"WHY CAN'T WE BE 'FRIENDS'?": ETHICAL CONCERNS IN THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIAt VANESSA S. BROWNE-BARBOURtt
552 553 III. ETHICAL CONCERNS IN LAWYERS' SOCIAL MEDIA USE ............... 555 A. ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 .......................................... 555 I. IN TRODU CTION ...............................................................................
II. BACKGROUND ON SOCIAL MEDIA .................................................
Social Media and the Client-LawyerRelationship ................. 1. Comp etence ....................................................................... 2. Confidentiality................................................................... 3. Conflict of Interests........................................................... C. Avoid Inadvertently CreatingClient-Lawyer Relationships on Social M edia ...................................................................... D. Communications with Non-Clients ......................................... E. The Advocate's Use of Social Media ...................................... F. Fairnessand M isconduct ........................................................ G. UnauthorizedPracticeof Law ................................................ B.
556 556 566 569 570 573 574 574 576
IV . C ON CLU SION .................................................................................. 577
t The title of this Article is based in part on the name of a popular song that was released in 1975, by WAR, a band that fused rock, rhythm and blues, jazz, Latin, and funk music. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=7610, last visited on January 23, 2016. The band got the idea for this song when they were traveling in Japan in the early '70s. War drummer Harold Brown told us: "We're all connected by language, and by our food, and by our culture. Most racists don't know why they're racist. But you pick them up and take them over and drop them in a country, like India or Pakistan, guess what? 'Why can't we be friends?' Because all of a sudden you find out we're more alike inside than we are on the outside. We started realizing that that's really important. You travel all over the world, you can't speak a lot of their language. But one thing they do know, they know your body language, how you may react." Why Can't We Be Friends?by War, Songfacts, http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=7610 t last visited Mar. 10, 2016). tt Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston. The author is grateful for the invitation to participate in the 2 2 nd Annual South Texas College of Law Houston Ethics Symposium, Ethical Considerationsin FamilyLaw, from the South Texas Law Review, its editors
and staff, Prof. Pamela E. George, Symposium Editor, Assistant Dean Elizabeth Dennis, and Professors Shelby A.D. Moore, and Val D. Ricks, Faculty Advisors. The author also is grateful for the research assistance of Domonique Broadus, as well as the editing assistance from Amanda Garza, Brandon Gosch, Emily Pendleton, and Cody Thomas.