Slam dunking your point via demonstration is a feather in the cap every trial attorney should strive for. But there are times where proving your point comes at a great cost. Take Clement Vallandigham, the lawyer who successfully helped his client beat a murder charge by fatally demonstrating the amount of gun powder residue one should expect of a point blank range shot. Thankfully this story manages the point proving without being nearly as fatal — the founding partner of the Social Media Victims Law Center got in trouble for not being able to control his use of tech in the courtroom. We covered Matthew Bergman’s inappropriate selfies and Zoom calls in the courtroom last month, but we finally know how much the sanctions will cost him. ABA Journal has coverage:
A plaintiffs lawyer recently received a $1,100 sanction for taking a selfie and conducting a Zoom interview from inside the Los Angeles Superior Court during the first trial alleging that Meta Platforms and YouTube caused addictions in adolescents.
…
“I am extremely embarrassed and sorry this court has to spent one second of its time in the midst of this historic trial dealing with my transgression,” Bergman told Kuhl, according to the story. “It’s shameful, and I’m deeply sorry and terribly ashamed.”Bergman called the incident a “cataclysmic moment in my career,” the story said, and he said he looked to his faith for guidance on repentance.
$1,100 is a nice chunk of change, but the greatest loss has to be the damage to his reputation. Hopefully some time will pass and he’ll be able to spin it into a persuasive moment in closing arguments. “If even I, a grown ass man, have problems controlling myself when it comes to taking selfies for social media, imagine what these young and impressionable minds must be going through?”
To close: not only are pictures worth a thousand words, they can also cost you about a thousand bucks! Mind the courthouse rules folks!
Attorney At Social Media Addiction Trial Takes Selfie, Receives $1,100 Sanction [ABA Journal]
Earlier: Oh, The Irony: Tech Accountability Case Sidelined By Lawyer’s Tech Violations
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn’t hurt either. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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