With so many people using social networking sites, it’s only natural that employees, bosses, customers and colleagues will cross each other’s virtual paths. That kind of interaction got one employee in trouble recently:

Judge B. Carlton Terry, Jr., of North Carolina was recently reprimanded by the state’s Judicial Standards Commission for “friending” a lawyer on Facebook.

At some point during a pending child custody case, Terry found Charles Shieck, the lawyer representing the defendant, on the site and added him to his list of friends.

The two “friends” posted messages about the case to each other, the Lexington Dispatch reports. Comments included a discussion about proving whether the plaintiff had been having an affair and Terry’s statement that he had “two good parents to choose from.”

Eventually, Terry was disqualified from the case and a new trial was granted. He was then reprimanded by the state — interacting with counsel during a pending trial violates the state’s judicial code of conduct.

Tags: bosses, co-workers, Facebook, social networking