May 8/Cleveland: The Facebook Disruption: How Social Media May Transform Civil Litigation and Facilitate Access to Justice

Facebook and other social media are likely to have a disruptive effect on civil litigation. They supply a tremendous amount of information, connectivity, and communication in ways that may empower self-represented litigants — and they do so at a time when the American middle class is under a great deal of economic pressure and faces substantial difficulty in paying for legal representation. This presentation describes how middle-class litigants may embrace the legal support offered online, including easier access to relevant evidence, crowd sourcing of legal information and advice, automated and semi-automated legal services, and assistance from offshore legal service providers. At the outset, these services may initially appeal primarily to those who currently struggle to afford access to the justice system. Nevertheless, if they follow the trend of other disruptive innovations, online legal support services may well compete in higher-end legal markets in the future. This presentation will discuss the professionalism issues raised by the growing use of social media and will discuss how the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct interact with social media issues.
Title:
The Facebook Disruption: How Social Media May Transform Civil Litigation and Facilitate Access to Justice
When/Where:
May 8, 2013
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Eastern
The City Club of Cleveland
850 Euclid Ave., 2nd floor
Also Webcast
Speaker:
Cassandra Burke Robertson, Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Prior to joining the faculty in 2007, Cassandra Burke Robertson clerked for the Texas Supreme Court and served as Assistant Solicitor General in the Office of the Texas Attorney General. She teaches Civil Procedure, Professional Responsibility, International Civil Litigation, and Remedies. She received a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin, where she also obtained joint master's degrees in Middle Eastern Studies and Public Affairs. Professor Robertson's scholarship focuses on legal ethics and litigation procedure within a globalizing practice of law. She has published in the Columbia Law Review, Boston College Law Review, and the Washington Law Review, among others.
By:
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Credit:
1 hr. of CLE credit available, pending approval
More:
http://law.case.edu/Lectures.aspx?lec_id=334