Back To Law Matters | Spring 2014

Avoiding and Resolving Disputes

Your digital footprint: be careful where you step

For those of us who could still change the ribbon of a type-writer or find our way around the mimeo, without getting ink all over ourselves, micro-blogging, 6-second looping videos, or starting every word with a hashtag, which, turns out, is just the old “#” sign, can be daunting tasks.  And then, there is the task of managing the information that is available about us online, whether we intended to put it there or not. 

I recently heard of the term “digital footprint” and it became clear to me that mine is usually a few steps behind from those younger than me.   The term digital footprint refers to our online presence: through our conscious actions and sometimes, through our careless ones.  As lawyers, most of us have learned to manage our professional online persona. Our Code of Conduct applies to our online presence, and we have been provided with guidelines and ethical boundaries in relation to marketing, communicating online, and keeping the e-divide between legal information and legal advice. Two great resources to help us navigate our online output can be found on the CBA’s website: Guidelines for Practicing Ethically with new Information Technologiesand Guidelines for Ethical Marketing Practices using New Information Technologies. 

It isn’t hard to find extreme examples where public figures, private employees and even members of the bar, have made career limiting blunders in 156 characters or less.  However, there is a less extreme, and yet disquieting side to our online presence. A few days ago, I was trying to find an acquaintance’s office phone number, and rather than opening the phonebook, which keeps my computer monitor propped up, I used a search engine. What happened next was eye opening: the search results included her running time from the last marathon she ran, a review she had made of the last hotel she had visited, comments she had made on the website of the league she played in, and the newsletter for the school that her children attend, and where she volunteers.  Admittedly, these pieces of information standing alone are innocuous, but their sum may not be.  We need to proactively manage our digital footprint. 

My initial client meeting includes a standard “be mindful of your online presence” and a “know that your online posts may be closely scrutinized”.  I think that all of us can benefit from this advice. Having an online presence is almost inescapable for our profession and the very tools that allow us to do our jobs, could be contributing to the proliferation of information that should be kept outside of the public realm.  We have seen a movement towards protecting our e-privacy through legislation, work policies and judicial involvement.  Even the private sector has made an industry of the issue as there are companies dedicated to erasing one’s online persona.  But not all of us need to resort to such extremes and some simple steps to keep the divide between our private and public professional life will suffice for most of us. 

We all now know to set privacy setting on our preferred networking site to levels that make us comfortable and to adjust our output on these sites accordingly.  Our technology has made it so easy for us to instantly broadcast every thought, but remember that most things that are posted publically can be hard to get rid of, and their effects can be felt long after we have tried to erase them. Therefore, be mindful of what and where you post (“stop-think-post”).  

Knowing that our involvement in our community through sports, school and other social activities may lounge us into the electronic world, we should address the issue of online communications with schools, clubs and sporting events. We may not be able to stop our online presence, but we can at least inform ourselves about their potential and make the appropriate decisions around them.    

Finally, know that most of us are on the same path – some of us are just be a few steps behind.  Since it is inevitable for us to have an online presence, let’s develop skills to manage our digital footprint. 


Enrique Dubon-Robetrs is a family law practitioner with the firm of Matkovic Allan LLP in Calgary. Prior to earning his law degree from the University of Calgary Faculty of Law, he was an educator in both secondary and post-secondary institutions in Calgary.