New ABA communications guidelines looks for 21st century update

Lawyers' Forum

By Trisha M. Rich

Trisha M. Rich is a commercial litigator and professional responsibility lawyer in Holland & Knight LLP’s Chicago office. She can be reached at trisha.rich@hklaw.com or at (312) 578-6514.

Posted May 18, 2017 1:55 PM

In a significant opinion published last week, the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility provided additional guidance on a lawyer’s obligations to protect client confidentiality in electronic communications.Formal Ethics Opinion 477 updates an outdated 1999 opinion on encrypted communications, which provided generally that a lawyer could, without violating his or her obligations of confidentiality, transmit confidential client information through unencrypted e …

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