ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission Files Recommendations for Changes to Legal Ethics Rules on Technology and Communication

The American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Ethics 20/20 has posted its resolutions and reports respecting recommended changes to U.S. legal ethics rules (scroll down), in light of changes in technology, the economy, and cross-jurisdictional practice.

These reports and resolutions will be considered by the ABA House of Delegates at the 2012 ABA Annual Meeting, to be held 2-7 August 2012, in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Here are the components of the reports and resolutions that concern legal informatics or legal communication:

• Introduction and Overview
• Technology and Confidentiality
• Technology and Client Development
• Outsourcing
• Model Rule 1.6 (Detecting and Disclosing Conflicts of Interest)

For more information, please see the complete list of reports and resolutions (scroll down).

The Commission will hold a roundtable on 1 June 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

HT @donnaseyle.

New ABA Ethics Opinion on Lawyers’ Use of Websites

American Bar Association (ABA) Formal Ethics Opinion 10-457 (August 5, 2010), on lawyers’ use of Websites, has been posted on the Avvo Blog.

The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 invites comments on the opinion, and on Internet-based client development tools. Comments are due December 15, 2010.

HT @MarkRosch and @joshuamking.

May 31 Deadline: Comments Requested on Legal Process Outsourcing, by ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission

Comments are requested — with submission deadline of 31 May 2010 — on the topic of the legal ethics of legal process outsourcing, by the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20.

The call for comments begins:

The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 is studying the ethical and professional regulatory implications of legal process outsourcing in a domestic and international context. The Commission is reviewing the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, existing ethics opinions and other literature and studies about this topic. The Commission is also interested in gathering information about domestic and international legal process outsourcing from lawyers, law firms, clients and outsourcing providers, and developed the following questions to do so.

Click here for the call for comments.

Click here to submit comments.

Ethics of Virtual Law Practice: A Debate Held on Twitter

A debate on the legal ethics of virtual law practices and virtual law offices, between Stephanie Kimbro, Esq. and Brian L. Tannebaum, Esq., was held on 7 May 2010, on Twitter. The debate was co-sponsored by 22 Tweets and ABA Journal.

Click here for the transcript.

The ethics of virtual law practices and virtual law offices is one of the topics on the agenda of the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20.

Written Testimony at ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission February 5 Public Hearing

Written testimony submitted to the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Ethics 20/20 at the commission’s first public hearing, held on 5 February 2010 at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel near Orlando, Florida, USA, is now available.

Click here for public comments on the commission’s Preliminary Issues Outline.

Here are upcoming commission events:

• April 29-30, 2010: The commission plans to meet in Washington, DC;
• June 2-5, 2010: The commission’s agenda will be the focus of
  the 2010 ABA National Conference on Professional Responsibility, at the Westin Hotel, in Seattle, Washington, USA.
• June 4, 2010: A Roundtable Discussion on the commission’s work will be held at the 2010 ABA National Conference on Professional Responsibility, at the Westin Hotel, in Seattle, Washington, USA.
• August 6, 2010: The commission will meet at the 2010 ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, USA;
• August 6, 2010: A public hearing will be held at the 2010 ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, USA;
• October 15, 2010: The commission will hold its fall meeting at the Hotel Sax, Chicago, Illinois, USA;
• October 16, 2010: A public hearing will be held at the commission’s fall meeting at the Hotel Sax, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

For more information, please see the commission’s Website.

[NOTE: Updated 1 August 2010 to correct date of August 2010 public hearing.]

Comments Available on ABA Ethics Reform Issues

Public comments on the Preliminary Issues Outline of the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Ethics 20/20 are now available.

Click here for an overview of the outline and the commission’s work.

The outline and comments will be discussed at the commission’s first public hearing, to be held on 5 February 2010 at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel near Orlando, Florida, USA.

January 11 Deadline to Sign Up to Testify at ABA Ethics Commission Public Hearing

Spaces are open, with application deadline of 11 January 2010, for persons wishing to testify at the first public hearing of the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Ethics 20/20, to be held on 5 February 2010 at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel near Orlando, Florida, USA.

Individuals or organizations wishing to testify are invited to contact Kimley Grant at grantk@staff.abanet.org or 312/988-5319.

For more information about the commission’s work and agenda items, many of which concern legal technology, information, or communication, please see the commission’s Website or my earlier post.

Request for Comment: Legal Ethics Reform Proposals Being Considered by ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission

[NOTE: Updated on 14 January 2010 to link to the public comments received by the commission.]

Comments are invited (please scroll down), with submission deadline of 31 December 2009, on the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 Preliminary Issues Outline.

Click here to view the public comments received by the commission.

The Commission’s charge is to “perform a thorough review of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the U.S. system of lawyer regulation in the context of advances in technology and global legal practice developments. Our challenge is to study these issues and, with 20/20 vision, propose policy recommendations that will allow lawyers to better serve their clients, the courts and the public now and well into the future.”

Please email comments about the outline to: ethics2020@staff.abanet.org. Please send questions to Commission Counsel Ellyn S. Rosen at rosene@staff.abanet.org. Click here to join the Commission’s listserv.

Legal informatics researchers may be interested to note that the outline covers many of the key issues concerning the role of technology in legal practice.

Among the topics addressed in the outline are:

• Multijurisdictional practice;
• Outsourcing of legal services;
• Conflicts of interest;
• Confidential information: different rules applicable in different jurisdictions; the impact of privacy and data protection laws;
• Choice of law;
• Alternative business structures for law firms: nonlawyer owners or managers, multidisciplinary practices, publicly traded firms, etc.;
• Regulation of law firms as well as individual lawyers, and whether lawyer/law firm regulation should be more proactive;
• International arbitration;
• Issues related to technology:
• Whether current legal ethics rules inhibit technology-enabled multijurisdictional practice;
• Virtual law firms;
• Regulation of legal advice respecting law that is uniform throughout the U.S.;
• Lawyers’ use of social networking technology;
• Unbundling of legal services;
• Opensourcing of legal services;
• Online sharing of work product (i.e., “peer to peer”);
• Lawyer accountability, and transparency of information respecting lawyer regulation: providing free online access to information about public lawyer regulatory actions; lawyer rating services; access to information about regulatory actions related to non-U.S. lawyers;
• The rule of technology in access to justice;
• Technology and lawyer competence;
• Technology and inadvertent disclosure of privileged/confidential information: especially in connection with cloud computing;
• Technology and data retention;
• Protection of clients from effects of lawyers’ inappropriate use of technology, including social media;
• Technology and lawyers’ exposure to regulation by jurisdictions in which lawyers do not wish to practice.