Abstract
In an effort to explore the potential threats that technology creates within the facets of the legal professions, the present article touches upon the ethical obligations of a lawyer receiving metadata inadvertently sent, in a non-discovery context. This analysis emphasizes the ethical pitfalls of the handling of metadata that is discovered by the recipient, without taking deliberate active steps to uncover metadata through mining. Although the present investigation builds on the current U.S. regulatory framework, in particular the American Bar Association (ABA) Rules of Professional Conduct (Model Rules) and on the opinions of the different state bars’ ethics commissions, the ethical considerations advanced herein and the further issues raised can be transposed in other jurisdictional arenas, overcoming a narrow normative positivism, and identifying overarching ethical issues that call for further reflection, rather than universal responses.
Last Page
43
Recommended Citation
Riccardo Tremolada,
The Legal Ethics of Metadata: Accidental Discovery of Inadvertently Sent Metadata and The Ethics of Taking Advantage of Others' Mistakes,
25
Rich. J.L. & Tech
1
(2024).
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/jolt/vol25/iss4/3