The Law Society published a new Practice Note on social media on 15 October 2024. This is not legally binding, but it sets out the Law Society’s view of good practice. As such it should be born in mind for firms and practitioners as they navigate the use of social media which is becoming increasingly widespread in a professional setting.

You can see the full practice note published by the Law Society here (link https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/business-management/social-media).

Benefits 

The Law Society sets out a number of benefits to the professional use of social media. This includes:

• Raising your profile, and that of your practice.
• The opportunity to shape the messages that are shared about you rather than relying on third parties such as news companies.
• Higher engagement with clients, professionals and other stakeholders.
• Better access to legal information, and the opportunity to share legal information and promote access to justice.
• Facilitates the spread of good comments about a practitioner’s work.
• The opportunity to reach a wider audience than would have otherwise been achieved. This is useful for clients and also recruitment.

Risks 

As well as having notable benefits, there are a number of risks when it comes to professional social media use:

• Risks associated with instantaneous responses, i.e. posting before you think.
• The risk of defamation law for comments or opinions posted on social media sites.
• The risk of negatively affecting your practice’s image with what you post online.
• There is little control over the range and speed at which negative information can be circulated.
• It is difficult or impossible to totally remove content after it has been posted.
• Information on social media sites could be produced as evidence in litigation or a regulatory investigation.
• There are also raised costs, for example, in recruiting a social media executive, and in paying for advertising and software.

Ethical obligations 

The Law Society reminds us that the same ethical professional obligations apply online as they do in your place of work, including the SRA principles.

Solicitor-client relationships

The Law Society considers that there is no legal reason why you shouldn’t interact with a client via social media, particularly where your first contact was through social media. This is helpful where some clients use social media as their main method of communication.

However, corresponding with clients via social media comes with some risks. In particular, the principle of confidentiality which may be breached in the following ways:

• Connecting with a client on social media may inadvertently publicly acknowledge that an individual is your client.
• Putting case details on an online biography or CV might identify your client.
• Commenting that you are in a certain location at a certain time could accidentally disclose that you are working with a certain client.

Other disadvantages of corresponding with clients on social media is that you risk not having a complete record of instructions. Ensure that you keep a proper record of everything that is said.

Correspondence on social media tends to be shorter, quicker and less formal. Consider whether you are providing a proper standard of service when speaking with clients on social media.

Posting opinions

Be cautious when engaging with online debates and posting your opinions. Engaging with inflammatory content online might engage SRA principle 5 – acting with integrity. If you post controversial opinions online, this might also affect public trust and confidence in your practice as well as in the legal profession as a whole, breaching SRA principle 2.

Remember that any opinions you post could be traced back to you, however private you think your account is. Even anonymous comments may be picked up by the media and reported on, which could breach SRA principles. In addition, caveating with “views my own” does not make it safe or appropriate to post whatever you want.

Be aware that information you share with contacts online may be accessible to a much wider audience than is intended. Therefore, it is important to be minded of the SRA principles when posting on your personal account as well as your professional account.

To justify your opinions, you may find it natural to speak about your previous experiences and cases. Be careful when doing this not to disclose any details that might breach confidentiality. Practitioners must also be careful not to report on restricted court cases or restricted live investigations.

In summary, make sure that you would be happy with whatever you post being traced back to you professionally, such as at a job interview. 

Recommendations

The Law Society made a number of recommendations for proper practice when using social media. Some notable recommendations include:

• Read the terms and conditions and privacy settings of the social media provider. This enables you to better control and put restrictions on who is able to access your information.
• Even with a unique ‘handle’, anonymity is not guaranteed, and screenshots of private pages makes privacy very difficult. Even with restrictions on who can access your information, it is best to assume that everything posted is public.
• Ensure that you keep passwords safe and log out properly.
• Keep your online information up to date, as it is your responsibility not to mislead or misinform clients, potential clients and third parties.

Recent trends in social media

One notable trend in social media is the rise of short-form video content, such as TikToks and Instagram reels. These offer huge opportunities for marketing and access to legal information as they are highly engaging. Practitioners should consider taking advantage of this to raise their profile and attract clients.

Another trend online is the increasing integration of AI and machine learning through personalised content and targeted posts. This offers opportunities when it comes to marketing, to target specific pools of potential clients with tailored messages.

However, this raises concerns about data protection and privacy, as well as ethical implications of automated decision-making such as profiling and biases. This is something practitioners should be aware of.

One danger to be aware of is “deepfakes”, which are images, videos and audio which have been edited or generated using AI and which may depict non-existent people and events. Deepfakes can even mimic people’s voices. Practitioners should be cautious of the content which they share and fact-check thoroughly.

Promoting the use of social media in your practice 

The widespread use of social media comes with huge opportunities for law practices. Having a social media policy helps harness these opportunities, maximise benefits and minimise the associated risks.

When setting up a social media channel, practices are encouraged to consider its purpose, the target audience, which channel should be used, and what kind of control you will have over the information.

A social media policy may include:

• Goals for social media activity and how they will be measured,
• How social media activity will promote your practice’s aims and objectives,
• What the limitations are in order to avoid the potential for damage,
• Guidelines for management of the policy, ensuring compliance with the policy, ensuring compliance with SRA standards, and oversight of social media activity within the practice,
• Guidelines on who is able to participate in social media activity.

Further advice 

If you require further advice relating to managing social media within your practice, you can contact the below services:

• Practice Advice Service: support for solicitors on a wide range of areas of practice. Tel: 020 7320 5675, email: practiceadvice@lawsociety.org.uk.
• SRA professional ethics helpline: advice on the SRA Standards and Regulations to solicitors, trainees and solicitor apprentices. This can be anonymous. Tel: 0370 6062577, email: professional.ethics@sra.org.uk.