We've updated the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center's metadata ethics opinion comparison chart to include another new opinion issued this year: Vermont.

The Vermont Bar Association's Professional Responsibility Section joined nearly all other bar associations that have weighed in on metadata by agreeing that Vermont lawyers have a duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid disclosing confidential information via metadata when transmitting electronic files.

On the more contentious issue of whether an attorney receiving electronic files may examine documents for metadata, Vermont's view is similar to that of the ABA and several other state bar associations: nothing in the rules ethically prohibit a lawyer from examining the metadata. Indeed, Vermont stated that such a restriction could limit a lawyer's ability to diligently analyze materials received from opposing counsel.

Finally, as with the majority of bar associations that have taken up the topic, Vermont agreed that a lawyer has a duty to notify opposing counsel if he or she finds metadata that the lawyer should reasonably know was inadvertently disclosed.

The metadata comparison chart now includes twelve jurisdictions plus the ABA, with links to the full opinions where available.