Winning with Social Media 2.0: A Desktop Guide for Lawyers Using Social Media in Litigation and Trial

The world has changed in the last twenty years, and evidence has changed with it. Gone are the days when exhibits consisted of paper documents, photographs, and tangible items. Instead, we live in the era of instant messages, social media accounts that come and go, and online anonymity in need of piercing. Forgery, fraud, and falsehoods have always been with us, but the tools for committing these acts are now easily obtained and widely used.

All this presents a host of new challenges to any attorney attempting to use or combat evidence from these sources. Our courts depend on evidence that is reliable and honest, and our job as lawyers is to find and confirm that reliable, honest evidence.

Winning with Social Media 2.0 is designed to help you do just that. It provides the tools you need to find and capture the online evidence that a party opponent may try to obscure, modify, or even erase from the internet. With this guidebook at your side, you can do the research and evidence preservation necessary to make your case.

New to the Second Edition:

• Updated with discussions of current tools such as Snapchat, TikTok, and more
• Updated authority dealing with social media evidence
• Expanded discussion of hearsay and social media evidence
• Checklists for preparing witnesses for trial
• Checklists for assisting clients with discovery
• Checklists for authenticating numerous sources of social media evidence
• Checklist for an Authentication Hold letter
• Additional checklist for sources of social media not included in the text

Professors and students will benefit from:

• Insightful and practical discussions of social media evidence
• Aids of mock trial and trial advocacy classes which may incorporate social media evidence
• An introduction of social media concepts for students and faculty that may not have an understanding of the evidentiary concepts associated with social media