Bad Ideas, Legal Ethics

Moron Posts Client Information On Reddit

Attorney-client confidences breached because of pretty handwriting.

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It’s possible that we overuse the word “porn.” Like, why does window shopping for houses have to be “real estate porn”? It wouldn’t be so bad if there weren’t so many terrifyingly specific niches of pornography these days that force one to seriously question what’s an innocent exaggeration of a hobby and what’s something that will leave you shuddering every time you see a ginger root for the rest of your life. [UPDATE (10/19/16): I have since been informed that there actually IS a niche porn category for ginger root — a product I’d picked solely because I thought its, um, non-conducive shape would disqualify it from such an honor. I guess there truly is a niche porn for everything.]

Mercifully, “penmanship porn” is not an elderly schoolmarm pleasuring herself while whacking students with a ruler as they write “I’m a naughty student” on the blackboard. It’s just people who get unnaturally excited about handwriting, which is just slightly less disturbing. It’s also, it turns out, a good place to see egregious breaches of attorney-client confidences.

A couple days ago, a Reddit user posted these notes:

Penmanship

That’s some impressive penmanship. What’s less impressive is the part we’ve cropped out, which includes the names of every one of those people facing D.U.I.s and felony possessions and who may or may not have needed a “psychosexual evaluation.”

The first redditor, in a move uncommon for the forum, provided measured, helpful advice:

That has people’s names and information about shit in their life. You shouldn’t have posted it.

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Now that may be curt, but it’s a concise, fully reasoned explanation why the post should be deleted. These notes show more than just the fact that a given person is facing a charge — which can be public — but their strategy and personal details.

Taken and posted with permission, but thanks.

At this point we know the person who posted this isn’t a lawyer. Not just because they straight up say these are a friend’s notes, but because this is completely and utterly non-responsive to the above comment.

Argument: “Lawyers have a duty to keep these secret.”
Response: “Don’t worry, it was a lawyer who failed to keep these secret.”

Yeah, that doesn’t fly even in the safe space of Penmanship Porn Island.

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Another commenter tried to flesh out the problem in the naive belief that the problem here was a failure to communicate instead of a complete idiot at the helm:

You could get your lawyer friend in serious trouble by posting their notes on their clients’ negotiations. These notes are from earlier this week, and it looks like a lot of these representations are ongoing. These include notes about DUIs and reckless driving, at least one felony proceeding, probation status, etc.

Your lawyer friend could face very serious disciplinary action because you posted this online. Especially because some of these client names are incredibly unique and it wouldn’t be hard to google and cross-reference them.

Did your friend give you permission to look at and take pictures of their client negotiation notes? Does your friend know you posted their clients’ information on reddit?

Thankfully, the final commenter, redditor Blamore, correctly diagnosed the situation:

Delete it, idiot.

As of now the post is still public, so feel free to head on over to Reddit to try and explain the situation better, but I feel like Blamore’s already said it all.

Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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