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1. Facebook in the Courts | Social Media Law Student http://socialmedialawstudent.com/social‐media/facebook‐in‐the‐...
Apr 13th, 2009 | By Josh Camson | Category: Facebook, Featured, Lead Article, Social Media
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Last week attorneys Nick S. Pujji, Anahit
Tagvoryan, and Joshua M. Briones from DLA
Piper wrote an informative piece about
Facebook as a platform for serving process.
The article does a nice job discussing the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. It gives an overview
on how Facebook already is changing the courts, and
how it can continue to do so.
The materials and photographs that become a part of an individual’s on-line profile are already being used
as admissible evidence in US courts. Will the ability to serve process via the virtual world be the next
milestone? The implications of this possibility are considerable. Many Facebook users joined the website
for fun and amusement or to more easily keep in touch with family and friends. Their membership, however,
may also make them more accessible to the legal system. Professional process servers may soon no
longer be required to play cat-and-mouse games in the physical world in order to personally serve
individuals.
What the article does not discuss are the serious privacy implications here. In Australia the judge
required service via a Facebook message, and not a posting on the individual’s wall. But what if he
didn’t? Imagine checking your e-mail to see that someone has written on your wall… and you are
being served with divorce papers.
How do you think Facebook specifically and social media generally should play into the court
systems in the future? Let’s hear in the comments.
Original article.
See Related Article: Implications of Electronic Communication on Family Law Litigation
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2. Facebook in the Courts | Social Media Law Student http://socialmedialawstudent.com/social‐media/facebook‐in‐the‐...
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Tags: admissible evidence, Facebook, privacy implications
Kendall Smith April 16th, 2009 8:50 am :
Social media is certainly changing the way we work. I agree with your points, that which was
supposed to be “fun” is now “scary”.
What about, though, secure lawyer-to-lawyer exchange of documents (pleadings, etc) via such a
platform? Would lawyers willingly register and “recommend” to other lawyers to join a “case
community” so that secure, trackable, online exchange of documents could be facilitiated vs paper or
other means?
You’ve gathered quite a following, when you begin to practice, is this something that you would find
compelling?
[Reply]
Josh Camson April 16th, 2009 10:22 am :
My immediate thought about such a system is that it sounds very similar to a somewhat
more secure, possibly more reliable form of e-mail. To that extent the replacement of paper
with a paperless system is definitely something that should happen very soon. Of course a large
number of courts now allow or require electronic filing. However, it is not everywhere yet and it needs
to be. I would be curious to hear more about your proposed plan and how it would fit in and
compliment the current systems.
[Reply]
Kendall Smith Reply:
April 28th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Hi again:
I missed your response somehow..sorry! I’ll send you some more food for thought on this…yes,
tie-ins are key, and luckily, we’ve built it for the most part…now trying to identify who that “early
adopter” would be….
I’ll email you directly soon.
Thanks
[Reply]
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