Multiple lawyers who use the payments app Venmo in their law practices are exposing client information to the public — and they may not even know it. These accounts reveal client names and sometimes other details, such as payment amounts, the nature of the representation, or even the client’s financial straits.
Model Rule 1.6 of the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct prohibits a lawyer from revealing information relating to the representation of a client unless the client gives informed consent. The ABA has said in an ethics opinion that this rule prohibits lawyers from revealing even the identity of a client.
Venmo is a so-called “social payments platform.” The “social” in that description means that anyone on the internet may be able to see the transaction. This viewability can be disabled. Any Venmo user can set their account to be private, in which case the transaction can be seen only by the two participants. A different setting, “friends only,” allows transactions to be seen only by people you have friended on Venmo. However, the default setting is public, and that means that when a lawyer uses Venmo without changing that default setting, every transaction is viewable by the public.
Curiosity led me to explore Venmo to see if this is a problem. It turns out, it is. In just an hour or so of searching, I was able to find and review multiple lawyers’ accounts showing payments to the attorney that were described as for retainers or legal fees. In all these cases, the identity of the person making the payment is clearly visible.
On Venmo, most payments include some sort of descriptive notation made by the payor. These public listings of transactions do not show the payment amount, but sometimes the notation indicates the amount. In every case, one can click through to the payor’s profile page, which typically shows at least their name and sometimes other identifying information.
One attorney’s Venmo account displayed 18 different transactions, all bearing notes such as “fees,” “fees due,” “fees now due,” “final fees,” “attorney fees,” and “legal fees.” One payment had the note, “Past due attorney fees.” In each case, anyone could click through and see the name of the person making the payment, and in some cases, additional details about them.
Another attorney also had multiple transactions listed that appeared to be client payments. Among the notations on those payments were “expidited devorce,” “2500 attorney fee for objection,” “attorney fees part 2,” and two that named a specific matter.
Many attorneys seem to mix business and personal use of their Venmo accounts. One attorney’s business account, for example, showed a payment by the attorney to someone with the note, “For my love.” Another attorney’s account mixed practice-related transactions, such as payment for a transcript and receipts of legal fees, with personal payments such as “grandpa’s Xmas present” and “food haircut.” Other attorneys appear to be using their accounts for mixed business purposes. The notations on the payments to one attorney, for example, reflected both legal fees and rents.
The good news is that, in many other cases, the attorneys had done the right thing and set transactions to private. For those attorneys who have business accounts on Venmo, their profile shows the message, “This business isn’t sharing transactions publicly.”
It is quick and easy to configure Venmo so that your transactions are not public. In the app:
- Go to the Me tab.
- Tap the Settings gear at the top right.
- Tap Privacy.
- Choose Private.
Note that if you have past transactions, you need to take a second step to make them private:
- While still in the Privacy settings, select Past Transactions.
- Tap Change All to Private.
What is concerning about this is that most of these attorneys likely have no idea that their transactions are public and open for anyone to see. The “social payments” aspect of Venmo is unique to the platform, and many attorneys may not give it a thought. Even more concerning is that the clients are unlikely to know that their transactions with their attorney are public, along with their notations on those transactions.
I hope that this information will reach some of those attorneys, and that they will take immediate steps to change their settings.
For more details, you can read the full article here.