North Carolina State Bar 2012 Formal Ethics Opinion 5

Topic: Reviewing Employee’s Email Communications with Counsel Using Employer’s Business Email System

From the opinion:

“Opinion rules that a lawyer representing an employer must evaluate whether email messages an employee sent to and received from the employee’s lawyer using the employer’s business email system are protected by the attorney-client privilege and, if so, decline to review or use the messages unless a court determines that the messages are not privileged.”

Rules: North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct 1.2(d); 1.6; 8.4(c)

The full text of the opinion is available at http://www.ncbar…