Do-it-yourself law means do-it-again.

Consumer Reports confirms that lawyers do it better. There is a place for do-it-yourself document drafting for the most basic transactions, like the sale of your motorcycle or a  simple power of attorney.  And just about any document you buy on-line will "look" official enough. But will it do what you intend?

When you hire counsel, it's not the document you are buying- it's the advice and experience. Whether a document is complete, serves your personal or business goals, and contains important provisions tailored to your situation, is the lawyer's particular talent.

Like a trained carpenter, your lawer can hit the nail on the head in fewer strokes, with less effort, and he will drive it deeper.

Over the last six months, I have interviewed several potential clients seeking advice on how to fix mistakes created in their DIY documents. And in every instance, the cost of the fix far exceeds the cost they would have incurred, if they had only visited me first!

Call and let us schedule your visit.

410-323-0900

Linkedin lockout loss for employee.

Your boss can sever your Linkedin connections, and make them his own. Are you reading this at work?  Perhaps you just checked your Linkedin account for messages, invitations and business opportunities? And surely you keep in touch with social friends, some family and old school buds on Linkedin, too? Well, quit your job or get fired, and you may just lose access to that account.

Linda Eagle lost access to her account for over 20 weeks, and she was angry enough to sue her employer for the lost opportunities to "connect," and network. She figured it was worth at least $100,000 in damages.

The judge did not agree.

On October 4, 2012, Judge Ronald Buckwalter, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, issued a memorandum opinion granting summary judgment against Ms. Eagle. The court found her damage claim to be speculative.  After all, how do we quantify the value of our vast Linkedin networks? 

Personally, it's mostly been worth a few Orioles game tickets and pleasant lunches.  How much time did Ms. Eagle spend on the site, I wonder, to make it worth $100,000? And with whom did she connect, Mr. Trump?

But it's not the tenuous nature of her lawsuit that captured my attention--and it is pretty close to frivolous, to me--it's the statement by the court about the employer's practices.  Buried in the opinion is the rather bland recitation that it was corporate policy to encourage individual employees to create on-line accounts, but to then take over the account upon the employee's separation.

So, as you check in on Linkedin and other websites from your office chair, ask your self whether it is truly your account, or your employers? Is it in your policy manual? Has your employer required disclosure of your passwords?  Who owns the content of your profile, anyway?

Food for thought.

You can find my Linkedin profile, here. Let's do lunch.

Facebook tagging leads police to suspects in home invasion party.

A Florida family on vacation had no clue their home was invaded by friends of their teen children, and used for a party while they were away. A Charlotte news outlet reports that only after Dad saw Facebook videos did he understand that his home had been converted to Party Central in his absence. The intruders had cleaned up, and left no evidence of the intrusion--except for photos posted to Facebook.



But this is more than another Facebook related story about "teens-have-no-judgment-and-do-dumb-things."  The most important part of the story is that "[o]fficers have a list of suspects, thanks to photo tagging..."
 
Facebook use is not anonymous.  When you log on and post, you must imagine that you are standing in the park, at noon, wearing an embarrasingly tight bathing suit as everyone in your hometown walks past, including the Chief of Police.  It is a source of information about you, your life, your contacts, where you've been, and what you've done---to others, and with others---and possibly in violation of the law.
 
Your content is all subject to use in the criminal courts, in Maryland and abroad. You can even be served through your Facebook account!

But there is another facet of this story that is only suggested by the text: Dad had access to the kids' Facebook pages. The story suggests that he saw the video posted on someone's page, other than his own kid's, and that alerted him to the crime. Good for him! Frankly, if your kids are using social media, then you must know enough to monitor your kids on social media.

And there is a darker aspect of Facebook posting.  The Dallas Morning News reported that a woman upset about the court testimony of an undercover police officer against her buddy, "outed" the officer through his Facebook posting on his (the cop's) relative's Facebook page. Her friend then printed up fliers, to be posted around town, identifying the officer. The article points out that even police departments are having a tough time articulating Facebook and social media policies, even for their undercover folk.