The Committee believes that listing lawyers who may appear before the judge as friends on a judge’s social networking page reasonably conveys to others the impression that these lawyer friends are in a special position to influence the judge…. The issue, however, is not whether the lawyer actually is in a position to influence the judge, but instead whether the proposed conduct, the identification of the lawyer as a friend on the social networking site, conveys the impression that the lawyer is in a position to influence the judge. The Committee concludes that such identification in a public forum of a lawyer who may appear before the judge does convey this impression and therefore is not permitted.
Nick Kam 