Michigan accident attorney’s article featured in American Association for Justice newsletter

I’d like to thank my friend, attorney Steve Gordon, for including my findings on how accident victims using Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogs – and many other social media sites – can ruin their car accident cases.

Steve cited my blog in his article, “Social Networking Sites: A Usage Practical Guide to Discovery & Admissibility, which was featured in the American Association for Justice Spring 2010 newsletter. My blog, Attorney Advice to Car Accident Victims: Control Your Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, highlighted the perils of surveillance regarding social media. It reviewed how defense attorneys and auto insurance adjusters looking for ways to avoid responsibility for the harms they have caused, can take old photos or status updates of clients engaging in activities that they’re now unable to do because of their car accidents, and turn them around.

Today, I’ll be departing from my usual posts on tips for lawyers involving car accidents or Michigan’s No-Fault law.  A friend recently e-mailed me a link to the “Web’s Worst Lawyer Commercials.”  I have to admit, I was laughing out loud at some. But mostly, I was cringing and thinking to myself, “Of course, these tasteless commercials would all have to involve personal injury lawyers.” Abraham Lincoln once wrote that trial lawyers who redress wrongs and thus protect the public are the ones who embrace the most noble aspects of the legal profession.  Now, personal injury lawyers instead share a public image with lawyers with nicknames like “switchblade” or “the hammer.”