ABA-442
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| As long as the receiving lawyer did not obtain an electronic document in an improper manner, the lawyer may ethically examine the document's metadata, including even using "more thorough or extraordinary investigative measures" that might "permit the retrieval of imbedded information that the provider of electronic documents either did not know existed, or thought was deleted." The opinion does not analyze whether the transmission of such metadata is "inadvertent," but at most such an inadvertent transmission would require the receiving lawyer to notify the sending lawyer of the metadata's receipt. Lawyers "sending or producing" electronic documents can take steps to avoid transmitting metadata (through new means such as scrubbing software, or more traditional means such as faxing the document). Lawyers can also negotiate confidentiality agreements or protective orders allowing the client "to 'pull back,' or prevent the introduction of evidence based upon, the document that contains that imbedded information or the information itself." |