How Social Media is Changing the Practice of Law

Remember that scene in Runaway Jury when Gene Hackman scrupulously studies his possible jurors in a basement filled with computer monitors displaying their personal information? Well, lawyers can actually do something similar by using social media analytics, according to Deloitte.

This summer, Deloitte hosted a webinar titled, “Social media analytics, corporate investigations and litigation: What relationships now reveal,” and with it, the company polled participants about their use of social media analytics in a legal setting.

Nearly half of the 2,490 professionals who responded — about 45.2 percent — said that they use publicly available social media content when conducting investigations, while 12.6 percent ...