Professional Ethics Commission Topics: Client Confidences: Confidential firm data held electronically and handled by technicians for third-party vendors From the opinion: “[A]n attorney may utilize transcription and computer server backup services remote from both the lawyer’s physical office and the lawyer’s direct control or supervision without violating the attorney’s ethical obligation to maintain client confidentiality. […]
State Bar of California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct Formal Opinion 2007-174 Topic: retention/communication of clients’ files. Digest of the Committee: “An attorney is ethically obligated, upon termination of employment, promptly to release to a client, at the client’s request: (1) an electronic version of e-mail correspondence, because such items come within a category […]
Committee on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Topic: Rights of Access, Possession and Copying, Along with Retention Considerations From the Opinion: “This Formal Opinion supersedes all prior inconsistent opinions of the Committee and should be reviewed for guidance by Pennsylvania lawyers when they are opening, closing or taking other action with respect to the contents of […]
Professional Ethics Committee For the State Bar of Texas Topic: “ Under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, may a lawyer refuse a former client’s request to disclose or turn over the lawyer’s notes made in the course of and in furtherance of his representation of the client? “ Conclusion of the Committee: “Under […]
Topic: Electronic storage and access of client files From the Opinion: “We are reluctant to render an [sic] specific interpretation of RPC 1.6 or impose a requirement that is tied to a specific understanding of technology that may very well be obsolete tomorrow. Thus, for instance, we do not read RPC 1.6 or Opinion 515 as imposing a […]
Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility – Formal Opinion 33 Topic: cloud computing Summary of the Committee: “A lawyer may, without client consent, store client files in an electronic format or on a server or other device that is not exclusively in the lawyer’s control provided the lawyer acts competently and reasonably safeguards the […]
Rules of Professional Conduct Committee Topic: Client File Retention Conclusion of the Committee: “There is no comprehensive rule on retaining closed client files. The rule relating to safekeeping of clients’ funds should be consulted and a file retention policy based on good judgment should be developed by every law firm and solo practitioner for […]
Standing Committee on Legal Ethics An inquiring attorney presented a factual scenario of clients preferring and sometimes requiring the attorney to send documents to the client in electronic format. The Committee was asked whether or not an attorney (1) must maintain a paper copy of the client’s file during the representation, (2) may destroy paper […]
Arizona State Bar Association Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct Topic: Electronic storage; Confidentiality From the Opinion: “ER’s 1.6 and 1.1 require that an attorney act competently to safeguard client information and confidences. It is not unethical to store such electronic information on computer systems whether or not those same systems are used to connect […]
[Approved by the Massachusetts Bar Association’s House of Delegates on March 3, 2005] Summary of the Committee: “A law firm may provide a third-party software vendor with access to confidential client information stored on the firm’s computer system for the purpose of allowing the vendor to support and maintain a computer software application utilized […]