Thursday, December 10, 2009
FOR FLORIDA JUDGES ON FACEBOOK, FRIENDSHIP HAS LIMITS
One Florida county judge, Nina Ashenafi Richardson of Tallahassee, said the rule was “probably a good idea, just to avoid any perceptions of impropriety.” Although the judge has a Facebook page that a friend put together for her political campaign — “it was an amazing tool to get my message out” — she said she had not used it since.
Still, legal sycophants can take heart: lawyers can declare themselves Facebook “fans” of judges, the committee said, “as long as the judge or committee controlling the site cannot accept or reject the lawyer’s listing of himself or herself on the site.”
The New York Time reports in "For Judges on Facebook, Friendship Has Limits":
Judges and lawyers in Florida can no longer be Facebook friends.
In a recent opinion, the state’s Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee decided it was time to set limits on judicial behavior online. When judges “friend” lawyers who may appear before them, the committee said, it creates the appearance of a conflict of interest, since it “reasonably conveys to others the impression that these lawyer ‘friends’ are in a special position to influence the judge.”
In practice, of course, actual friends and Facebook friends can be as different as leather and pleather, and the committee did recognize that online friends were not the same as friends in the traditional sense. A minority of the panel would have allowed Facebook friendship, which it characterized as more like “a contact or acquaintance” without conveying the notion of “feelings of affection or personal regard.”
But the committee’s majority concluded that the possibility of the appearance of impropriety required that they recommend against friending, said Judge T. Michael Jones of the First Judicial Circuit Court, a committee member. He emphasized that the committee’s role was advisory, and that the opinion “does not have the force of a Supreme Court opinion” in Florida.
The decision was issued last month, and was first reported Tuesday by the Legal Profession Blog.
Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics expert at New York University, said the Florida rule went too far. “In my view, they are being hypersensitive,” Professor Gillers said. He noted that the differences within the committee probably indicated a generational gap, which Judge Jones said was not the case. In the case of a truly close friendship between a judge and a lawyer involved in a case, the other side can simply seek to disqualify the judge, Professor Gillers said.
Judges and lawyers in Florida can no longer be Facebook friends.
In a recent opinion, the state’s Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee decided it was time to set limits on judicial behavior online. When judges “friend” lawyers who may appear before them, the committee said, it creates the appearance of a conflict of interest, since it “reasonably conveys to others the impression that these lawyer ‘friends’ are in a special position to influence the judge.”
In practice, of course, actual friends and Facebook friends can be as different as leather and pleather, and the committee did recognize that online friends were not the same as friends in the traditional sense. A minority of the panel would have allowed Facebook friendship, which it characterized as more like “a contact or acquaintance” without conveying the notion of “feelings of affection or personal regard.”
But the committee’s majority concluded that the possibility of the appearance of impropriety required that they recommend against friending, said Judge T. Michael Jones of the First Judicial Circuit Court, a committee member. He emphasized that the committee’s role was advisory, and that the opinion “does not have the force of a Supreme Court opinion” in Florida.
The decision was issued last month, and was first reported Tuesday by the Legal Profession Blog.
Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics expert at New York University, said the Florida rule went too far. “In my view, they are being hypersensitive,” Professor Gillers said. He noted that the differences within the committee probably indicated a generational gap, which Judge Jones said was not the case. In the case of a truly close friendship between a judge and a lawyer involved in a case, the other side can simply seek to disqualify the judge, Professor Gillers said.
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.”
Nonetheless, Professor Gillers said, many judges are careful not to socialize with friends during cases that involve them.
Nonetheless, Professor Gillers said, many judges are careful not to socialize with friends during cases that involve them.
One Florida county judge, Nina Ashenafi Richardson of Tallahassee, said the rule was “probably a good idea, just to avoid any perceptions of impropriety.” Although the judge has a Facebook page that a friend put together for her political campaign — “it was an amazing tool to get my message out” — she said she had not used it since.
Still, legal sycophants can take heart: lawyers can declare themselves Facebook “fans” of judges, the committee said, “as long as the judge or committee controlling the site cannot accept or reject the lawyer’s listing of himself or herself on the site.”
