Technethics assists lawyers and law firms in complying with their ethical obligations on technology. Technethics also provides an avenue for sharing views on this exciting and evolving aspect of practice.

So Technethics is an information source, it is community, it is a meeting point, and so much more!

Keeping abreast of technology!

Case law and rules of professional conduct are more and more imposing duties to lawyers to be current with the most recent technological developments and not to ignore technology risks.

Besides being an ethical duty, this technological obligation has the potential for substantial liability. But it is also a great opportunity to differentiate yourself from competitors and to show your clients that you take very seriously technological developments and data protection.

For example consider that:

• A newly adopted comment to Model Rule 1.1 clarifies that lawyers have a duty to keep abreast of technological developments.
• Model Rule 1.6 adds subsection (c) which states that a lawyer “shall make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of, or unauthorized access to, information relating to the representation of a client” and Comment 16 to Rule 1.6 lists now some non-exhaustive factors to evaluate reasonableness.
• Model Rules 1.18, 7.3, 7.1, 7.2, and 5.5 are amended to address lawyers’ use of technology and client development.
• The amendments to Model Rules 1.18, 7.1, and 7.2 address a lawyer’s use of email and other forms of Internet communication, and of a lawyer’s Internet presence under an advertising and communication perspective.

So, how can you do all this?

• Constantly monitoring the ABA proposed changes to Model Rules, the case law of your jurisdiction (and of other jurisdictions for inspiration), the ABA ethics opinions and the ethics opinions of the several bar associations, scholarly papers, internet blogs and discussions…

OR

• Stay tuned with Technethics. You will:

• learn your ethical duties concerning the use of technology
• keep abreast of technological and privacy developments
• exchange ideas on technology and ethics inside a community and
• transform technology compliance from a burden to an opportunity!