Committee on Professional Ethics
Topic: E-mailing Documents that May Contain Hidden Data Reflecting Client Confidences and Secrets
Digest of the Committee:
“Lawyers must exercise reasonable care to prevent the disclosure of confidences and secrets contained in ‘metadata’ in documents they transmit electronically to opposing counsel or other third parties.”
Rules: DR 1-102(A)(5), 4-101(B), (C), (D), EC 4-5.
Referred Ethics Opinions:
- N.Y. State 749 (2003)
- N.Y. State 700 (1997)
The full text is available at http://www.nysba.org…