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.

Panel: Global Law: A Comparative Look At Privilege and Confidentiality

A panel discussion entitled Global Law: A Comparative Look At Privilege and Confidentiality will be held on 28 January 2010, at New York University School of Law, in New York City, New York, USA.

Those wishing to attend are asked to register by 15 January 2010. For registration instructions, please see the announcement.

Here are the participants:

• Program chairs:
• Barbara S. Gillers, Adjunct Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
• Michael H. Byowitz, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
• Panelists:
• Barbara S. Gillers, Adjunct Professor of Law, Moderator
• Theodore Edelman, Sullivan & Cromwell, New York, New York
• Barton Legum, Salans, Paris, France
• James W. Paul, Clifford Chance, New York, New York

The panel is sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of International Law and the New York University School of Law.

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.