Terms and Conditions

Social Media Policy

Transportation Lawyers Association – Members Social Media Use Policy

The Transportation Lawyers Association (“TLA”) recognizes the importance of the internet in publicly promoting our association and the value of TLA membership. TLA also recognizes the importance of our members participating in the sharing of ideas and conversations related to the transportation and logistics industry through interaction in social media. Social media allows TLA to connect to members and potential members in an interactive and meaningful way. TLA is committed to supporting honest, transparent, and informed dialogue on the internet through the social media.

To that end, TLA hereby establishes parameters for members when using social media connected to our association. Social media can be a wonderful tool, but, if used improperly, social media can be damaging to the public image and professional integrity of TLA.

In his 2008 article “What Does TLA Stand For?[1],” Past President Dick Westley wrote that TLA members “demonstrate the highest standards of professional excellence,” “give of themselves for the greater good of their colleagues, the industries they represent, and the legal system as a whole,” “accept only the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct,” “avoid conduct that brings disrepute to themselves, their firms, their profession and their organization,” stand for the “highest standards of personal conduct and ethical behavior,” and “elevating the practice of law to the most productive and rewarding occupation anyone can ever hope to enjoy. When interacting on TLA social media sites, be mindful of the ideals that make TLA unique, and engage in a manner that is wholly-consistent with TLA values.

What Should (or Shouldn’t) You Say on TLA Social Media

Do not engage in self-promotion or engage in marketing or promotion of your law firm
Do not advertise or promote speaking engagements outside of TLA, or any business or charity
Do share information and experiences that will add value to TLA members
Do share what you know and you’re passionate about
If your mother wouldn’t approve, please don’t share; what you say online impacts you, your firm, and TLA
Give others credit when using work of others; provide a link to the original content and use the author’s name when possible
Respectful disagreements are appropriate, but do not engage in personal attacks
Do not respond to media inquiries on TLA social media sites; direct all media inquiries to the Executive Director and TLA President
Respect the privacy of your colleagues; do not disclose personal information about other TLA members without obtain permission in advance
Do not post photographs or images of TLA members on public-facing social media without permission
Do not post or discuss confidential or proprietary TLA information on TLA social media sites
Be mindful that public discussions on social media can be found by adversaries through search engines like Google or Safari
Do not engage in political advocacy or post about polarizing issues on TLA social media

Monitoring Policy
TLA social media sites shall be monitored regularly by the Executive Director, TLA President, and the Technology & Social Media Committee. TLA reserves the right to remove any content that, in its sole discretion, is not consistent with TLA values or the terms of this Members Social Media Use Policy.

[1] https://translaw.org/documents/WhatDoesTLAStandFor.pdf

Community Rules & Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines

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. If you have questions, contact the member services department. In order to preserve an environment 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.

The Rules

Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and members; there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals instead of products or services that you provide. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the group in a respectful way.

Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.

All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.

Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.

When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.

Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."

Discussion Group Etiquette

State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.

Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals, not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link in every message.

Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings.

The Legal Stuff

This site is provided as a service for the members of Transportation Lawyers Association. Transportation Lawyers Association is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by Transportation Lawyers Association or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall Transportation Lawyers Association be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.

Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials. Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants Transportation Lawyers Association and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.

Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

Transportation Lawyers Association does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of Transportation Lawyers Association we will take all appropriate action.

Transportation Lawyers Association reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.

Privacy Policy

Any personal information you provide to us including and similar to your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of our organization except as noted below.

With Whom Do We Share the Personal Information We Collect Through This Site:

Our Service Providers
We may share your personal information with companies (including our affiliates) that perform services on our behalf, for example, companies that help process credit card payments. Our service providers are required by contract to protect the confidentiality of the personal information we share with them and to use it only to provide specific services on our behalf.

Business Transfers
Your personal information may be transferred to another entity (either an affiliated entity or an unrelated third party) in connection with a merger, reorganization, dissolution or similar corporate event. If such a transfer were ever to occur, the acquiring entity’s use of your personal information will still be subject to this Privacy Policy.

Government and Legal Disclosures
We may disclose the personal information we collect through this Site, when we, in good faith, believe disclosure is appropriate to comply with the law (or a court order or subpoena); to prevent or investigate a possible crime, such as fraud or identity theft; to enforce our Terms and Conditions or other agreements that govern your use of this Site; or to protect the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, or others.

External Sites
We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.

Cookies
A "cookie" is a small data text file that is placed in your browser and allows us to recognize you each time you visit this site (personalization, etc). Cookies themselves do not contain any personal information, and we do not use cookies to collect personal information. Cookies may also be used by 3rd party content providers such as news-feeds.

Remember The Risks Whenever You Use The Internet
While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. In addition other Internet sites or services that may be accessible through our site have separate data and privacy practices independent of us, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies. For any other information please contact us using the Contact Us page.