header-logo header-logo

Bar Twitterati cautioned against spats

23 October 2019
Issue: 7861 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Technology , Regulatory
printer mail-detail
Barristers have been warned not to engage in Twitter spats or other unprofessional conduct on social media, whether acting in a personal or professional capacity.

In ‘Social Media Guidance’ issued this week, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) reminds barristers, including unregistered barristers, that they have a duty not to behave in a way that diminishes public trust and confidence in the profession ‘at all times’.

It warns against ‘comments designed to demean or insult’ or ‘getting drawn into heated debates or arguments’. Barristers must consider the ‘content and tone’ of what they are posting as well as guarantee their client’s confidentiality, while less obvious risks include ‘advertising the fact that you are in a particular location at a particular time (perhaps via a “geotagged” status update), you may risk inadvertently revealing that you act for a particular client’.

Many barristers are prolific tweeters, regularly taking part in controversial or political debate. 

Issue: 7861 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Technology , Regulatory
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
back-to-top-scroll