As social media continues to gain greater significance in various sectors, legal professionals are increasingly turning their attention towards the emergence of ‘lawfluencers’. Many of these internet personalities offer legal advice on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. However, new research published in the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics suggests that the content provided by some of these ‘lawfluencers’ might not meet the necessary standards for professional advice.
Foremost among the concerns expressed in the research is the overwhelming influence of algorithms on these content creators, who are, allegedly, more inclined to strive for quantity rather than quality in their posts. These platforms, according to the study, are more likely to promote content that attracts views rather than upholds the benchmark of professional advice, thereby incentivising creators to produce such content.
Further afield, The New York Times ran a feature on the lawyer who has been representing studios in labor strikes within Hollywood. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported on the barrage of hate mail that UK immigration lawyer Jacqueline McKenzie has been subjected to since being singled out by the ruling Conservative party.
Finally, in other legal industry news, there have been key lateral moves, including Jonathan Leiken, who has joined Dollar Tree Inc., Mitch Tiras who has joined King & Spalding’s corporate, finance, and investment practice group, and many more, as covered in Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call report.