Can I Access Old Firm Email Account?? Forum

[calisolo]

Hi all. As my login indicates, I am now a solo attorney. I left my firm recently and have a question for you all that I cannot seem to find online. My email address at my firm was a standard gmail account (xxxxlaw@gmail.com), and I am trying to find out whether I can still access it. I highly doubt they have changed my password, and since it is just a regular gmail account (which is in my name) I can access it from anywhere.

The reason I want to access the email is because the state bar as well as other professional organizations were sending important emails to that address. My concern of course is that it contains client communications.

Anyone?

[North]

Just update the state bar and other organizations with your new e-mail address...

[BVest]

Just update the state bar and other organizations with your new e-mail address...

If you're concerned that you'll forget some organization or other, you could also request that the firm provide a print out of the inbox for some sufficient number of messages so that you have a list of people whom you need to contact (assuming you didn't leave a bag of dog poo on the managing partner's desk on the way out).

[calisolo]

Thanks for the suggestion, and I have done so. That said, there are still emails I would like to obtain that were sent to that address.

Although the emails I seek are not work-related, I am not sure it is necessarily imprudent to access my email. Even if there was information relating to clients, they are communications that were meant for me. At the end of the day, I want to access the email. I am inquiring as to whether it is unethical (according to the law) to do so. I realize I am a lawyer, and that I can dive in deeper in my search. I was just hoping someone has dealt with this before as a brief search online has proved fruitless.

Thanks!

[calisolo]

Just update the state bar and other organizations with your new e-mail address...

If you're concerned that you'll forget some organization or other, you could also request that the firm provide a print out of the inbox for some sufficient number of messages so that you have a list of people whom you need to contact (assuming you didn't leave a bag of dog poo on the managing partner's desk on the way out).

I've actually worked hard to make sure I do things the right way. Hence the fact that I have not to this point just logged right in to the email to check it. While I was (I believe) diligent in ensuring I left cases with a good hand-off, my ex-boss is (1) super busy, and (2) kind of an asshole. He has thus far ignored my messages with regard to everything else. I anticipate he would wholly ignore this kind of request.

[BVest]

Thanks for the suggestion, and I have done so. That said, there are still emails I would like to obtain that were sent to that address.

Although the emails I seek are not work-related, I am not sure it is necessarily imprudent to access my email. Even if there was information relating to clients, they are communications that were meant for me. At the end of the day, I want to access the email. I am inquiring as to whether it is unethical (according to the law) to do so. I realize I am a lawyer, and that I can dive in deeper in my search. I was just hoping someone has dealt with this before as a brief search online has proved fruitless.

Thanks!

As far as what's ethical in your state (guessing California), try the state bar ethics helpline.

The rest is slightly OT:
From an academic standpoint, I find the use of gmail and other common services for such accounts interesting. Questions like who set up the email address, what your role in the firm was, and whether the ownership of the email address was addressed in documents related to your employment/partnership or separation would seem to be factors in who actually owns the email (even if you wouldn't be able to use it going forward because of potential inclusion of the firm name in the address).

In my old business, I actually did use gmail for my employees accounts because gmail has great spam filters (highly effective with very few false positives and easy to set up filters to avoid false positives common to your company, such as keywords related to the products we offered). The difference there was that I set up the accounts and I kept the passwords. Further, the use of gmail was invisible to the customers and largely to the employees as well. Their actual email addresses were employeename@company.com, which in turn forwarded directly to a gmail account (company.employeename@gmail.com). But then that was a non-professional business, so I didn't have any ethical issues; I just wanted to be sure an employee couldn't take anything after termination.

[calisolo]

Thanks for the suggestion, and I have done so. That said, there are still emails I would like to obtain that were sent to that address.

Although the emails I seek are not work-related, I am not sure it is necessarily imprudent to access my email. Even if there was information relating to clients, they are communications that were meant for me. At the end of the day, I want to access the email. I am inquiring as to whether it is unethical (according to the law) to do so. I realize I am a lawyer, and that I can dive in deeper in my search. I was just hoping someone has dealt with this before as a brief search online has proved fruitless.

Thanks!

As far as what's ethical in your state (guessing California), try the state bar ethics helpline.

The rest is slightly OT:
From an academic standpoint, I find the use of gmail and other common services for such accounts interesting. Questions like who set up the email address, what your role in the firm was, and whether the ownership of the email address was addressed in documents related to your employment/partnership or separation would seem to be factors in who actually owns the email (even if you wouldn't be able to use it going forward because of potential inclusion of the firm name in the address).

In my old business, I actually did use gmail for my employees accounts because gmail has great spam filters (highly effective with very few false positives and easy to set up filters to avoid false positives common to your company, such as keywords related to the products we offered). The difference there was that I set up the accounts and I kept the passwords. Further, the use of gmail was invisible to the customers and largely to the employees as well. Their actual email addresses were employeename@company.com, which in turn forwarded directly to a gmail account (company.employeename@gmail.com). But then that was a non-professional business, so I didn't have any ethical issues; I just wanted to be sure an employee couldn't take anything after termination.

Very Helpful. Really appreciate it.

[A. Nony Mouse]

No one here can give you a legal opinion about whether this is ethical - in part because most people here aren't yet lawyers, but mostly because it's against forum rules. You'll need to contact your state bar association or an attorney specializing in legal ethics.