San Diego Bar Issues Ethics Ruling on Attorney 'Friending' of Employees of a Represented Party

摘要

The attorney in the case before the San Diego County Bar Legal Ethics Committee was representing a plaintiff former employee in a wrongful discharge action. The attorney sent out a Facebook "friending" request to two high-ranking company employees whom the client had identified as being dissatisfied with the employer and therefore likely to make disparaging comments about the employer on the employees' personal social media pages.