{"id":1534,"date":"2021-04-01T19:30:09","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T19:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/can-opposing-counsel-contact-my-former-employees\/"},"modified":"2022-09-09T12:13:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T12:13:13","slug":"can-opposing-counsel-contact-my-former-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/can-opposing-counsel-contact-my-former-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Opposing Counsel Contact My Former Employees?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2utSR3ygc4s\"><strong>Watch the Video Here<\/strong><\/a><br \/><br \/>Georgia Bar rules generally prohibit an attorney from contacting a represented party, whether the adversary is an individual or a company. All communications should be routed through the adversary\u2019s attorney. But what about a company\u2019s former employees? Can a lawyer reach out to employees that left the company to try to get relevant information without obtaining permission from the company\u2019s lawyer?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>According to the latest advice from the Georgia Bar (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gabar.org\/newsandpublications\/announcement\/upload\/FAO-No-20-1.pdf\">Georgia Bar Formal Advisory Opinion 20-1<\/a>), the answer is yes \u2013 with a few caveats.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Caveats &#8211; Disclosure and Consent<\/strong><br \/>Generally, a lawyer may contact a former employee of an organization that is represented by counsel without obtaining that counsel\u2019s consent, provided that the lawyer makes certain disclosures to the former employee.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>The lawyer must identify who they represent and identify their client\u2019s relationship to the organization; and<\/li>\r\n<li>The lawyer must clearly identify the reason they are contacting the former employee.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>After providing these disclosures, the lawyer also must explicitly obtain the former employee\u2019s consent to the communication.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Practical Meaning<\/strong><br \/>So, what does this actually mean?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>A lawyer can\u2019t try to \u201cget dirt\u201d on your company by calling your former employees and misrepresenting the nature of the call. Similarly, a lawyer can\u2019t instruct her paralegal to send messages to your former employees on social media soliciting information about your company. If a lawyer is going to contact a former employee of a represented company, <strong>the lawyer needs to clearly identify themselves, explain the reason they\u2019re calling, and describe the information they are seeking<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Important Steps<\/strong><br \/>So, how do you protect yourself and limit the information that your former employees can share with opposing counsel?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>First, consider whether the employee had access to any privileged or confidential information. If your former employees are subject to a non-disclosure agreement based on their employment agreement or separation agreement, they are bound to uphold the terms of that non-disclosure agreement.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Second, if the employee had access to information that is subject to the attorney-client privilege, they have an obligation to maintain the confidentiality of that information.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Finally, if the employee had access to your company\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/pandemic-reducing-risk-of-trade-secret-theft-by-departing-employees\/\">trade secrets<\/a>, they could be liable for damages if they expose privileged information.<\/p>\r\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Can opposing counsel contact my former employees?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2utSR3ygc4s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>If you are concerned that a former employee may disclose confidential information to an adversary\u2019s lawyer and you need legal advice regarding your rights and responsibilities, please <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/attorney\/katherine-m-silverman\/\">reach out to me<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch the Video Here Georgia Bar rules generally prohibit an attorney from contacting a represented party, whether the adversary is an individual or a company. All communications should be routed through the adversary\u2019s attorney. But what about a company\u2019s former employees? Can a lawyer reach out to employees that left the company to try to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mo_disable_npp":"no","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,195,9,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Can Opposing Counsel Contact My Former Employees? - Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How do you protect yourself and limit the information that your former employees can share with opposing counsel?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/can-opposing-counsel-contact-my-former-employees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can Opposing Counsel Contact My Former Employees? 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