Virginia (VA) Ethics CLE Course Catalog

Join our expert panelist as he explores strategies for representing clients who regularly use social media; study the ethical boundaries (improper use by lawyers); and risks associated with advising clients to "change" or "delete" social media.

Is this program really about getting into bed with our clients? Of course….but I don’t mean sexual relationships. Well, not only sexual relationships. There are a bunch of ways that a lawyer can metaphorically get into bed with their client and all of those situations are governed by the conflicts rules in Rule 1.8. Whether it’s doing business with clients, getting a bequest from a client, or some other self-serving conflict, chances are there’s an ethical implication to doing so.

The purpose of this program isn’t to convince you that we should actually outlaw Twitter, nor do I honestly think I’d be successful in doing so (for reasons I’ll discuss below). The purpose of this program is to talk about concepts of professionalism in the practice of law. I want to show you how concepts of professionalism ask lawyers to aspire to something higher and how Twitter causes us to do the exact opposite. When we use that medium we are, far too often, behaving in a way that is antithetical to concepts of attorney professionalism. So whether you agree with me or not, hopefully you’ll at least learn about important concepts of professionalism.