High profile cases in almost any jurisdiction have always faced issues in terms of jury selection – the primary concern being the media coverage and how that may influence a potential jurists views and opinions. That was considering newspapers, radio and television. Now there’s this massive, instantaneous mass media system called the Web, and it’s impact on juries is only just coming to the forefront. Should lawyers be concerned? How can counsel in business and personal litigations and criminal law cases address the potential of bloggers and online Consumer Generated Media (CGM) to influence jurors? Are current possible jurors blogging right now about a case they may be selected for? Are the blogging anonymously?

These are going to become significant issues. The ability for almost anyone to access the Web and start a blog or a website is easy and the cost in many cases is almost zero. And people like to share their ideas, opinions and views, hence the massive success of what has become termed “Social Media.” The social media revolution is well underway and trial lawyers, litigators and corporate counsel will do well to become familiar with and develop strategies to research social media for their clients and cases.

We’ve developed a number of strategies and programs for corporations addressing these issues, and for lawyers there are similarities in these strategies. A significant challenge for legal counsel is the fact that consumers, including potential and current unsequestered jurors can “blog” or comment, anonymously, before during and after a trial. There are ramifications to client reputation (corporate and personal), libel and slander issues, settlement disclosures and more.

Among the challenges for counsel will be monitoring and then developing effective strategies. Cease and desist notices are not always the ideal approach, and there are work-arounds in almost all these cases. A firm should develop some in-house knowledge of these issues and have some form of strategy.