Social Networking Websites: The Emerging Litigation Tool

Strategies for Using Facebook, Google, and Other Online Sources in Litigation Practice

Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar with Q&A

Conducted on Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Recorded event now available

or call 1-800-926-7926
Program Materials

This seminar will examine the use of social networking and other website content in litigation and best practices for getting such content admitted into evidence. The panel will also review the risks, limits and ethical considerations in using such information in litigation.

Description

The use of social networking websites has altered the way attorneys investigate and litigate cases. Attorneys can investigate adversaries, witnesses and even jurors prior to voir dire by searching social networking sites and other easily accessible Internet content.

Information about a party’s Internet use can be brought into discovery through interrogatories and production requests. Courts routinely allow into evidence photographs, comments, and other postings on social networking sites so long as evidentiary rules, including authentication, are met.

Privacy concerns pose some legal limitations on using information from social networking sites. Attorneys and their clients must also understand the ethical considerations of using such information in litigation and in participating in social networking sites themselves.

Listen as our panel of litigation specialists discusses the legal, practical and ethical implications of using social networking sites and other Internet content in pre-trial investigation, discovery and trial preparation.

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Outline

  1. Trends in use of social networking and other internet sites in litigation
  2. Pre-trial use of social networking
    1. Investigation
    2. Discovery
    3. Limitations and risks
    4. Ethical considerations
  3. Use of social networking content at trial
    1. Admissibility
    2. Selecting jurors

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

  • What are best practices for discovering a party or witness' social networking use?
  • What are the evidentiary challenges to the admissibility of internet content and how can counsel overcome them?
  • How have courts viewed the expectation of privacy on a networking site that is secured by some form of privacy protection?

Faculty

Daniel L. Brown
Daniel L. Brown
Partner
Sheppard Mullin

He is a partner in the firm's Antitrust and Business Trial Practice Groups. He regularly counsels clients in high...  |  Read More

Steven C. Bennett
Steven C. Bennett
Partner
Jones Day

His practice focuses on domestic and international commercial litigation and arbitration, including cases involving...  |  Read More

Carole Levitt
Carole Levitt
President
Internet For Lawyers

She is a nationally recognized author and speaker on Internet legal research. She has over twenty years of extensive...  |  Read More

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