Code of Conduct

E-Group Rules & Etiquette

Thank you for being part of our community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the medium. This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation. Questions should be directed to our Member Services department via the Contact Us link on this site.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines and terms of service. If you have questions, contact the member services department. In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violate these rules.

Guidelines

The value of the NACDL communities as a tool to assist busy practitioners cannot be overstated. It is for this reason that users are asked to remain on topic at all times. Off-topic postings tend to generate a spate of responses that impede the value of the communities and often prompt members to unsubscribe. Please help safeguard the inherent value of the communities by refraining from posting on topics unrelated to criminal defense practice.

  1. Do not assume confidentiality of communities discussions. Do not share confidential or client information on the NACDL communities.
  2. The communities are limited to criminal law-related matters. Questions and information should be directly related to the purpose of this association. Please do not post jokes, political commentary, commercial, or self-promotional content. Do not post solicitations of any kind, including, but not limited to, charities or political actions/causes, or non-NACDL events.
  3. Civility is to be upheld at all times. Do not engage in attacking posts, including name calling and flame wars.
  4. Before sending an email ("posting a community") asking for information and/or opinions, take the time to do some initial research on the topic.
  5. Reply to postings only if you can answer a query with specific information, rather than your surmises of what the law might be.
  6. When replying to a query, delete the original message if your email program tries to append it to your reply. Only leave enough of the original message to make it clear to which query you are responding.
  7. The NACDL communities are used by members of NACDL who are lawyers as well as members who are not lawyers. If you are an Associate member, non-practicing, or non-lawyer participant, please include the following statement at the end of each message posted to the Listserve: "I am an Associate member of NACDL. I am not a lawyer."
  8. For all postings, please include your name and email address at the end of your message so that other members will know who you are and can contact you directly if appropriate.
  9. It is often better to respond by contacting the sender directly, rather than replying to the entire community. A response along the lines of "me too" is unedifying and does not aid discussion.
  10. If you no longer wish to be part of a community, please visit the My Subscriptions NACDLConnect member page.
  11. Do not enable notification features that send automatic responses indicating that you are out of town, on vacation, etc. You can pause receiving posts by visiting the My Subscriptions NACDLConnect member page and selecting No Email for each list.
  12. File attachments less than 2 megabytes are allowed. When sending a file, remember to also describe the attachment in the message.

Properly used, the communities are a great resource for expert witnesses, in-state and out-of-state referrals, breaking legal issues, strategy, and the everyday nettlesome legal research issues that we all face. Keep in mind that NACDL members have varying levels of expertise in criminal law.

Terms of Use

The following are terms of a legal agreement between you and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL). By accessing, browsing and/or using this site ("Site"), including all related communities, forums, and similar services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these terms and to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including US export and re-export control laws and regulations.  

  1. COMMENTS BY USERS ARE NOT ENDORSED BY NACDL: NACDL does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify, or agree with the comments, opinions, or statements posted on its forums, communities, and similar services. Nor does NACDL make any warranties with respect to any of the merchandise, services, or opinions mentioned on these services. Any information or material placed online, including advice and opinions, are the views and responsibility of those who post the statements, and do not necessarily represent the views of NACDL.
  2. USE OF THE SERVICE BY YOU: You agree to use the Site to further the goals and purposes of the NACDL, and you will not knowingly use the Site to the detriment of the organization or any of its members. You agree that the Site shall not be used, directly or indirectly, to aid in the prosecution of any criminal matter, or to assist any prosecutor or agent of the prosecution in the performance of his/her official duties.

    You agree to take all necessary precautions to protect the confidentiality of content and messages posted to the Site and to otherwise prevent others from having unauthorized access to and use of information from the Site, either directly or indirectly.

    These services are not intended for users under the age of 21, and NACDL does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from users under the age of 21. Such users are expressly prohibited from submitting their personally identifiable information to us, and from using our forums, communities, and similar services; any information submitted by such users will not knowingly be used, posted, or retained by us.

    You agree not to use any obscene, indecent, or offensive language or to place on these services any material that is defamatory, abusive, harassing, or hateful. Further, you may not place on these services any material that is encrypted, constitutes junk mail, invades anyone's privacy, or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or that otherwise violates any local, state, national or international law or regulation. You agree to refrain from posting any advertisements or using the site and any related communities, forums and other services for commercial gain. You agree to use these services only for lawful purposes and you acknowledge that your failure to do so may subject you to civil and criminal liability.

    You are responsible for ensuring that any material you provide to these services or post on a forum or communities, including but not limited to text, photographs and sound, does not violate the copyright, trademark, trade secret or any other personal or proprietary rights of any third party or is posted with the permission of the owner(s) of such rights. Material on these services is for your personal use only. These services may contain copyrighted and other proprietary information.

    You may not in any way make commercial or other unauthorized use, by publication, re-transmission, distribution, performance, caching, or otherwise, of material obtained through these services, except as permitted by the Copyright Act or other law or as expressly permitted in writing by this Agreement or NACDL.

    You agree not to disrupt, modify or interfere with these services or its associated software, hardware and/or servers in any way, and you agree not to impede or interfere with others' use of these services. You further agree not to alter or tamper with any information or materials on or associated with these services. 

    Other than connecting to NACDL's servers by http requests using a web browser, you may not attempt to gain access to NACDL's servers by any means - including, without limitation, by using administrator passwords or by masquerading as an administrator or other user while using these services or otherwise.

    You acknowledge that NACDL has not reviewed and does not endorse the content of all sites linked to from these services and is not responsible for the content or actions of any other sites linked to from these services. Following links posted by users  to any service or site is at your sole risk.
  3. USE OF MATERIAL SUPPLIED BY YOU: You acknowledge that NACDL cannot guarantee the confidentiality of its Site and that non-NACDL members may see information posted even to the Members Only areas, services, or lists provided. You will consider all of your materials to be public once posted and will be prudent and careful when sharing any information or material that may be sensitive. You acknowledge that by transmitting information and material via the Site you do so at your own risk and potential expense.

    By posting messages, uploading files, inputting data, or engaging in any other form of communication through these services, you grant NACDL a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, enhance, transmit, distribute, publicly perform, display, or sublicense any such communication in any medium (now in existence or hereinafter developed) and for any purpose, including commercial purposes, and to authorize others to do so.
  4. COPYRIGHT COMPLAINTS: NACDL respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. NACDL may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, suspend or terminate the access of and take other action against users, subscribers, registrants and account holders who infringe the copyright rights of others. If you believe that your work has been copied and is accessible on these services in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or that these services contains links or other references to another online location that contains material or activity that infringes your copyright rights, you may notify NACDL by providing the following information (as required by the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. sec. 512) to NACDL's Executive Director. 
    1. A physical or electronic signature of person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
    2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
    3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit NACDL to locate the material;
    4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit NACDL to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted;
    5. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
    6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
  5. MATERIALS POSTED BY OTHERS: You agree that NACDL is not responsible, and shall have no liability to you, with respect to any information or materials posted by others, including defamatory, offensive or illicit material, even material that violates this Agreement.
  6. INDEMNIFICATION: You agree to indemnify NACDL and its affiliates, employees, agents, and representatives, and to defend and hold each of them harmless, from any and all claims and liabilities (including attorneys fees) which may arise from your submissions, from your unauthorized use of material obtained through these services, or from your breach of this Agreement, or from any such acts through your use of these services.
  7. EDITING AND DELETIONS: NACDL reserves the right, but undertakes no duty, to review, edit, move or delete any material provided for display or placed on these services, in its sole discretion, without notice.
  8. ADDITIONAL RULES: NACDL reserves the right to post, from time to time, additional rules of usage that apply to specific parts of these services. Such additional rules will be posted in the relevant parts of these services, and will be clearly identified. Your continued use of these services constitutes your agreement to comply with these additional rules.
  9. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:

    YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE USING THE SERVICE AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", AND NACDL, ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS SERVICE PROVIDERS HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS AND IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR ANY OTHER WARRANTY, CONDITION, GUARANTEE OR REPRESENTATION, WHETHER ORAL, IN WRITING OR IN ELECTRONIC FORM, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN OR PROVIDED BY THE SERVICE. SERVICE PROVIDER AND ITS AFFILIATES DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT ACCESS TO THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR THAT THERE WILL BE NO FAILURES, ERRORS OR OMISSIONS OR LOSS OF TRANSMITTED INFORMATION, OR THAT NO VIRUSES WILL BE TRANSMITTED ON THE SERVICE.

    NACDL, ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS SERVICE PROVIDERS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTIES FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ALLEGEDLY SUSTAINED ARISING OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT, THE PROVIDING OF SERVICES HEREUNDER, THE SALE OR PURCHASE OF ANY GOODS OR MERCHANDISE, YOUR ACCESS TO OR INABILITY TO ACCESS THE SERVICE, INCLUDING FOR VIRUSES ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICE, YOUR USE OF OR RELIANCE ON THE SERVICE OR ANY OF THE MERCHANDISE, INFORMATION OR MATERIALS AVAILABLE ON THE SERVICE, REGARDLESS OF THE TYPE OF CLAIM OR THE NATURE OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS THAT VARY FROM STATE TO STATE. YOU HEREBY AGREE TO RELEASE NACDL, ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS SERVICE PROVIDERS, AND EACH OF THEIR RESPECTIVE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS FROM CLAIMS, DEMANDS AND DAMAGES (ACTUAL AND CONSEQUENTIAL) OF EVERY KIND AND NATURE, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, SUSPECTED AND UNSUSPECTED, DISCLOSED AND UNDISCLOSED ("CLAIMS"), ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH YOUR USE OF THIS SITE. IF YOU ARE A CALIFORNIA RESIDENT, YOU WAIVE CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE SECTION 1542, WHICH STATES, IN PART: "A GENERAL RELEASE DOES NOT EXTEND TO CLAIMS WHICH THE CREDITOR DOES NOT KNOW OR SUSPECT TO EXIST IN HIS FAVOR AT THE TIME OF EXECUTING THE RELEASE, WHICH IF KNOWN BY HIM MUST HAVE MATERIALLY AFFECTED HIS SETTLEMENT WITH THE DEBTOR".
  10. TERMINATION OF ACCESS TO THE SERVICE: NACDL has the right to terminate your ability to access these services, for any or no reason, without notice.
  11. JURISDICTION: NACDL makes no representation that materials on these services are appropriate, available or legal in any particular location. Those who choose to access these services do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable. You agree that this Agreement, for all purposes, shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the District of Columbia applicable to contracts to be wholly performed therein, and any action based on or alleging a breach of this Agreement must be brought in a state or federal court in the District of Columbia. In addition, both parties agree to submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction and venue of such courts.