NYC Bar Guides Attorneys on U.S. Border E-Device Searches (Bloomberg BNA)
Bloomberg BNA, July 28, 2017
NYC Bar Guides Attorneys on U.S. Border E-Device Searches
“Attorneys crossing the U.S. border now have more guidance on how they should protect confidential client information stored on electronic devices from the prying eyes of customs and immigration agents. A formal opinion issued July 25 by the New York City Bar’s ethics committee identifies some measures attorneys who travel internationally may take to satisfy their ethical obligations, in light of broad powers that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents assert they have to inspect travelers’ electronic devices. ‘The Opinion provides helpful guidance to lawyers on an important and timely issue,’ Bruce Green, a professor at Fordham law school and chair of the committee that issued the opinion, told Bloomberg BNA. ‘In this day and age lawyers are constantly in possession of confidential information on their computers and smartphones and have an ethical obligation to reasonably protect this information.’ The ethics opinion appears to be the first to address the topic and comes at time when there has been uptick in U.S. border electronic devices searches by CBP agents.”
