In Formal Opinion 2015-193 the State Bar of California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (“California Ethics Committee” or “Committee”) discussed three of the duties applicable to attorneys involved in e-discovery: the duty of competency, the duty to supervise, and the duty of confidentiality. The Committee advised that the duty of competency required attorneys […]
On June 16, 2015, the Grand Chamber of the European Convention on Human Rights held that the owner of a news portal allowing for users comments can be held liable for defamatory comments therein posted by readers, and this will not be considered as a limitation of the website’s freedom of expression. Delfi AS vs […]
On request of a local bar, the Italian National Bar Association (Consiglio Nazionale Forense – CNF) opined that a lawyer can oppose the professional privilege to search and seizure of her clients’ files in the course of an anti-money laundering (AML) investigation by the competent enforcement authority (GDF) under Article 8 AML Law (powers of […]
On October 30, 2014, the Committee on Professional Ethics of the New York State Bar issued Opinion 1032 providing guidelines on how lawyers could respond to former clients’ critical commentary on the web. A former client had “unfairly characterized the firm’s representation of the former client on a website that provides reviews of lawyers” but he […]
On April 23, 2015, the Grand Chamber of the European Convention on Human Rights held, in addition to one other finding, that the conviction for defamation of a lawyer revealing serious shortcomings in the justice system was a disproportionate interference with his right to freedom of expression. Morice v. France, (Application no. 29369/10). On 19 October […]
In Formal Opinion 2015-3, the Committee on Professional Ethics of NY City Bar opined on the increasing recurrence of internet scams directed to lawyers Digest of the opinion: “An attorney who discovers that he is the target of an Internet-based trust account scam does not have a duty of confidentiality towards the individual attempting […]
21 Rich. J.L. & Tech. 9 (2015) Author argues that because of the evolving security risks brought by e-mail, Internet, and cloud computing, lawyers must reassess their ethical duties of competence and confidentiality. Ignorance of technology may lead to violations of lawyers’ fundamental ethical duties of competence and confidentiality. Mentioned rules: ABA Model Rule 1.1; […]
Author discusses and provides Best Practices to help regular users of email to be more efficient and avoid embarrassing and ethically questionable conducts. Source:New York Legal Ethics Reporter The full text is available at http://www.newyorklegalethics… New York Rules of Professional Conduct: 4.4(b) Mentioned ethic opinions: ABA Comm. on Ethics and Prof. Responsibility, Formal Op. 99C413 […]
Major law firm has been sued by a prospective client for legal malpractice. The law firm allegedly communicated confidential information by disclosing an email in which the potential client sought representation as a possible whistleblower. According to the suit, plaintiff emailed an attorney of the firm requesting legal representation. The request contained privileged information regarding […]
Author discusses why “Rule 4.4(b) provides no immediate protection to confidential information in the inadvertently disclosed document”. Mentioned Rule: 4.4(b) New York Code of Professional Responsibility The full text of the document is available at http://www.bryancave…