Suffolk Law professor Andy Perlman helps shape the future of legal ethics as Chief Reporter for the ABA's Commission on Ethics 20/20

Technology has irrevocably changed the practice of law in fundamental ways, impacting how lawyers conduct investigations, engage in legal research, advise their clients, conduct discovery, and market their services. But not all aspects of the profession have kept pace with that change.

"Technology is revolutionizing the practice of law," says Suffolk University Law School Professor Andrew M. Perlman. "The problem is that the rules of professional conduct have not offered lawyers clear guidance about how to use these new forms of technology ethically."    

That's why Carolyn B. Lamm, past president of the American Bar Association (ABA), created the Commission on Ethics 20/20: to ensure that attorneys understand the benefits and risks associated with ever changing technology and the increasing globalization of the profession. As a specialist in legal ethics, Perlman was appointed as the Commission's Chief Reporter.

Over a three-year period, this Commission developed various proposals to amend the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and related ABA policies in order to give lawyers the guidance that they need. Those proposals were adopted, with minimal opposition, during the ABA's Annual Meeting in August 2012, and will likely be adopted in similar form by states across the country.

The recently adopted changes address a number of issues, including:

• Confidentiality: explaining what lawyers need to do to satisfy their confidentiality obligations when using cloud computing, tablets, and smartphones
• Advertising: clarifying how the principles underlying the advertising rules apply to new forms of Internet-based marketing
• Outsourcing: providing guidance to lawyers on their ethical responsibilities when they outsource legal and law related services
• Globalization: facilitating the movement of lawyers from one jurisdiction to another without their having to sit for the bar examination

Professor Perlman believes that the changes reflect an important step in the development of the law governing lawyers, but that it is "just one step along a road that will have unexpected twists and turns." Perlman explained that the changes to the Rules are useful, but additional changes might be necessary in the future to address new forms of technology that lawyers can't even begin to imagine today.