Former Charlotte attorney reprimanded over YouTube videos

Attorney: Venus Y. Springs

Location: New York (formerly of Charlotte)

Bar membership: Member since 2002

Disciplinary action: Reprimanded on June 6

Background: Springs was the plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed against a bank. In the course of the litigation, Springs deposed one of the bank’s corporate representatives. The lawsuit was dismissed, and all appeals were exhausted, in 2012. In 2014, Springs posted a video to her YouTube channel, subtitled, “Best Ways to Tell if A Witness is Lying.” In it, Springs suggested that certain hand gestures indicated that the witness, who was identified by name, was lying. After a federal judge ordered her to take down the video, Springs removed the original video but replaced with a similar video using still images from the deposition. After a federal judge ordered her to take that video down, Springs added a link to her YouTube channel directing viewers to a third party’s video that contained excerpts from the deposition. The Disciplinary Hearing Commission found that the videos served no substantial purpose other than to humiliate or embarrass a participant in the judicial process, and that by posting the link Springs had knowingly disobeyed an obligation imposed by a tribunal.

Previous discipline: None

All information contained in the Bar Discipline Roundup is compiled and edited by Lawyers Weekly editor-in-chief David Donovan. He can be reached at [email protected].