TELESEMINAR: Ethics & Confidentiality in a Digital World

May 3, 2011
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
1.00 MCLE hours, including 1.00 Professional Responsibility MCLE credit hours (PMCLE credit subject to approval)

Telephone

There is a natural tension between technology and law practice. Law practice is based on discretion, considered judgment, and confidentiality, which tend to have the qualities of slow deliberation. Digital and wireless technology is universal, information is often public or at least easily accessible, and everything moves very fast. As lawyers adopt all forms of technology in their lives and practices – wireless networking, Cloud computing, Blackberries and iPhones, remote networks to work from home – it forces the major issue of how lawyers can adhere to ethics rules and yet tap the ease and efficiencies of technology. This program will examine the relationship between common forms of technology used by lawyers and law firms and attorney ethics rules, the tensions between the two, and best practices to avoid professional liability.

Highlights:

· Tension among technology, law practice, and lawyer ethics rules

· Blackberries, iPhones, Droids and the challenge of maintaining client confidences

· Remote networks and WiFi – how to tap their convenience without violating ethics rules

· Ethical issues when law firms use “The Cloud” to store case files and client communications

· Social media sites – Blogs, Facebook, Avvo – and issues of attorney advertising and giving legal advice

· Best practices for making the most of technology and preventing ethics violations

Program Speaker:

David Hricik, Mercer University School of Law, Macon, Georgia

Lucian T. Pera, Adams & Reese, LLP, Memphis, Tennessee
For more information about ISBA's Teleseminar programs, please visit: http://www.isba.org/cle/teleseminar

William Freivogel, Freivogel Ethics Consulting, Chicago

*Professional Responsibility MCLE credit subject to approval

David Hricik is a Professor of Law at the Mercer University School of Law in Macon, Georgia, where his teaching and writing focuses on lawyer ethics, litigation, technology and intellectual property. Professor is chair of the Professionalism & Ethics Committee of the American Intellectual Law Association, former chair of the ABA Committee on Professional Responsibility of the Intellectual Property Section, and served as a member of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct Committee. He also served as ex officio editor of “Information Security for Lawyers and Law Firms,” published by the ABA in 2006. Professor Hricik received his B.A. from the University of Arizona and his J.D. from Northwestern Law School.

Lucian T. Pera is a partner in the Memphis office of Adams & Reese, LLP. His practice includes professional malpractice litigation as well as counseling lawyers and law firms in the area of ethics and professional responsibility. He was a member of the ABA’s Ethics 2000 Commission and is co-author of "Ethics and Lawyering Today," a national e-mail newsletter on lawyer ethics, which is accessible at: www.ethicsandlawyering.com. Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk to Judge Harry W. Wellford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Mr. Pera received his A.B. with honors from Princeton University and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law.

William Freivogel is the principal of Freivogel Ethics Consulting and is an independent consultant to law firms on ethics and risk management. He was a trial lawyer for 22 years and has practiced in the areas of legal ethics and lawyer malpractice for 20 years. He is chair of the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct and recent past chair of the ABA Business Law Section Committee on Professional Responsibility. He maintains the Web site “Freivogel on Conflicts” at www.freivogelonconflicts.com. Mr. Freivogel is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Champaign), where he received his B.S. and LL.B.

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