Issue Number 2, 2010

Email and Firm Names

This issue of the Legal Malpractice Advisory examines email confidentiality and fraud. We also call your attention to a new Texas ethics opinion on law firm names.

Check out our new blog at www.tlie.org/blog. The blog will be updated about weekly. Our newest blog entry tells about 4 Texas ethics opinions we use frequently to answer questions from insureds. We post links to new cases and loss prevention ideas on twitter @legalmal.

Unsolicited Email and Obligations of Confidentiality

By Jett Hanna

Establishment of an attorney client relationship has always been a difficult issue at the margins. Texas law holds that a lawyer has a duty to warn a non-client that they are not a client if it is reasonable for the person to assume that they are the client. Parker v. Carnahan, 772 S.W.2d 151 (Tex. App.-Texarkana 1989, writ denied). A fact finder can look at all the circumstances and determine if someone reasonably believed they were a client. This article will discuss when confidential relationships may exist for emails sent by non-clients.

Email Frauds on Lawyers

by Jett Hanna

There have been a number of reports over the last couple of years about a common type of email fraud against attorneys. Lawyers sometimes misunderstand what types of payment should be considered as received funds from which they can make disbursements. Cashier's checks and bank checks should not be considered good funds until funds are collected by the lawyer's bank from the other institution.

New Ethics Opinion on Law Firm Names

Question:

Is it permissible under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct for three law firms with different names to advertise cooperatively using the name of one of the law firms followed by the word “Group”?

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