About the Course
Introduction
This CLE course will discuss attorneys’ confidentiality obligations when the attorney works remotely or in non-traditional environments, including home offices, open-office configurations, coworking spaces, and while traveling, as there are special issues to consider to comply with confidentiality in these situations.
Description
All jurisdictions have some version of the ABA's Model Rule 1.6, which provides that a lawyer "shall not reveal information relating to the representation of a client." The duty of confidentiality is much broader than the attorney-client privilege.
An attorney must not disclose any information communicated in confidence by the client nor any information related to the representation, regardless of the source. There is no exception in the rule for "publicly available" or "generally available" information. However, some states exclude from the definition of "confidential information" information that is known to a sizeable percentage of people in the local community, trade, or field.
When attorneys and their clients work from locations outside a traditional private office often use a mix of email, messaging, and videoconferencing tools that might not be optimized for confidentiality.
Listen as the panel discusses the ways lawyers working remotely at home, in open offices, or while traveling can inadvertently disclose confidential information and ways to mitigate those risks.
Presented By
Mr. Dobson provides ethics advice to lawyers, represents lawyers in disciplinary matters, and practices immigration and nationality law at Dobson Law LLC. He has a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Furman University and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from New England School of Law. During law school, Mr. Dobson received CALI awards in both the Law and Ethics of Lawyering and International Business Transactions and served as Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of International and Comparative Law. He previously served as Georgia UPL Liaison for the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) Georgia-Alabama Chapter and was appointed by the Supreme Court of Georgia to serve as Chairperson of the District 1 UPL Committee for the State Bar of Georgia from 2014 to 2017. Mr. Dobson is currently a member of AILA’s National Ethics Committee and was chair from 2017 to 2021. He is also a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility’s (APRL) Cross-Border Practice Subcommittee, which is working on proposed amendments to current ABA multi-jurisdictional practice rules. Additionally, Mr. Dobson is a member of the New York City Bar Association’s Mindfulness & Wellbeing in Law Committee and vice-chair AILA’s new Lawyer Well-Being Committee. In October 2017, he became one of the first National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coaches.
Ms. Giannoni-Crystal is a dually qualified U.S. and Italian attorney. In her vicennial career she has provided assistance to a wide range of clients (industrial, commercial and technological companies, banks & financial institutions, law firms) both domestically and internationally. Ms. Giannoni-Crystal's practice has focused on transactional work and contractual issues (commercial law, banking law, Internet law, business law, international transactions, mergers and acquisitions, constitution and reorganization of companies, financing, and property development). She is also a “lawyer for lawyers”, assisting law firms in bridging activities Civil Law-Common law, and supporting other lawyers in international litigation (including international privileges), issues of cross border ethics, and international transactions.
Ms. Jacobowitz is a legal ethics, social media, and technology expert who is the founder and owner of Legal Ethics Advisor. For over a decade, she was the Director of the Professional Responsibility and Ethics Program (PREP) at the University of Miami's School of Law. Under her direction, PREP was a 2012 recipient of the ABA’s E Smythe Gambrell Award---the leading national award for a professionalism program. Ms. Jacobowitz provides legal ethics consulting, opinion letters, and CLE training to law firms and legal organizations. She also serves as a legal ethics expert in litigation matters. Recently, Ms. Jacobowitz has been involved in cases involving issues such as attorney fees, conflicts of interest, and the unauthorized practice of law.
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This 60-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.0 CLE credits.
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An excellent opportunity to earn Ethics CLE credits. Note: BARBRI cannot guarantee that this course will be approved for ethics credits in all states. To confirm, please contact our CLE department at pdservice@barbri.com.
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Date + Time
- event
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
- schedule
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
I. Duty of confidentiality (individual clients; organizational clients; over-inclusion on email and conferencing; prospective clients; continuation of the duty after the attorney-client relationship ends)
II. Confidentiality vs. attorney-client privilege vs. work product protection (authority; scope; application)
III. What constitutes a breach of confidentiality vs. a waiver of attorney client privilege or work product protection; practical guidance.
The panel will highlight practical issues and risk-mitigation steps, including:
· Model Rule 1.6, selected ABA Formal Opinions, and illustrative state law variations
· Practical precautions to reduce the risk of disclosure to unintended recipients
· How professional responsibility rules address technology and cybersecurity obligations, with some reference to selected ethics opinions and guidelines
· Differences among confidentiality, attorney-client privilege, lawyer practices that reduce inadvertent disclosure and privilege waiver when working remotely.
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