LawSites – and they May Not Even Know It  – “Multiple lawyers who are using the payments app Venmo in their law practices are exposing client information to the public — and they may not even know it. These accounts expose client names and sometimes other details, such as payment amounts, the nature of the representation, or even the client’s financial straits. Model Rule 1.6 of the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct prohibits a lawyer from revealing information relating to the representation of a client unless the client gives informed consent. The ABA has said in an ethics opinion that this rule prohibits lawyers from revealing even the identity of a client..Venmo is a so-called “social payments platform.” The “social” in that description means that anyone on the internet may be able to see the transaction. This viewability can be disabled. Any Venmo user can set their account to be private, in which case the transaction can be seen only by the two participants. A different setting, “friends only,” allows your transactions to be seen only by people you have friended on Venmo. But the default setting is public, and that means that when a lawyer uses Venmo without changing that default setting, every transaction is viewable by the public…”