"x x x.
Judges have their own code of ethics beyond those applicable to all lawyers, the Model Code of Judicial Conduct (“MCJC”) (and its state-specific variations). So social media issues involving judges go beyond the rules applicable to lawyers and involve another set of rules. The MCJC does not address social media, but some states have started to make rules directly impacting the interaction between judges and lawyers in social media.
- Florida has specifically barred judges and lawyers from being connected on LinkedIn and Facebook. Florida Supreme Court Judicial Ethics Advisory Comm.,Op. 2012-12 (2012) and Florida Supreme Court Judicial Ethics Advisory Comm.,Op. 2009-20 (2009).
- Massachusetts and Oklahoma have similar rules.
- California has said that judges may participate in social networks and connect to lawyers under limited circumstances, but such online connections will need to be disclosed if the attorney appears before the judge and the judge will need to unfriend the lawyer if he has a case pending before the judge.
- Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio and South Carolina allow judges to be on social media with certain qualifications.
- New York seems to be most deferential to judges, saying that they may be on social media so long as the judge “otherwise complies with the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct” and exercises “an appropriate degree of discretion” in using the network and stays abreast of how the features of the social network may change and impact the judge’s duties.
- x x x."
