Topic: bligations Upon Receiving a Document Not Intended for the Recipient A lawyer who receives a misdirected communication must notify the sender but does not have to destroy or return it. The New York City Bar Committee on Professional Ethics issued Formal Opinion 2012-01 which contemplates the ethical obligations of a lawyer who receives a […]
During its August 2012 Annual Meeting, the ABA House of Delegates approved the recommendations sponsored by the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20. The amendments substantially recognize the evolving use of technology in the advertisement and practice of law and the increasing mobility of lawyers. In particular, the amendments introduced the concept of reasonable efforts to […]
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 […]
From the Introduction: “This paper explores the particular ethical dilemma that is created when, outside of formal discovery, an attorney inadvertently, unknowingly, or unintentionally sends metadata hidden behind an electronic document to another attorney. This paper attempts to answer the question of whether the attorney who receives the electronic document, outside of formal discovery, should […]
Lawyer Disciplinary Board – L.E.O. 2009-01 Approved/entered June 5 and 10, 2009 Topic: Metadada Conclusion of the Board: “The Board finds that there is a burden on an attorney to take reasonable steps to protect metadata in transmitted documents, and there is a burden on a lawyer receiving inadvertently provided metadata to consult with the […]
Professional Ethics Commission Topic: Transmission, retrieval and use of metadata embedded in documents Conclusion of the Commission: “1. Without authorization from a court, it is ethically impermissible for an attorney to seek to uncover metadata, embedded in an electronic document received from counsel for another party, in an effort to detect confidential information that should be […]
Abstract of the Article: “This article analyzes embedded data that accompanies many documents and the legal ethical issues that accompany inadvertent receipt of documents containing metadata. It addresses ABA Model Rule 4.4(b), ABA Formal Ethics Opinion 92-368 and 06-442, and New York opinion 2003-04, Florida Bar Opinion 06-2, and others.” The full text is available […]
Committee on Ethics, Ethics Docket No. 2007-09 Topics: metadata (set “in the context of litigation” but “general in nature”) From the Opinion: When transmitting a document with metadata, “absent an agreement with the other parties (such as is contemplated in proposed Federal [Rules] 16(b)(5) and (6)), the sending attorney has an ethical obligation to take […]
Arizona State Bar Association Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct Topic: Confidentiality; Electronic Communications; Inadvertent Disclosure Conclusion of the Committee: “Lawyers who send communications or other documents electronically must be aware that such activity has inherent risks. Therefore, the lawyer must take reasonable measures to prevent the inadvertent disclosure of confidential client information. At […]
District of Columbia Bar’s Legal Ethics Committee Topic: Review and Use of Metadata in Electronic Documents Digest of the Committee: “A receiving lawyer is prohibited from reviewing metadata sent by an adversary only where he has actual knowledge that the metadata was inadvertently sent. In such instances, the receiving lawyer should not review the metadata before […]