The ethical concerns for lawyers researching jurors—or more likely, prospective jurors—online, are increasing exponentially as more people share increasing amounts of the personal lives online, says John G. Browning, a former justice on the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas.

“I affectionately tell people that voir dire is becoming voir Google because of the level of online research we do now,” Browning said. “But it’s really just bringing a 21st Century dimension to the jury selection process because every trial lawyer wants to get more information as possible in order to make their decisions on who you want to keep, who you do not want to keep on that panel.”