Alaska Employment Law

The Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar Association on January 31st adopted the Opinion of the Ethics Committe as follows:

Simply because a lawyer may keep electronic records of his or her own business records, that does not mean the lawyer is free to discard “original” records. Rule 1.15 requires the lawyer to safeguard and hold a client’s property separate from the lawyer’s own property. Thus, for example, if a lawyer scans client documents for electronic document management, that does not relieve the lawyer from the obligation to maintain and safeguard the client’s property. Further, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act recognizes that certain types of documents must be maintained in original form. These include wills, testamentary trusts, and certain documents created under the Uniform Commercial Code. [citation omitted]
In the Committee’s view, the Alaska Rules of Professional Conduct by analogy to the Alaska Uniform Electronic Transactions Act permit lawyers to maintain any records required to be kept pursuant to Rules 1.4, 1.15 and 7.2 in electronic form. The lawyer must still maintain in original form any client documents entrusted for safekeeping.

Ethics Opinion No. 2008-1, 2008 WL 573146.