An Example Of Social Media Misuse And Bar Discipline

A reprimand has been imposed by a Hearing Panel of the North Carolina State Bar Disciplinary Hearing Commission based on stipulated facts.

The attorney had represented herself as plaintiff in litigation in federal court. The defendants prevailed on summary judgment and the case was concluded in 2012.

In February 2014, the attorney posted a 37-minute video from the case on YouTube entitled “Amy Bouque Corporate Deposition: Best Ways To Tell if A Witness is Lying.”

The video had “audio commentary by [the attorney] noting Bouque’s hand gestures and opining that those gestures indicated that she was lying.”

She publicized the video on  Twitter

Just posted – video on how to conduct a deposition and identify deceit.

The defendants asked her to remove the video but she “did not do so.” A court order to remove it followed.

She appealed, claiming that only an Article III judge had the power to order her to take it off YouTube.

When that contention failed, she removed the video but replaced it with still images from the deposition with narration about the hand gestures.

Another order followed that was upheld after further appeals.

As of August 15, 2017 the attorney’s YouTube page took a reader to a third-party page with the hand gesture commentary.

The panel found violations of Rules 3.4(c) and 8.4(d) and noted that the attorney did not acknowledge misconduct.

She has no prior discipline. (Mike Frisch)