According to the ABA, "[m]anagement-side employment lawyers are advising their clients against writing recommendations for current or recent employees on LinkedIn." Apparently, a positive recommendation by an employer on LinkedIn could be offered as evidence to support a discrimination claim. The employee could offer the LinkedIn recommendation as evidence to refute an argument that poor performance caused the employee's subsequent termination. The ABA article cites another article by the National Law Journal. According to the NLJ, plaintiffs' lawyers may be "scouring these sites, looking for evidence to dispute firings, as most LinkedIn recommendations are positive."

So what's a supervisor or employer to do? Carolyn Plump, a partner at Philadelphia's Mitts Milavec, answered this very question for the NLJ. "Just don't do it," Plump said. "Generally, my advice is that I think employers are often better served by merely stating dates of employment, positions with the company and salary, and staying away from much more because there are so many potential ramifications if they say something." Plump went on to observe the Catch-22 of substantive recommendations by saying, "If they say something negative, there could be a lawsuit. If they say something positive, there could be a lawsuit."

So, what's the lesson for young lawyers? Don't be upset if that partner you've been working for the last three years won't write you a LinkedIn recommendation. Also, if you happen to be going into employment law, advise your clients against the practice of making LinkedIn recommendations. All lawyers should take this from this YLB post: opposing counsel and potentially opposing counsel are savvy, sophisticated and aware of social networking sites as a fertile medium for evidence.