5-Year Suspension For Telling Client To Delete Facebook Information

In 2011 a Virginia judge reduced a record wrongful death jury award by two-thirds and ordered sanctions against the plaintiff and his lawyer in a 32-page order that reviewed evidence about the deletion of evidence from the plaintiff's Facebook pages at the urging of the plaintiff's lawyer. The judge referred his findings concerning the plaintiff to the local prosecutor for consideration of perjury and his findings concerning the lawyer to the Virginia State Bar for disciplinary action. The Virginia State Bar has now suspended the lawyer's license to practice law for five years for violating professional rules that govern candor toward the tribunal, fairness to opposing party and counsel, and misconduct, in an agreed disposition of misconduct charges.

HT: Legal Profession Blog