Robert Ambrogi Blog
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.
Social Payments
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.
Fee Payments and More
Curiosity led me to explore Venmo to see if this is a problem. Turns out, it is.
In just an hour or so of searching, I was able to find and review multiple lawyers’ accounts showing payments to the attorney that were described as for retainers or legal fees. In all of these cases, the identity of the person making the payment is clearly visible.
On Venmo, most payments include some sort of descriptive notation made by the payor. These public listings of transactions do not show the payment amount, but sometimes the notation indicates the amount. In every case, one can click through to the payor’s profile page, which typically shows at least their name and sometimes other identifying information.
One attorney’s Venmo account displayed 18 different transactions, all bearing notes such as “fees,” “fees due,” “fees now due,” “final fees,” “attorney fees,” and “legal fees.” One payment had the note, “Past due attorney fees.” In each case, anyone could click through and see the name of the person making the payment, and in some cases, additional details about them.
Another attorney also had multiple transactions listed that appeared to be client payments. Among the notations on those payments were “expidited devorce,” “2500 attorney fee for objection,” “attorney fees part 2,” and two that named a specific matter.
In some other cases, the notation on the payments said only “legal” or “lawyer,” but presumably were for legal fees.
Many of the attorneys I found on Venmo seem to mix business and personal use of the account. One attorney’s business account, for example, showed a payment by the attorney to someone with the note, “For my love.”
Another attorney’s account mixed practice-related transactions, such as payment for a transcript and receipts of legal fees, with personal payments such as “grandpa’s Xmas present” and “food haircut.”
Other attorneys appear to be using their accounts for mixed business purposes. The notations on the payments to one attorney, for example, reflected both legal fees and rents. One person’s series of partial payments, apparently for rent, repeatedly indicated her difficulty coming up with the money. One note said, “I am short I will get difference, it’s been really stressful.”
The good news is that, in many other cases, the attorneys had done the right thing and set transactions to private. For those attorneys who have business accounts on Venmo, their profile shows the message, “This business isn’t sharing transactions publicly.”
How to Protect Your Transactions
It is quick and easy to configure Venmo so that your transactions are not public.
In the app:
- Go to the Me tab .
- Tap the Settings gear at the top right.
- Tap Privacy.
- Choose Private.
Note that if you have past transactions, you need to take a second step to make them private:
- While still in the Privacy settings, select Past Transactions.
- Tap Change All to Private.
Bottom Line
What is concerning about this is that I am willing to bet that most of these attorneys have no idea that their transactions are public and open for anyone to see. This “social payments” aspect of Venmo is unique to the platform, and I would guess that many attorneys never give it a thought.
Even more concerning, of course, is that the clients are unlikely to know that their transactions with their attorney are public, along with their notations on those transactions.
I am hoping that this post will find its way to at least some of those attorneys, and that they will take immediate steps to change their settings.