A recent ruling by the Louisiana Supreme Court provides guidance as whether a lawyer’s postings on social media pertaining to an ongoing judicial proceeding did fall within the category of First Amendment Free Speech. Specifically, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that an attorney’s online and social media activity violated numerous Rules of Professional Conduct and was not free speech protected by the First Amendment.[1] Joyce Nanine McCool, in what she proclaimed was an effort to protect two young girls from alleged abuse by their father, engaged in a social media campaign including Twitter, change.org, her blog site and online articles she authored criticizing the judges and expressing her opinions about cases pending before courts in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Continue reading here:
Social Media, the First Amendment, and the Rules of Professional Conduct
ABA Young Lawyers Division; Ethics and Professionalism Committee Newsletter; Summer 2016, Vol. 1 No. 4