Opinion addresses 'cleaning up' clients' social media accounts.

After some minor amendments, a proposed ethics advisory opinion addressing how lawyers before litigation can advise clients on "cleaning up" their social media accounts has been approved by the Bar's Professional Ethics Committee.

Since the amendments were considered minor, and this was the committee's second review of the proposed opinion, it constitutes final action on the opinion unless it is appealed to the Bar's Board of Governors.

The committee considered PAO 14-1 at its June 25 meeting at the Bar's convention. The inquiring attorney asked about advising a client on removing photos and information from social sites related and unrelated to the matter for which the attorney is hired before litigation is filed.

The attorney also asked if he could advise the client to change the privacy settings on the social media accounts prior to litigation and whether the attorney must advise the client not to remove photos and information, whether related to the incident or not, or change the privacy settings prior to litigation.

The committee noted that Bar Rule 4-3.4(a) prohibits a lawyer from blocking or instructing a client to block access to any material that is relevant to a pending proceeding or "a reasonably foreseeable proceeding."

It advised the attorney that he could...