Your Honor
Nothing, it seemed, could derail the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court. Nothing, that is, but the resurrection online of her own long-forgotten words.
First it was that now-famous YouTube video. It showed a 2005 speech by Sotomayor to law students interested in becoming law clerks. The difference between serving in a trial court and in an appellate court, she told them, is that a "court of appeals is where policy is made." Conservatives jumped on the comment, saying it showed her to be a judicial activist.
As if that was not enough of a blow, next came the resurfacing of her 2001 speech, published by Berkeley's La Raza Law Journal, in which she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life."
Fortunately for now-Justice Sotomayor, neither her comment about judicial activism nor her "wise Latina" remark was enough to derail her track to the nation's highest court. But both serve as reminders that no matter what might be at stake, in the age of social media, the shadow of one's past is never far behind.
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