Law Commons^™

The Dangers Of Doxing And Swatting: Why Texas Should Criminalize These Malicious Forms Of Cyberharassment, Hannah Mery

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

Ethical Limitations On Lawyer-To-Lawyer Online Consultations Regarding Pending Cases, Robert Derner

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

This comment explains how and when lawyer-to-lawyer consultations are permitted in the online world. In all lawyer-to-lawyer consultations, but especially with the online variety, a lawyer must avoid violating the principle of confidentiality when consulting other lawyers about client matters. While in-person lawyer-to-lawyer consultations have been commonplace in the legal profession for decades, the rise of listservs and social media networks has caused many lawyers to seek advice from colleagues on the Internet.

In considering online lawyer-to-lawyer consultations, there are two major issues. Firstly, a lawyer must determine whether the jurisdiction in which he or she practices permits online lawyer-to-lawyer …

A Status Update For Texas Voir Dire: Advocating For Pre-Trial Internet Investigation Of Prospective Jurors, Luke A. Harle

St. Mary's Law Journal

The Internet provides trial attorneys an additional tool to investigate the backgrounds of prospective jurors during voir dire. Online searches of a person’s name and social media accounts can reveal information that could be used as grounds for a challenge for cause or to facilitate intelligent use of peremptory strikes. Texas lawmakers have not yet provided any official guidance as to whether attorneys can investigate prospective jurors online or how they might do so, should it be allowed. Texas’s current voir dire structure, judicial opinions, and ethics opinions, together, support the notion that Texas trial attorneys should be given opportunities …

Am I A “Licensed Liar”?: An Exploration Into The Ethic Of Honesty In Lawyering . . . And A Reply Of “No!” To The Stranger In The La Fiesta Lounge, Josiah M. Daniel Iii

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

After hearing for the first time the lawyer-disparaging phrase, “licensed liar,” the author investigated its significance. This article presents the question of those two words’ meaning and explains how the author reached the conclusion that, as applied to attorneys, the phrase is an unmerited epithet. The phrase is known and utilized in nonlegal texts in fields such as fiction, poetry, literary criticism, and journalism, but the two words are absent from legal texts. The author’s discovery of the phrase in various criticisms of lawyers in other publications illuminates and confirms that the phrase constitutes the pejorative allegation that an attorney …

The Impact Of Technological Developments On The Rules Of Attorney Ethics Regarding Attorney–Client Privilege, Confidentiality, And Social Media, Pamela A. Bresnahan, Lucian T. Pera

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

This article focuses on the development of the law of ethics and technology. Emphasis is placed on how technological developments have affected the rules and means by which lawyers practice law and certain ethical pitfalls that have developed hand-in-hand with technological advancements. Topics examined include: (1) the ways by which electronic communication has increased the potential for the attorney–client privilege to be waived and the resulting impact on the present-day practice of law; (2) the effect of social media on lawyers’ ethical obligations, including counseling clients regarding the client’s use of social media and the lawyer’s own use of social …

Online Legal Advice: Ethics In The Digital Age, Paige A. Thomas

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

The rise of the Internet changed the way initial interactions between lawyers and prospective clients happen. Unfortunately, a host of problems concerning privacy rights and consumer usage have emerged. In this digital age, where immediacy and response time are driving factors in an attorney’s online presence, the approach to establish an attorney-client relationship is far more informal. Due to the quick rise of the Internet and social media, the Model Rules of Professional Conduct do not offer a clear answer for attorneys using social media. An inherent danger lies in off-the-cuff remarks, made on the Internet—a platform generally associated with …

An Article We Wrote To Ourselves In The Future: Early 21st Century Views On Ethics And The Internet., David Hricik, Prashant Patel, Natasha Chrispin

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Written from the viewpoint of the year 2050, this Article discusses the clash between legal ethics and the technological revolution of the early twenty-first century. As a result of ethics rules being applied to new technologies in ways never contemplated under traditional circumstances, lawyers had to be overly cautious when they used the Internet to correspond with or seek out clients, or otherwise promote their legal services. The lesson learned is that the legal community should reflect on the harm caused by over zealous regulation and take a more reasoned approach to the use of technology for the benefit of …

Much Ado About Spam: Unsolicited Advertising, The Internet, And You., Scot M. Graydon

St. Mary's Law Journal

Internet users need protection from unsolicited commercial emails (UCEs), and this protection should come from federal legislation. Despite seventeen states having passed some sort of legislation regulating UCEs, this is insufficient to protect Internet users from UCEs. State laws are not uniformed and UCEs frequently cross state lines. Internet advertisers prefer commercial emails because of the ability to market to millions of consumers at a low cost. Consumers, however, suffer delays to their Internet access because of the amount of data UCEs accumulate, and in some cases may have to pay additional fees if they exceed the data limits of …

From Little Acorns Great Oaks Grow: The Constitutionality Of Protecting Minors From Harmful Internet Material In Public Libraries Comment., Kimberly S. Keller

St. Mary's Law Journal

Congress should focus on the receiver's end of Internet transmissions to overcome the anonymity and transmogrification elements of the Internet to protect minors from harmful material. Throughout the years, librarians have struggled with monitoring minors’ access to the accumulating number of controversial texts in the library. The Internet’s unique infrastructure affords librarians virtually no opportunity for the pre-shelf review available with books and videos. Congress enacted the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in 1996 in an attempt to protect minors from the underbelly of the internet. The United States Supreme Court, in Reno v. ACLU, struck down the CDA ruling that …