Social Media Discovery: What All Attorneys Must Know

Become familiar with social media evidence and learn the law and technology parameters as to preserving, requesting and producing such information.

Litigators should not overlook that social media, like any other electronically stored information (ESI), is often a rich source of discoverable evidence. This topic will highlight the many ways that social media evidence can have a significant impact on the merits of a case. You will be informed about the ways in which your client can seek and use social media evidence, and, when needed, object to the other side's overbroad requests and attempted uses. This information and its associated materials help attorneys understand first, what types of social media evidence are available and from which sites. Then, there will be a brief overview of some ethical guidelines requiring attorneys to be familiar with social media. Next, to help you strategize in your cases, we will explore how ill-advised posts have been impactful in various types of infamous disputes. There will also be a deep dive into considerations for preserving (including ethically) and collecting social media information. You will receive pointers on how to aptly request social media data and how to object to overly broad and/or intrusive requests. Finally, there will be an overview of admissibility issues as to motions, hearings and trials. Bonus: The speaker will display for you various demonstrations - in real time - directly from his computer desktop. These demos will cover privacy settings, messaging parameters and the vast information sets (archives) a user can readily download from his/her Facebook®, Twitter® and/or LinkedIn® accounts.