Ethics and Social Media Use By Court Staff

Real world examples needed.I
am posting the following request for real-world examples of issues and problems regarding ethics and social media that have occurred in our courts as a service to all of us who really need access to this information. Please contact Norman Meyer directly if you have any helpful information. Congratulations to Mr. Meyer for taking on this project.

David Badertscher

Hello, everyone. I am beginning to draft an article for the National Association for Court Management’s (NACM) “Court Manager” journal on the topic of ethics and the use of social media by court staff, and I would appreciate your help. In particular, I’m looking for real-world examples of issues and problems that have happened in our courts in this area. If you have anything to share in this regard, I’d appreciate it — I intend to sanitize any examples to not reveal which court or person(s) may be involved, so don’t worry about that. And, if you have any insights in general about social media use and how that relates to court ethics/Codes of Conduct, that would be useful to me, as well. Thanks in advance for any help you may provide me.

Norman Meyer Clerk of Court U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of New Mexico 505-348-2449

p.s. I am familiar with, and am using, the wonderful recent publication from the federal court AO’s Office of the General Counsel, “Resource Packet for Developing Guidelines on Use of Social Media by Judicial Employees,” so I do not need duplication of information contained there.

p.p.s. If you are not a member of NACM, I urge you to consider joining it as well. NACM is a great organization, with really good publications, educational opportunities, and networking with our peers. As a Past President of NACM, I know that it has been a tremendous help to me in my career. To find out for yourself, take a look at the NACM website: http://nacmnet.org/ (in particular, the “about us” page gives a nice summary of what NACM offers: http://www.nacmnet.org/about/index.html ), or I’d be happy to respond to any questions.