Judges and lawyers in Florida can no longer be Facebook friends.
In a recent opinion, the state’s Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee decided it was time to set limits on judicial behavior online. When judges “friend” lawyers who may appear before them, the committee said, it creates the appearance of a conflict of interest, since it “reasonably conveys to others the impression that these lawyer ‘friends’ are in a special position to influence the judge.”
Judges do not “drop out of society when they become judges,” he said. “The people who were their friends before they went on the bench remained their friends, and many of them were lawyers.”
Nonetheless, Professor Gillers said, many judges are careful not to socialize with friends during cases that involve them.
