ISBA Professional Conduct Advisory Opinion

Opinion Number: Opinion No. 98-04
Opinion Date: January 1998

Lawyer inadvertently receives confidential information from opposing party

Digest

A lawyer who, without notice of the inadvertent transmission, receives and reviews an opposing party’s confidential materials through the error or inadvertence of opposing counsel, may use information in such materials.  A lawyer who knows of an inadvertent transmission before confidential materials of an opposing party have been opened and reviewed should return such materials without examination.  A lawyer has a duty to advise a client that confidential information was inadvertently transmitted to and read by opposing counsel. 


Professional Conduct Advisory Opinions are provided by the ISBA as an educational service to the public and the legal profession and are not intended as legal advice. The opinions are not binding on the courts or disciplinary agencies, but they are often considered by them in assessing lawyer conduct.