Legal News

Law firms could be put to risk if social media platforms are used for sharing information with clients, unwittingly breaking the confidentiality rules the Law Society has warned in new online reputation guidelines for solicitors.

The Society in its practice note published yesterday, issued guidance on the proper online conduct and ways to build a client facing online profile.

Law Society president Lucy Scott Moncrieff said that most law firms were now online and so were their clients which made online reputation quite important.

More and more of the current generation spend their time before the internet and when they need a legal advice they just go online. A law firm’s website is often client’s first stop but so are social networking sites such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’.

Online contact with a firm being the first experience for a client online reputation has been increasingly becoming the main way in which a firm shaped its reputation.

The guidelines state that it was important that the solicitors also remember that not all online communications which were assumed to be private were, in fact, private.

Confidential, private information shared with a firm by clients online can be transmitted without any notification, the guidance says, warning, for instance, that Facebook’s ‘graph search’ allows anyone to look up anything shared with a firm on the social media platform, and in turn anything the firm share.
Firms which tied up with online branding can ensure that they control and reply to any negative criticism or comments, says the practice note.
External websites could adversely affect a firm’s reputation making it important to be aware of what is being said online about a firms practice.
Firms whose reputation has been harmed online may seek action under defamation law, which applies to comments and communications made online. A business can request that any internet service provider removes unlawful material

Lucy Montcrieff said that to counter a negative content one can be proactive in building a positive online reputation but online was not a fad but a business which may cost the law firms their business if they don’t take it seriously.