ABA-520
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| (Under Rule 1.16 (d), lawyers have a “limited duty” in “limited situations” to provide former clients or their lawyers “certain information that is not already memorialized in the client’s file;“ ABA LEO 471 (2015) addressed the duty’s application to documents, and confirmed that the duty did not apply to material information or the lawyer’s errors discovered after the representation ended; as for information “not memorialized in the materials,” lawyers must disclose such unrecorded information if: (1) it is “necessary to protect the former client’s interests in the matter” and (2) it is “reasonably practicable to do so, “unless the information: (1) “is readily accessible elsewhere, or by other means;” (2) “concern[s] a different matter,” such as litigation following “a completed business transaction“ about which the former client seeks useful information; (3) involves the generation of “further work product;” (4) would require the lawyer to retrieve information not in the lawyer’s possession or otherwise known; (5) would obligate the lawyer “to perform further work, such as reviewing a court file, to refresh the lawyer’s recollection,” or “tak[ing] steps to acquire information, research and generate written responses;” (6) involves former clients’ “repetitive or excessively time – consuming requests;” or (7) would require the lawyer to “perform[ ] further legal services;” lawyers receiving requests from successor counsel must confirm the former client’s consent to the disclosure) |