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Thompson Hine LLP, a full-service business law firm with approximately 400 lawyers in 11 offices, was ranked number 1 in the category “Most innovative North American law firms: New working models” by The Financial Times and was 1 of 7 firms shortlisted for The American Lawyer’s inaugural Legal Services Innovation Award. The firm has been recognized by the National Law Journal as a Legal Technology Trailblazer and featured by Bloomberg for its innovative service delivery models, which drive accuracy and predictability. The firm’s commitment to innovation is embodied in Thompson Hine SmartPaTHTM – a smarter way to work – predictable, efficient and aligned with client goals. For more information, please visit ThompsonHine.com and ThompsonHine.com/SmartPaTH.

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<img style="max-width: 100%;height: auto;max-width: 100%;height: auto" loading="lazy" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2213" src="https://www.thelawforlawyerstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/754/2015/12/Social-media.5-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199">Do we need another reminder about the perils of posting internet&nbsp;comments on cases and matters we are connected with?&nbsp; Apparently we do, and here&rsquo;s a strong one.&nbsp; Earlier this month, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana was disbarred based on hundreds of comments he posted pseudonymously&nbsp;on the website of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.&nbsp; The posts included many related to high-profile cases he or his colleagues in the U.S. Attorney&rsquo;s office were prosecuting, including government bribery scandals and the killing of two&nbsp;unarmed residents by the police following Hurricane Katrina.
In its <a href="http://www.lasc.org/opinions/2018/18-1233.B.OPN.pdf">opinion</a>, the&nbsp;Louisiana Supreme Court&nbsp;wrote that the lawyer&rsquo;s &ldquo;extrajudicial comments about pending cases&rdquo; struck at&nbsp;&ldquo;the foundation of our system.&rdquo;&nbsp; The court felt compelled to &ldquo;send a strong message ...&nbsp;that a lawyer&rsquo;s ethical obligations are not diminished by the mask of anonymity provided by the internet.&rdquo;
The hearing panel had recommended a two-year suspension, with one year deferred. The court, however, adopted the disciplinary board&rsquo;s disbarment&nbsp;recommendation, which in the Bayou State entitles a&nbsp;lawyer&nbsp;to petition for reinstatement after five years.
&ldquo;GUILTY&nbsp;as charged!&rdquo;
The lawyer was a prolific poster on the newspaper&rsquo;s internet site, using a number of pseudonyms to comment about pending cases he or his office&nbsp;was involved in.&nbsp; For instance, during a bribery trial he prosecuted, the lawyer posted that the defendant&rsquo;s lawyer &ldquo;has screwed his client!!!!,&rdquo; continuing that &ldquo;You&rsquo;re just as arrogant as [the allegedly&nbsp;bribed official] ... and the jury knows it.&rdquo;
During the federal trial of six police officers for the shooting of unarmed residents on the Danziger Bridge, and the ensuing cover-up, the lawyer posted, &ldquo;Perhaps we&nbsp;would be safer if the NOPD&nbsp;would leave next&nbsp;hurricane and let the National Guard assume all law enforcement duties.&nbsp; GUILTY AS CHARGED.&rdquo;
The lawyer&rsquo;s posts&nbsp;connected to the Danziger Bridge trial came to light after the six officers were found guilty and received lengthy sentences.&nbsp;&nbsp;Following&nbsp;an investigation, the lawyer&rsquo;s conduct was cited as one&nbsp;aspect of a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct that prompted the grant of the officers&rsquo; motion for new trial and eventually a plea bargain for much lighter sentences.
Not the way to relieve stress
The lawyer stipulated that his conduct violated Louisiana&rsquo;s versions of <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_3_6_trial_publicity/">Model Rules 3.6</a> (trial publicity); <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_3_8_special_responsibilities_of_a_prosecutor/">3.8(f)</a> (prosecutors&rsquo;&nbsp;extra-judicial comments); <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_8_4_misconduct/">8.4(a)</a> (violating rules of professional conduct) and <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_8_4_misconduct/">8.4(d)</a> (conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice).
But at the disciplinary hearing, although acknowledging his misconduct, the lawyer testified that he thought his posts would help him deal with the stress of his work.&nbsp;&nbsp;His treating psychologist opined that the lawyer suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from his past work as a police officer and FBI agent, during which he had witnessed gruesome scenes and personally had come under gunfire.
In imposing&nbsp;a sanction, the court rejected PTSD&nbsp;as a mitigating factor.&nbsp; Although the psychologist testified that&nbsp;the online posts were the result of the lawyer&rsquo;s PTSD, the court found no&nbsp;clear and convincing support for the conclusion that there was a causal link between the posts and the lawyer&rsquo;s mental condition.
Key to that determination, said the court,&nbsp;was the lawyer&rsquo;s own admission that he knew he should not be posting his comments online, and&nbsp;that it was his anger over public corruption that led him to vent his pseudonymous criticism.
Think before you&nbsp;click submit
We all feel the stress of our chosen profession.&nbsp; But is the relief valve of venting it in public (even anonymously) worth the risk of professional discipline?&nbsp; Keeping a private journal (locked in your drawer) may not be as satisfying as seeing your words up in pixels, but it&rsquo;s surely safer from a licensing standpoint.

core/freeform

Ethics

Legal Ethics, Professional Responsibility and the Business of Law

Disbarment for anonymous on-line posts should “send a message,” says LA supreme court