Vermont Bar Association Professional Responsibility Section Digest: “Vermont attorneys can utilize Software as a Service in connection with confidential client information, property, and communications, including for storage, processing, transmission, and calendaring of such materials, as long as they take reasonable precautions to protect the confidentiality of and to ensure access to these materials.” From the […]
Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct Topic: General use of technology by lawyers – reasonable precautions to avoid unauthorized access by third parties. Digest of the Committee: “Whether an attorney violates his or her duties of confidentiality and competence when using technology to transmit or store confidential client information will depend on the […]
Office of General Counsel Formal Opinion 2010-02 Topics: Retention, Storage, Ownership, Production and Destruction of Client Files. Cloud computing. Excerpts from the Opinion and comments from the editor’s of this website: Rules 1.15, 1.16 and 1.6 impose a duty of segregation, safeguarding and production upon request of client’s file (which is client’s property) but not […]
Opinion No. 357 of the District of Columbia Bar’s Legal Ethics Committee Topic: Former Client Records Maintained in Electronic Form Conclusion of the Committee: “Social media is a constantly changing area of technology. Social media can be an effective tool for providing information to the public, for networking and for communications. However, using […]
Ethics Committee Topic: Outsourcing of Legal Services Conclusion of the Committee: “A lawyer may ethically outsource legal support services to a nonlawyer who is not associated with the firm or working under the direct supervision of a lawyer in the firm if the lawyer (1) rigorously supervises the nonlawyer so as to avoid aiding the […]
Professional Ethics Committee of the Florida Bar Topic: Lawyers’ Ethical Obligation for Stored Files From the opinion: “In conclusion, when a lawyer chooses to use Devices that contain Storage Media, the lawyer must take reasonable steps to ensure that client confidentiality is maintained and that the Device is sanitized before disposition. These reasonable steps include: (1) identification of […]
Committee on Professional Ethics – Opinion No. 842 Topic: Using an outside online storage provider to store client confidential information. Digest of the Committee: “A lawyer may use an online data storage system to store and back up client confidential information provided that the lawyer takes reasonable care to ensure that confidentiality will be maintained […]
From the Article: “Interest in ‘cloud computing’ is picking up steam among lawyers for several good reasons. Proponents say its advantages center on economy, simplicity and accessibility…But some of the advantages of cloud computing also are reasons for lawyers to be cautious about its use. In particular, the fact that client data and work product […]
Opinion No. 352 of the District of Columbia Bar’s Legal Ethics Committee Topic: “Professional Responsibility Duties for Temporary Contract Lawyers and the Firms that Hire Them” Committee’s Summary: “The imputation of a temporary contract lawyer’s individual conflicts to a hiring firm under D.C. Rule 1.10 depends on the nature and extent of the lawyer’s relationship […]
From the Preface: “This Manual is intended to assist New York State Judges and court personnel in managing issues relating to the cost of discovery of electronically stored information (“ESI”).” The full text is available at http://www2.nycbar.org…