Changing the Way You Do Business

Social networking and social media are revolutionizing the way business is done, with sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and many others offering new ways to connect with customers and employees, build brand image, and communicate with the public. However, as these new communications platforms have created new opportunities for businesses and other organizations, they have also opened up new potential risks and liabilities.

Understanding the Risks

As with any innovation, social media comes with new risks that must be identified, addressed and when possible, managed. From creating a social media policy for employees to safeguard intellectual property and trade secrets to developing the systems needed to ensure both internal and external user privacy and data security, businesses operating in today’s interconnected and interactive environment require a new set of tools and responses.

Depth of Knowledge

Our Social Media Group is a cross-disciplinary team of attorneys from a variety of practices — labor & employment, privacy & data security, intellectual property, advertising, securities, antitrust, FDA, and investment management. Drawing on this broad base of experience, we have the flexibility and understanding to advise clients on the legal issues presented by the convergence of social media and the business world.

On the Cutting Edge

Formed to better serve a growing number of clients using social media platforms, the Social Media Group is experienced in helping to navigate this evolving landscape of legal risk and opportunity. Our capabilities include:

• Drafting social media policies; advising clients about the benefits and hazards of regulating and/or monitoring employees’ social networking activities and whether and how to use information obtained from social media to screen candidates for hire or to discipline current employees.
• Helping clients design comprehensive privacy and data security programs; drafting procedures, standards, and checklists to help clients (and their employees) comply with the evolving set of laws, regulations and guidance regarding social media.
• Helping clients to detect, report, and protect against trademark and copyright infringement and other intellectual property abuse on social networks; implementing effective approaches to IP enforcement in the social media context.
• Representing clients in court and before government agencies to combat competitors’ false advertising or deceptive practices on social media sites.
• Advising clients regarding Federal Trade Commission guidance dealing with social media, including its guidelines for blogger endorsements.
• Advising public companies regarding the use of Twitter and other social media tools to communicate with shareholders and other investor constituencies; developing best practices for using social media to disseminate company information to investors.
• Counseling investment management clients, including those subject to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) regulation, regarding compliance with the use of social networks by investment advisers and brokers, including record-keeping responsibilities, supervisory requirements, and third-party posting issues, and the application of advertising and suitability rules to social media sites.
• Advising FDA regulated clients on the importance of understanding FDA law and how it applies to the use of social media for advertising and promotion; when and how to correct false or misleading information posted about your products by a third party; and establishing processes to convey product information, including risk information via social media.
• Helping clients to structure e-commerce and web infrastructure as well as on-line alliances and commercial arrangements (including co-branding, co-marketing, and traffic agreements) associated with social media.

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