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Use of a third person to "Friend" somebody on Facebook for litigation information is unethical

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Getting a third person to "Friend" a Facebook user to get information for the lawyer without informing the third person is unethical. Philadephia Op. 2009-02 (March 2009): Turning to the ethical substance of the inquiry, the Committee believes that the proposed course of conduct contemplated by the inquirer would violate Rule 8.4(c) because the planned communication by the third party with the witness is deceptive. It omits a highly material fact, namely, that the third party who asks to be allowed access to the witness’s pages is doing so only because he or she is intent on obtaining information and sharing it with a lawyer for use in a lawsuit to impeach the testimony of the witness. The omission would purposefully conceal that fact from the witness for the purpose of inducing the witness to allow access, when she may not do so if she knew the third person was associated with the inquirer and the true purpose of the access was to obtain information for the purpose of impeaching her testimony.continue to full post

Full post as published by Law Of Criminal Defense on June 06, 2009 (boomark / email).