The State Bar of Michigan’s Standing Committee on Professional Ethics issued a new ethics opinion offering guidelines on how to handle the disposition of files when a lawyer-client relationship is terminated.
The opinion, RI-392, was issued December 12, and builds upon Formal Opinion R-19, issued in 2000.
The new opinion focuses on what exactly a client is entitled to receive upon the termination of representation.
“Among other things, R-19 opined that a client’s right is one of access rather than possession or ownership. While R-19 provided helpful guidance on the subject of lawyer files, several questions persist: What does ‘access’ to the files mean? To what portions of the lawyer’s file does a client have a right of ‘access?’ How many times must ‘access, be granted? These and related questions were not answered specifically in R-19 but frequently arise in the context of termination of a lawyer’s representation,” RI-392 states.
The new opinion goes on to break down various aspects of file disposition after termination of client-attorney relationships, including the following:
• Proper means of giving access
• Providing paper vs electronic copies
• Scope of information to which access must be given
• Charging for copies
• Record retention
• Multiple copy requests
• Damaged files
• Disposition of files upon a lawyer’s retirement
• Attorney liens
To read the full opinion, visit https://www.michbar.org/opinions/ethics/numbered_opinions/RI-392
The opinion, RI-392, was issued December 12, and builds upon Formal Opinion R-19, issued in 2000.
The new opinion focuses on what exactly a client is entitled to receive upon the termination of representation.
“Among other things, R-19 opined that a client’s right is one of access rather than possession or ownership. While R-19 provided helpful guidance on the subject of lawyer files, several questions persist: What does ‘access’ to the files mean? To what portions of the lawyer’s file does a client have a right of ‘access?’ How many times must ‘access, be granted? These and related questions were not answered specifically in R-19 but frequently arise in the context of termination of a lawyer’s representation,” RI-392 states.
The new opinion goes on to break down various aspects of file disposition after termination of client-attorney relationships, including the following:
• Proper means of giving access
• Providing paper vs electronic copies
• Scope of information to which access must be given
• Charging for copies
• Record retention
• Multiple copy requests
• Damaged files
• Disposition of files upon a lawyer’s retirement
• Attorney liens
To read the full opinion, visit https://www.michbar.org/opinions/ethics/numbered_opinions/RI-392
