LawSites: “The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility today issued a formal ethics opinion providing guidance on virtual law practices. The opinion (Formal Opinion 498) makes clear that the Model Rules of Professional Conduct permit lawyers to conduct their practices virtually, but it urges caution, competence and diligence with regard to the use of technology in order to guard against inadvertent or unauthorized disclosures of client information. It also emphasizes the importance of appropriately supervising remote staff and outside vendors, and of adhering to state variances in trust accounting rules…”