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HIPAA, Data Privacy, and How to Avoid the Wall of Shame
January 23, 2024In March 2023, a New York-based medical malpractice law firm agreed to pay a $200,000 financial penalty to the New York Attorney General to settle alleged HIPAA and NY privacy law violations. The ransomware “LockBit” victimized the law firm and compromised the private information of 114,000 patients. How did LockBit Read the full post
Safekeeping Property: Avoiding Ethical Pitfalls with Client Funds
January 19, 2023A surprising number of disciplinary actions stem from the mismanagement of client’s funds or property. In fact, according to the State Bar of Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline’s 2020-2021 annual report, failing to properly safeguard client property as required under Texas Ethics Rule 1.14 (Safekeeping Rule), rounded out the top Read the full post
Duty of Confidentiality in Correcting Client Statements
July 22, 2022Most lawyers generally understand their duty of confidentiality. And yet, the duty of confidentiality is a common pitfall for many attorneys. Often there are competing forces at play–the attorney’s duty to preserve confidential information relating to a client’s representation pursuant to Rule 1.05 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Read the full post
Confidentiality Obligations to Prospective Clients under Texas Ethics Opinion 691
November 10, 2021What are your confidentiality obligations to prospective clients? The Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas (“Ethics Committee”) has weighed in with Opinion 691 (“Opinion”). We’ve provided a brief summary and key takeaways below. The facts presented to the Ethics Committee were as follows. Five years ago, Wife Read the full post
Practical Tips for Texas Lawyers on Staying Ethical on Social Media
August 3, 2021Attorneys have increasingly embraced social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Avvo for professional purposes. According to the American Bar Association’s 2020 Legal Technology Survey Report, 77% of all respondents reported using social media for professional purposes. LinkedIn is currently the leading social media platform for attorneys, with 88% Read the full post
Can You Ever Reveal Client Secrets? Even If They Are Posted Online?
June 29, 2015A recent proposed California ethics opinion discusses a number of scenarios in which client confidentiality may be involved. Of course, matters subject to attorney-client privilege cannot not be revealed, but unprivileged information obtained in the course of representing clients is also confidential. In one of the opinion’s scenarios, a lawyer Read the full post