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Edward S. Cheng quoted in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly on proposed changes to the Rules of Professional Conduct in Massachusetts

Edward S. Cheng, partner in the firm’s Litigation Department, was quoted in the August 21st issue of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. The article, “Amendments seek to adapt professional conduct rules to rise in remote work,” discusses the Supreme Judicial Court Standing Advisory Committee’s proposed changes to the Rules of Professional Conduct in Massachusetts due to the rise in remote work.

Read the full article from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (subscriber content).

 From the article:

Boston professional malpractice attorney Edward S. Cheng noted that we now live and work a “different world” from when the Rules of Professional Responsibility were first drafted.

“COVID accelerated a trend that was already happening,” he said. “Opinion 495 and the Standing Committee’s addition of the comment just reflects that reality.”

Cheng said that he appreciated that the Advisory Committee took a “reasonably straightforward approach” rather than lay out something like a multi-factor test.

“They just put it in one sentence, and that one sentence really just reflects common sense,” he said.

The typical situation might be someone who lives in Massachusetts but works in New Hampshire or another adjoining state close to the border, Cheng noted. At this point, the Advisory Committee would have been hard pressed to suggest that every lawyer who stayed home to work since 2020 had done something unethical.

“Frankly, the horse was already out of the barn,” he said.