Ethics & Technology Resources

This Ethics and Technology page is a collection of resources addressing attorney professional responsibility issues that arise in connection with the use of Internet websites, email, chat rooms and other technologies. The resources include advisory ethics opinions, articles and MCLE programs. Most of the links to these resources are internal links to other State Bar pages. Some are external links to local or specialty bar association and other websites.

• Ethics Opinions
• Articles
• Online MCLE Programs

The above links organize items by the type of resources. The links below organize the same collection of resources by subject matter.

• Online Communication (email, chat, blogs, etc...)
• Electronic Files (cloud computing, ediscovery, metadata, virtual law office, etc...)
• Advertising (website and email content issues)
• Social Media
• Internet/Email Scams
• Miscellaneous

The links below are to the Rules of Professional Conduct that account for lawyer use of technology.

• Rule 1.1, Comment [1] - clarifies the duty of competence to include keeping abreast of technology in the practice of law (operative March 22, 2021)
• Rule 1.4, Comment [2] - updates the duty to provide copies of significant documents to expressly permit provision by "electronic or other means"
• Rule 1.16(e) - clarifies a lawyer's duty to release all client materials when terminating a representation to expressly include release of client materials created or held in "electronic or other form"
• Rule 4.4 - requires a lawyer who receives inadvertently produced materials that obviously appear to be subject to the attorney-client privilege or confidential and privileged to  immediately notify the sender
• Rule 7.2(a) - clarifies the advertising rules to provide that a lawyer may advertise through "electronic means of communication, including public media"
• Rule 7.5, Comment - clarifies the scope of the rule governing a lawyer's professional designation to include logos and "URLs"