In a slow, serious demeanor that departed from the upbeat nature of her typical beauty-centered content, EniGivenSunday—Eni Popoola—explained why she left her job at a corporate law firm due to her employers growing discontent with the “outside opportunity” tied to her growing social media presence, which they perceived as a violation of “moonlighting” policies. The three-minute and 38-second video detailing the workplace tension leading up to her resignation sent the internet into a frenzy, sparking both words of support for the video and even more questions. The post with the hashtags #CareerChange, #NewBeginnings, and #SelfEmployement was shared over 12,000 times on TikTok and garnered over 178,900 likes and 8,030 comments. 

Overall, Enigivensunday’s TikTok post of her experiences opened up a wider conversation about the responsibilities and restrictions of social media use for lawyers among young legal professionals on social media platforms, as well as non-legal influencer communities in subreddit forum discussions like r/NYCinfluencersnark, r/biglaw, and r/lawschool.6 Attorneys and budding legal professionals contended with the possibility that their personal social media activities outside of work could breed professional conflicts depending on their specific work environment. Thus, the question arose whether there exists an irreconcilable conflict between simultaneously being a successful social media influencer and a practicing attorney. Further, many considered whether the conflict of interest between a legal influencer and an employer could be solved by fair ethical guidelines pervasively applied to all legal professionals on social media or if the true conflict of interest was a matter of social preferences of partners and bosses at one’s employer.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a major growth in the creator economy that included lifestyle vloggers and a new class of influencers across the social and professional stratosphere. With that growth, there has been a new class of attorneys who have built a brand and “side gig” as legal influencers, sharing everything from a glimpse into the “day in the life” of a lawyer to discussing legal topics relevant to pop culture. This class of legal influencers, often found on TikTok and YouTube, are commonly called “lawfluencers” or law influencers within their respective groups.

With the increased visibility and popularity of legal influencers has come increased scrutiny by companies and legal partners alike about the potential risks of an attorney’s social media presence. Principally, there has been robust conversation by the State Ethics boards about the use of social media as a communications device, D.C. Bar opinion 370, and as a social platform, see D.C. Bar opinion 371. While social media use is generally permitted with caution, the growing scrutiny in the legal practice calls into question the disciplinary actions that have been taken against practicing lawyers who get brand deals and endorsements through their social media platforms. See Mayfeild and Furman. Some argue that influencers are educators whose content is not much different from their medical counterparts seeing that they share a similar position as “knowledge influencer,” see Song and Rogers. While there are many broad similarities between medical and legal professionals’ responsibilities to the public, it can be argued that standard ethical considerations in the legal field set a higher bar for legal influencers who have a greater ability to warp public perceptions of the law.

This Note will argue that the crux of the ethics conversation around attorney’s social media use is whether D.C. Model Rule 1.7: Conflicts of Interest – General are consequently violated by “law influencers” or legal influencers. Particularly, this Note will employ the D.C. Model Rules and D.C. Bar Ethics Opinions to examine how state and local bar associations contribute to the regulation of attorneys within their specific jurisdiction beyond the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (MRPC). Furthermore, Part II of the note will discuss the current state of ethics for lawyers in D.C. regarding the use of social media. Then it will consider the role of accuracy, informed consent for current clients, and the perception that attorneys are operating on their own versus representing their company on social media. Part III of this note will comparatively explore the regulations, ethical responsibilities, and best practices for medical professionals versus legal professionals with growing social media platforms. Finally, Part IV will further examine the original purpose of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and consider whether the level of scrutiny imposed on an attorney’s social media use is appropriate. This Note will then suggest possible solutions to meet standard guidelines for social media usage for law influencers.

Keep Reading