In my previous post, I discussed the Virginia case (Lester v. Allied Concrete) where an attorney and client were sanctioned for deleting a Facebook account and providing misleading answers regarding the existence of a Facebook account among other questionable behavior in the case. The next logical question is “what should I tell my client?”

Be warned that my opinion is NOT the opinion of the North Carolina State Bar. I can have an opinion, but let’s face it, my opinion carries little weight. At the end of the day, only the State Bar or a Judge can levy sanctions or decide your fate. Before you answer any question of this nature, you should review the ethical rules and call the State Bar to obtain guidance.

Now, back to my opinion . . . if a client asks you if he should edit his past social media, I would suggest that you talk to him about the Virginia case and any other cases you can locate on the issue. I would not tell the client to destroy anything. I would also advise him about the doctrine of spoliation of evidence and discuss steps he should take to preserve evidence. A client may be frustrated that you are not “helping” him out, and the client may even fire you as an attorney. Consider that firing a blessing as you do not want to choose your client’s goals over your ethical obligations.

When I talk to my client about social media, I address future behaviors.  I believe that unless there is some type of smoking gun on these types of forums, a client can explain any previous questionable behaviors. For example, if a client tweeted that her husband is “a tool of a parent” because he “puts his Wh*re first over their son,” I would have the client testify that she was mad and spouted off thoughts without thinking.  I would also have her testify about how she has learned that is not appropriate behavior, etc. Asking for forgiveness can go a long way especially if there is not a lengthy history of these actions.

For most lawyers, social media is the next frontier. When we start in a new frontier, some lawyers can be flippant about the significance of the area. Being flippant in this area could cost you as it did in the attorney in the Lester case.

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Upon receipt of the final order in a fairly contested court case, our client sent the following note:

“Well I will say, thank you to everyone!
Much thanks!”

Working in this area of the law is difficult because you will generally not have happy clients. Our office strives to provide an candid assessment to clients so that they can make the best practical and financial decisions for their lives. If a client retains our services, we will provide the client with superior customer service through out the process.

Testimonials

As a divorce attorney, one of my initial steps with any client is to ascertain the person’s social media usage. On the firm’s intake form, I ask the person to advise if he or she tweets, has a Facebook account, has a personal blog, or has a Linkedin page. Likewise, I ask if his or her spouse has any of these accounts. I need to know where potential evidence against my client or the other party may appear, and I advise my client to act appropriately on these accounts. “Act like a Judge is watching every single post” is my general advice to a client.

I have never had a client ask me about what he or she should do regarding past posts; however, you cannot advise a client to destroy evidence, right? Recently this issue came before a Virginia court in the case of Lester v. Allied Concrete Company. As part of discovery, defense attorneys sought information from Plaintiff’s Facebook page. Plaintiff’s attorney incorrectly surmised that if Plaintiff deleted his Facebook account PRIOR to the signing of the discovery answers, the Plaintiff could truthfully answer that he did not have a Facebook account. In addition, after being served with discovery regarding the Facebook account, Plaintiff’s attorney instructed his support staff to tell the Plaintiff to “clean up his Facebook account.”

These actions were only the tip of the iceberg when it came to the Plaintiff’s behavior and the behavior of Plaintiff’s attorney.  At a later deposition and at trial, Plaintiff denied having a Facebook account. Clearly, even though arguing semantics is part of an attorney’s job, this type of behavior is questionable at best. Judges do not like questionable ethical behavior, and as a result, Plaintiff and his attorney were sanctioned, heavily for these actions. In addition, the Order referred the attorney’s behavior to the Virginia State Bar.

What do we take away from this case? Deleting social media (Facebook pictures, tweets, blog posts, etc) can be seen as spoliation of evidence. As an attorney, we do not want to dabble in the gray area of ethics. It is important to understand that advising your client to edit past behavior on social media is just like telling your client to destroy critical documents, which we all know we should not do.

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Collaborative law is a method of resolving disputes in a divorce situation that requires all parties to be focused on a mutually acceptable resolution.  This method draws on the theory of mediation by remaining focused on resolving disputes outside of litigation.

This method of dispute resolution also adds the requirement that attorneys must withdraw from representation if either party files a lawsuit. This mandatory withdrawal is an incentive to keep the parties at the negotiating table. Retaining a new attorney to file a lawsuit is going to cost additional money, so the incentive is to remain at the negotiating table so that you will not lose your collaborative lawyer.

Collaborative law began in Minneapolis in 1990 with attorney Stu Webb, and it has now spread to almost every state. In Wake County, there are many lawyers who have taken collaborative law training and hold themselves out as collaborative lawyers. There are even some collaborative law groups of attorneys that may physically be in the same building or may be loosely related and familiar with working with the others in this group.

This method is part of the bigger label of alternative dispute resolution, which includes the process of mediation and arbitration. Over the past ten years, the growth of alternative dispute resolution in family law has grown tremendously as courts have become clogged and people have become frustrated with the legal system and legal fees.

If you are interested in utilizing collaborative law in resolving your separation or divorce, call Frye Law Offices. Our firm offers knowledge, experience and personal attention at a time when you need it most, and our firm can help you determine if the collaborative law method is the best way to address your needs.

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In Wake County, we have a Family Court system, which means that we have one judge per family and a separate support staff for each judge. If you file a lawsuit in Wake County which contains claims for child custody, child support, spousal support, or equitable distribution, you will be assigned a Judge. Currently, we have four different judges. Once you are assigned a Judge, your case will always have this Judge unless he or she is no longer on the family bench or you are assigned a new Judge for other reasons. If this Judge is on the bench five years from now, that Judge will hear your case.

Each Judge has her own clerk who handles the administrative movement of items. These clerks do the hard work of managing the Judge’s schedule, handling communication between most attorneys/parties and the Judge, and making sure that all Orders are provided to all parties. Clerks often can give you good practical advice on how to move forward with your case in an effective way instead of spinning your wheels in the wrong direction. Clerks cannot and will not give out legal advice, but each clerk can give you practical advice on how to navigate the Family Court System. Information on the Judge’s schedule and contacting the appropriate clerk can be found at the following website: www.wcfcc.com

Family Court also operates by a specific set of rules. These rules can be located at www.nccourts.org under tabs for Court or a search on local rules. These rules cover the 10th Judicial District, which is what covers Wake County, and provides rules and forms to be used.

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One of the most cost effective ways to communicate with your attorney is via email.  This method can be much more affordable than phone calls or scheduling an appointment.

Why?

A phone call or appointment may take more of the attorney’s time as a conversation could develop on a topic that was not in line with your original list of questions or concerns. This time is not necessarily wasted as you or your attorney may find out information that assists in your representation; however, if your goal was to find out an answer to a specific question, you may not view this additional time as cost effective.

Some people shy away from using email because they believe it is easier just to meet or talk over the phone. The reality is that composing an email makes you compose your thoughts. Being organized and focused in your time with an attorney means that you will receive more for your dollar. Emails also have the added benefit of giving you a response that you can refer to on more than one occasion. If you are not sure exactly what was said, you can always pull the email back up and review the answer again.

Email is not always the best way to communicate; however we encourage clients to use that as one of their first methods of contact with the attorney. If you are not sure, let the attorney decide if it is best for you to speak about the issue or if email correspondence will suffice. Likewise, if you do not feel comfortable memorializing certain things in an email to the attorney, call the office and schedule an appointment. The most cost effective way may not always be the best way. Work with your attorney and their staff to determine the best way.

At Frye Law Offices, we offer you knowledge experience and personal attention at a time when you need it most. Contact our office if you need help with your family law needs and want someone to be cost effective in their representation.

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You have scheduled your Initial Consultation with one of our attorneys, what should you expect at your appointment?  Please plan to block out at least an hour and a half for this appointment. On average this is how long a consultation should last with one of our attorneys.  If you are unable to keep your appointment for any reason, please call the office to either cancel or reschedule. Cindy and Chris are happy to help you with this. Also, expect us to call the day before the appointment to confirm the time and that you have directions to our office.

When you arrive to our office either Chris or Cindy will greet you.  She will get you settled in one of our conference rooms.  Once you are seated, she will go over our Client Intake Form with you.  This form gives our office information such as addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and dates of birth.  After the intake form is complete, she will process the payment for the appointment and ask if you have brought any documents with you that you would like your attorney to review.  If you do, she will make copies of the documents for the attorney’s review.

Chris or Cindy will then bring your file to the assigned attorney, who will review your file briefly before coming in to meet with you.  During the meeting with either Ms. Frye or Ms. Bruce, they will go into greater detail of your situation and what your goals are.  After the consultation, you will receive a business card with the attorney that you have met.  If you have a question a few days after your appointment, our attorneys are happy to answer them via email at no additional charge.

At Frye Law Offices, we pride ourselves on having an amazing support staff. Clients have always told us that our staff has been professional, empathetic, and effective. From the first moment you contact our firm, you will find the knowledge, experience and personal attention at the time when you need it most. Please call us at 919.846.8807.

**Written by Christine Universal

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You have taken the first step and have reached out to Frye Law Offices, what can you expect now?   When you call in you can expect to speak with either Chris or Cindy, both are legal assistants with our firm.

The first question you can expect to be asked is your name and the name of the opposing party or any other parties involved in your situation.  We have had clients call in and not want to give us this information; this information is vital in determining if we have any conflicts of interest.

Once it is determined that there are no conflicts, the next step will be hearing about the initial details of your situation.  During your first phone call you can expect to be asked a fair number of questions about what is causing you to call our firm.  Our staff needs to be thorough and get as much information from you as possible so that your time with Katherine Frye or Lynn Bruce is as effective as possible.  Please remember that any information discussed with either of our two legal assistants will be in confidence, meaning the only person they will discuss your situation with is the attorney with whom you are scheduling an appointment.

Once the information is gathered an appointment will be set up with the Katherine or Lynn. Our staff will provide you directions and ask for a secure email address so that we can send you some initial information prior to your appointment.

At Frye Law Offices, we pride ourselves on having an amazing support staff. Clients have always told us that our staff has been professional, empathetic, and effective. From the first moment you contact our firm, you will find the knowledge, experience and personal attention at the time when you need it most. Please call us at 919.846.8807.

**Contributed by FLO Office Manager, Christine Universal

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A Connecticut judge recently ordered divorcing parties to exchange passwords for Facebook and dating websites so that attorneys can gather information for the pending litigation. The Order requiring the exchange of information did clarify that the password was to remain with the attorneys and that parties were not to post anything to the other party’s website with that password information.

I must say that this is a new step to me. I have often had clients obtain information from the other party’s Facebook or other social media source; however, I have never thought of asking the other side to turn over his or her passwords so that I could have full access to the account and account history.

Generally, when cases are in the discovery phase, which means the information finding part of litigation, parties are asked to turn over material that responds to the divorce request. For example, a party may be asked to turn over all audio recordings that he/she has of the other party. In financial cases, bank statements are often provided, not access codes for online banking! The request in this case was to turn over a different type of information, which is very interesting.

Maybe with this different type of medium (social media), Judges will take a different look at what is required to be turned over as part of the discovery process. I cannot predict the future on where social media and divorce will go, but this case is just another reason why I tell my clients that he/she should just sign off social media for the duration of litigation.

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You have taken the first step and have reached out to a domestic law firm, what can you expect now?   Depending on the size of the firm you are contacting, the voice on the other end of the phone can either be a receptionist, paralegal, legal assistant or an attorney.

The first question you can expect to be asked is your name and the name of the other person involved (spouse, girl friend, former spouse, etc) or any other parties involved in your situation.

We have had clients call in and not want to give us this information; however, this information is vital in determining if we have any conflicts that would prohibit the firm from assisting you.

Once it is determined that there are no conflicts, the next step will be getting details of your situation.  During your first phone call you can expect to be asked a good number of questions about your current situation.  The person on the other end of the phone is not being nosy; they are just doing their job.  They need to be thorough and get as much information from you as possible so that the attorney has some background on your situation prior to the first meeting.

Hopefully, the person will be interested in what you are saying and not trying to do three other tasks while on the phone with you.  Remember this first phone call is a two-way street. Do you like the person on the phone? Does this sound like the type of person you would like to speak with on a regular basis? Realistically, you could be talking to this person quite frequently, so make sure you feel comfortable with this person.

Once the information is gathered, and you feel comfortable with the person on the other end of the phone, an appointment will be set up with an attorney. The person should make sure that you understand the cost, length of time for the meeting, location of the appointment, etc. You will undoubtedly have a great deal of legal questions, but this person cannot (and should not) answer your legal questions.

At Frye Law Offices, we pride ourselves on having an amazing support staff. Clients have always told us that our staff has been professional, empathetic, and effective. From the first moment you contact our firm, you will experience the knowledge, experience and personal attention you need.

If you feel that our firm can help you, please give us a call at 919.846.8807.

**Written by FLO Office Manager, Christine Universal**

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