Ethics in Social Media

Time limit: 90 days
0.75 credits

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CLE Information

This course is approved for continuing legal education (CLE) credit in CA, CT, FL, NJ, and NY: 0.75 CLE credits for CA and 1.0 CLE credits for FL. Reporting requirements vary by state and we recommend that you check with your state's bar association for their guidelines on reporting requirements.

Release Date: April 1, 2021

Valid for Credit through: March 31, 2023

Course Description

This ethics primer is designed to assist lawyers in using social media responsibly. Navigating social media's ethical minefield can be tricky; this lesson will help attorneys embrace the use of social media. From blogging to sleuthing, we will explore the benefits and challenges inherent in social media and describe best practices. Participants can assess their mastery of the material through frequent self-checks designed to allow lawyers to apply the concepts to real life situations.

Learning Objectives

To recognize the ethical issues inherent in use of social media and analyze them appropriately.
To assist practitioners in balancing the benefits of social media against a client’s expectation of privacy.
To provide guidance on attorneys’ use of social media for fact gathering.
To provide guidance on lawyers’ use of social media for marketing.
To assess critically the underlying policies behind the ethical rules.

Estimated Time to Complete

45 minutes

Instructions for Successful Completion

Participants have 90 days to complete the course online after registration.

All sales are final; we are not able to offer refunds. Registrations may not be transferred to another person or to another course, workshop, or program.

Course Instructor

Alexis Anderson, JD (deceased)
Associate Clinical Professor of Law
Boston College Law School

Instructor Bio

Alexis Anderson passed away in 2019. Her passing was a terrible loss to the BC Law community, where she had worked for many years and was a beloved professor for generations of students.

Professor Anderson was an Associate Clinical Professor at the Law School's Civil Litigation Clinic, which is one of the in-house clinical opportunities located in the Center for Experiential Learning. She joined Boston College Law School in 1983 and taught a range of clinical, ethics, and legal history courses. Most recently, she taught students who are serving as their clients’ front line lawyers in the Civil Litigation Clinic, taught a first year simulation course, Deals and Disputes, and directed the school’s London Semester in Practice program in spring, 2017.

Previously, she supervised BC Law's domestic extern program and taught and coordinated the required first year legal ethics and skills course. In 2013, she taught a simulation legal skills and ethics course at Renmin University in Beijing. In addition, she taught both the survey Professional Responsibility course and an ethics seminar for students enrolled in the school’s experiential courses. Building on her interest in legal history, she taught a seminar focusing on the development of free speech theory both at the law school and abroad at the University of Nanterre in France. From 2001-04, she served as Director of Advocacy and faculty advisor to BC Law's Board of Student Advisors.

Prior to coming to Boston College Law School, Professor Anderson was a litigator in a large, civil practice law firm in Philadelphia. She received her law degree and her Masters in Legal History from the University of Virginia. In past summers, Professor Anderson served as the project director for the State Department's Fulbright Summer Institute for International Scholars, a six-week graduate level course for foreign university professors co-hosted by Boston College Law School and the School of Arts and Sciences. The program provided an opportunity for faculty to develop international contacts and share perspectives on the role of law in the development of the American character, political system, and culture.

Professor Anderson was active in regional and national clinical organizations and published in the clinical, ethics, and legal history fields.

Full course description