If someone makes a spurious allegation against you then I think you should defend yourself as much as possible, including via tweets or any other communication channels. Refuse to go quietly into the night.
When Sued Don't Tweet
21–30 of 118 posts
Re: When Sued Don't Tweet
#22One thing I've often wondered: how does one even find the best lawyer, with the most appropriate experience etc.?
It seems you'd almost need another lawyer, who knows the best people in each specialty, to advise you.
Re: When Sued Don't Tweet
#23While that may help you in the courtroom, the court of public opinion doesn't wait for a verdict. It confuses silence with guilt. Acquittals are less likely to make front pages than acquittals.
Yes, but...
* Public opinion has little or no monetary value where the courts have tremendous costs. Things said in public to influence public opinion can increase your court costs (possibly including judgement costs) tremendously.
* The public's attention span, and thus its opinion, generally is measured in days, maybe weeks. Court verdicts are forever.
Re: When Sued Don't Tweet
#24If someone makes a spurious allegation against you then I think you should defend yourself as much as possible, including via tweets or any other communication channels. Refuse to go quietly into the night.
Did you read the article? The point is you're making it worse by tweeting and making other public statements. You may win in court of public opinion, but you're making it easier for your opponent to beat you in actual court.
Re: When Sued Don't Tweet
#25If someone makes a spurious allegation against you then I think you should defend yourself as much as possible, including via tweets or any other communication channels. Refuse to go quietly into the night.
I agree with the spirit of this but there's also "Do I want to be right or do I want to win?" It's great to rally the public to your cause but if it reduces your odds of winning the case, it's probably not worth it.
Re: When Sued Don't Tweet
#26One thing I've often wondered: how does one even find the best lawyer, with the most appropriate experience etc.? It seems you'd almost need another lawyer, who knows the best people in each specialty, to advise you.
You have a couple options, as I see it (there could be more):
Find someone who's had to deal with something similar to find out who they used and their experience.
Contact a state or local bar association. In Wisconsin our state bar has a lawyer referral program. They're not necessarily the best in their field, but they're a good start, and a limited consult might be free or of little cost.
Re: When Sued Don't Tweet
#27While that may help you in the courtroom, the court of public opinion doesn't wait for a verdict. It confuses silence with guilt. Acquittals are less likely to make front pages than acquittals.
> While that may help you in the courtroom, the court of public opinion doesn't wait for a verdict. It confuses silence with guilt.
No, it confuses silence with confirmation of its prejudice. If the court of public opinion does not think you're guilty your silence will support that, if the court of public opinion thinks you're guilty your silence will support that.
Re: When Sued Don't Tweet
#28While that may help you in the courtroom, the court of public opinion doesn't wait for a verdict. It confuses silence with guilt. Acquittals are less likely to make front pages than acquittals.
Acquittals are less likely to make front pages than acquittals.
Circular statement error. Parser 'sploded. Go to sleep? [Y/n]
Re: When Sued Don't Tweet
#29An interesting counterpoint to this is Julie Ann Horvath, who leveraged Twitter to expose a toxic culture at Github (1) and eventually forced the CEO and his wife to leave the company (2), and has kept Github and certain employees on the defensive (3).
She may have to deal with legal repercussions because of her actions on Twitter, but I can't help but think that nothing would have changed had she kept silent or quietly hired an employment lawyer after being forced out.
1. http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/19/5526574/github-sexism-scan...
2. http://recode.net/2014/04/21/julie-ann-horvath-on-github-inv...
3. http://www.dailydot.com/business/julie-ann-horvath-names-git...
Re: When Sued Don't Tweet
#30I'm confused - was the case of John Carmack cited because his tweets have now been raised in court and have hurt his case? I haven't been following this situation so I've zero context.
It's only been a day to two since thise was public, I'm doubtful that they're being mentioned in court.
Ah so it's just general cautionary advice. I'd be interested to see if this comes up in court.