Social media research of potential and empaneled jurors is an area of the law that is constantly evolving. A succession of ethical opinions and trial court decisions have answered some questions and raised new ones.
To be sure, researching the publically available social media profiles of potential jurors during voir dire is now, with certain caveats, no longer controversial. Multiple bar associations have concluded that this conduct is ethically sound, provided that neither lawyers nor agents of lawyers contact or communicate with potential jurors. Many commentators have even suggested that pretrial Internet research is good practice. So now that the debate as to whether lawyers can research the social media profiles of jurors during voir dire has been settled, we address two corollary issues: (1) the extent to which attorneys can research jurors on semi-private social media sites like LinkedIn; and (2) the extent to which lawyers can monitor jurors after a trial begins.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
