... and do you have a Facebook?

When our office takes a new case, we send our investigator out to the client to talk to them, collect some info, and assess the damage to both the person and the car. We have a standard interview form in which we collect the basic info to open up the case - name, address, auto insurance info, and oh yeah, if the client has a Facebook.

We just recently updated our interview form to include that question. Nevermind the obvious creep factor of our office's need to know whether or not our clients have a Facebook. (It is worthwhile to point out that when I worked at the Public Defender's office at Juvenile Hall, knowing whether or not our clients there had a Myspace or a Facebook was valuable information to us. Just by looking at their pictures we would find out if our own clients were lying to us.) However, some staff here (who for starters, don't really know how Facebook works), are obviously perplexed at why we would need such information. How does that resolve the claim any quicker? Our boss has not enlightened us yet as to why we would ask this now. (I'll keep everyone posted if he does.) I wonder if our boss is thinking of making an office Facebook. Are we going to have regular status updates? "LAW OFFICES is asking for an extension in which to file discovery responses so that the judge doesn't drop the hammer on them :\"

But even further, people use their real names on Facebook! I mean, if we wanted to know if they had one, that's what the search bar in Facebook is for, right?