Judges cannot add lawyers as Facebook friends in Florida

Judges and lawyers in Florida can no longer be friends no Social Networking sites. This according to "The Legal Professional Blog". Lawyers cannot accept or add lawyers as friends on Facebook. As it creates a sort of conflict of interest when it turns out that the same lawyers representing clients apprear the very same Judges.

Stephen Gillers a legal expert from New York said that this went too far as Lawyers and Judges are friends in real life.

"Judges do not “drop out of society when they become judges,” he said. “The people who were their friends before they went on the bench remained their friends, and many of them were lawyers.”

Some lawyers on the other hand think that this could be a good idea and help to avoid any misgivings that would possibly arise.

Lawyers can nonetheless take heart as they can add themselves as Fans of judges.

Found on mediapostnews

"At the same time, some judges have been accused of crossing an ethical line on Facebook. In June, North Carolina judge B. Carlton Terry Jr. was reprimanded for friending an attorney who was appearing in an ongoing child custody case in front of Terry. And in October, a judge in Staten Island, N.Y. was transfered out of the borough for his Facebook use, including his alleged requests that lawyers become his friend.

The Legal profession blog also said


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As to the "friend" issue:

The Committee believes that listing lawyers who may appear before the judge as “friends” on a judge's social networking page reasonably conveys to others the impression that these lawyer “friends” are in a special position to influence the judge.

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Sociolatte