TWITS IN: Troubled times at Scots law firms as solicitors take to social media, twitter in bid for fame, money & insults

Insults included - Law Society says members are turning to social media. NEW FIGURES from the Law Society of Scotland have shown that more solicitors are using social media platforms professionally with usage particularly strong amongst younger lawyers and those working in larger firms. Research by the Law Society of Scotland found that LinkedIn was the most widely used social media channel by Scottish solicitors, followed by Twitter and then Facebook, where solicitors regularly insult each other with terms so explicit it cannot be published.

Whilst a third of solicitors are still not using any of the top three social media platforms in their professional lives, the figure has fallen considerably in the last 12 months.

Ipsos MORI carried out the research on behalf of the Law Society in December, interviewing over 500 solicitors working in firms or in-house for organisations across Scotland.  A similar poll was carried out last year.

Of those polled, 54% said they used LinkedIn, up from 42% last year, with 19% using Twitter, an increase from 15% the year before.  Facebook showed a decline in usage, down from 19% last year to 15%.

However, usage of social media varies considerably within the profession. It is particularly high for younger solicitors with 71% of lawyers under 34 using Linked-In and 27% using Twitter, way above the profession wide average.

There was also a big gender gap on Twitter use, with 25% of female solicitors using the platform compared to just 16% of men.

Solicitors working in big firms are more likely to use social media, with 80% using Linked-In and 30% using Twitter compared to just 38% and 13% respectively for lawyers in smaller high street practices.

In-house lawyers in the public sector were among the least likely to use social media with 65% saying they do not use any platform at all, followed by those working in the criminal bar and those working in domestic property law.

Lorna Jack, the Society's chief executive, said: "As an active user of social media myself, it is encouraging to see how more and more of the profession are using these platforms in their professional lives.  Within the space of a year, usage has increased markedly and it is a trend we fully expect to continue.

"In fact, we offer an online course about social media in the workplace and issued guidance about social media use for solicitors, to keep them on the right side of the law.”

"At the Society, we are active across LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, not just so we can get out news and information on events but also so we can engage with members, hear what they think and respond to the issues they care about."

Ipsos MORI carried out the research of 583 members of The Law Society of Scotland between November and December by telephone survey. Previous surveys were carried out in 2011 and 2012 and aim to explore members' perceptions of the Society, the services it provides and priorities for the future. It also asks solicitors about their economic outlook and how well the Society communicates with them.

Inquiry call as Crown Office refuse to prosecute son of top Scottish judge who made rape threats against woman on Twitter social media

Son of top Scottish judge made rape threats on twitter. CALLS for an investigation into why Scotland’s Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland has refused to prosecute the son of a top Scottish judge who made threats of rape on twitter to a woman have today been made by legal insiders vexed at claims of underhanded tactics by Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to subdue reporting on the story.

It has previously been reported by the Scottish media that the son of a high ranking Court of Session judge told a football player’s girlfriend she was going to “enjoy getting raped and stabbed in Glasgow”.

However, the Crown Office have angrily set upon journalists who recently made further enquiries of the story and so far no action has been taken, despite action taken by Police & the Crown Prosecution Service in England & Wales in cases where female campaigners and even a female Member of Parliament have recently been threatened in a similar manner.

Reporting of the threats has been published earlier, here :

Son of High Court judge tells David Templeton's girlfriend: Enjoy getting raped in Glasgow

ROBYN WALKER was the target of a series of lurid and threatening messages sent when her boyfriend decided to move from Hearts to Rangers.

A HIGH Court judge’s son told Rangers star David Templeton’s girlfriend she was going to be raped after he signed for the Glasgow club.

The message sent to Robyn Walker from the Twitter account of the privately educated
teenager said: “Enjoy getting raped and stabbed in Glasgow you wench.”

The 16-year-old’s father promised to “deal with it” when the message was brought to his attention by the Sunday Mail.

Police said they would investigate if any complaint was received.

Lawyers say the tweet could be an offence under telecom legislation.

Robyn was the target of a series of lurid and threatening messages sent when her boyfriend decided to move from Hearts to Rangers.

She said: “I was shocked when I got this tweet saying he wanted me raped and stabbed.

“It wasn’t nice but I have not complained to police.

“My friends said I should but I have decided not to take it any further.”

Templeton, 23, responded to the message and other threats on his Twitter page.

The Rangers star posted: “People slaughtering my gf! It’s embarrassing! She has nothing to do with what’s happened!”

The judge told us: “Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I will go and deal with it now.”

Both Lothian and Borders and Strathclyde Police said they can only investigate abusive comments made on social networking sites like Twitter if the targets complain to them. A spokeswoman for the Strathclyde force added: “Our football co-ordination unit will view the tweet to see if any criminality occurred.”

Leading criminal lawyer Matthew Berlow said: “Anyone who leaves an offensive message on a social networking site such as Twitter could be breaching the Telecommunications Act.”

Templeton signed for Hearts in 2007 before joining Rangers on August 31.

His move attracted heavy criticism from Hearts fans.

The sinister tweets can be revealed just months after we told how another internet troll threatened to sexually attack an alleged rape victim on a football fans’s message board.

He posted anonymously that he would “violently rape” the mum as MPs voiced escalating concern at the threatening and women-hating content of many messages left on social network sites and message boards.

His post was just one of scores of bile-filled messages directed at the woman after she accused Blackburn Rovers footballer David Goodwillie of rape.

Charges were brought against the player but later dropped.

Last month a 37-year-old man was was charged with breach of the peace over the posts and is due to appear in court.