BarbriSFCourseDetails

Course Details

This CLE course will teach family law attorneys to identify and manage legal issues when spouses obtain evidence using electronic or telephonic interception, smartphones, spyware, GPS tracking devices, webcams, wiretaps, or other methods.

Faculty

Description

It is an increasingly familiar dilemma for divorce practitioners: Clients come in with potentially significant evidence, a virtual smoking gun. However, how can counsel handle the inherent legal hurdles if the evidence is obtained through telephone interception, spyware, GPS trackers, smartphones, webcams, or unauthorized use of social media accounts?

Counsel must consider several essential issues: Can you use the evidence? Has your client violated federal or state law? Will they need to take the Fifth Amendment if deposed?

When your client presents you with potentially illegally obtained evidence, what are the legal ethics implications for you as an attorney?

Listen as our panel of experts analyzes the current (and ever-evolving) state of legal affairs when spouses spy on one another in a contentious situation.

Outline

  1. Overview of federal and state statutes
    1. Wiretapping
    2. Privacy
    3. Computer crimes
    4. Webcam law
    5. GPS laws
  2. Types of interception and compromise
    1. Social media accounts
    2. Smartphones
    3. Computers
    4. Spyware
    5. GPS tracking
    6. Webcams
  3. Civil and criminal implications

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • How do the federal statutes governing interception of electronic and telephonic communications impact evidence of spousal misconduct that a client obtains in a divorce case?
  • What factors can guide counsel in determining whether or not to use the evidence?
  • What are the implications for clients and counsel concerning improper self-help surveillance evidence?
  • How should practitioners approach "smoking gun" evidence that a client may have illegally obtained?