Philadelphia Ethics Opinion on Departed Partner’s Email

I’ve advised a lot of lawyers over the years who are pondering leaving one firm for another, or for a solo career.  There are a lot of “do’s and don’ts” that are pretty common, and a nice summary, under Illinois law, is here.

Philadelphia’s bar association recently addressed whether the firm from which a lawyer had left could, or must, monitor the departed lawyer’s email or, instead, had to set it up so that emails automatically bounced.   Opinion 2013-4 (Sept. 2013) is here.  Boiled down, it says that the firm has to monitor but also has to watch out for email that it needs to forward to the lawyer, or otherwise take action on.

About David

Professor of Law, Mercer University School of Law. Formerly Of Counsel, Taylor English Duma, LLP and in 2012-13, judicial clerk to Chief Judge Rader.