In its May 2015 report, the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Special Committee on Attorney Ethics and Admissions declined to recommend any amendment to RPC 1.1, or to add an official comment to that rule as the ABA had done in the model rule. Model Rule 1.1 relates to necessary “competence,” while New Jersey’s RPC 1.1 proscribes “gross negligence” and “a pattern of negligence.” Hence, adoption of the ABA requirement of “keep[ing] abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology” in order to “maintain requisite knowledge and skill,” would, according to the committee, require competent attorneys “to develop immediate facility with new and emerging technologies or face allegations that they no longer provide competent (and ethical) representation.”

We appreciate that the Supreme Court followed the committee recommendation not to amend the rule. We would hesitate to have a rule of professional conduct—the violation of which may result in discipline—turn on someone’s inability to master technology on an accelerated basis when he or she has not been exposed to it as our younger colleagues have been for many years. And this lack of exposure is particularly true of competent and respected members of the bar for 40 or more years. Further, many such colleagues can turn to others in their firms for help with technology.

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