The VLW Blog

Model jury instructions for federal courts have been beefed up in an effort to deter jurors’ use of social media during trial, according to the U.S. Judicial Conference. The new guidelines spell out in more detail the consequences for jurors when the court discovers a juror has used cell phones, smartphones or other devices to [...]

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A juror’s use of Wikipedia to research an element of a criminal offense violated a defendant’s right to a fair trial on illegal “cockfighting” charges, and the defendant should be retried, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said on April 20. Defendant Scott Lawson and others were charged with violating a federal animal fighting [...]

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Here’s a word of caution for lawyers who use Twitter professionally: If you part ways with your firm, your ex-employer may get custody of your Tweets. In the past few years, legal disputes over social media have become increasingly common. Defamation claims and discovery matters are standard issues. But employment-related social media issues are now [...]

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Paybacks are hell, as any domestic relations lawyer will tell you. Sometimes they cross the line, as a guy in New Jersey will tell you. A narcotics detective in Morristown, N.J., broke up with his girlfriend, but she allegedly had revenge in mind. According to grand jury testimony earlier this week, she sought to get [...]

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Employers trying to define social media policies for employees may want to look at a report that outlines recent government decisions about employee rights to use Facebook, Twitter and other social media. The National Labor Relations Board’s Office of the General Counsel has released a 24-page summary of cases involving the legality of employers’ social [...]

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White-collar defense lawyer Patrick O’Donnell used a war story to warm up the crowd yesterday at the Norfolk-Portsmouth annual bench-bar conference. During a discussion of e-discovery with a panel of state and federal judges, several jurists showed they work to keep up their tech skills, even though they’re not online as much as the average [...]

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A tweet about the difference between “presume” and “assume” did not require an Alexandria U.S. District Court to hold a hearing on possible juror misconduct, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in an opinion released earlier today. Richard Adolphus Forde, who operated an online business called “Tutornet.com,” was convicted of bankruptcy fraud for [...]

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There appears to be no rest for the weather-weary. The fourth major snowstorm of the winter is gearing up to hit the mid-Atlantic, and the Twitterverse is calling it “snoverkill.”* Follow this local trending topic on Twitter and, amid the gripes, you’ll find important weather updates, cancellation notices and perhaps a tale or two of [...]

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With Twitter reaching the height of its popularity in 2009, it was only a matter of time before the first wave of litigation related to the popular social media platform hit the dockets. Call it twitigation. The most recent in this crop of defamation suits involves Kim Kardashian of reality TV fame. The suit was [...]

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GovDelivery, the world’s leading provider of government-to-citizen information, has acquired GovLoop, the top social network for the government community. GovDelivery provides information and documents, using an online platform, to people and groups who want to monitor government developments matching their specific interests and needs. Topics range from updates on local parks and road closures to [...]

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