It is intended solely for the person to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and please delete the message from your system immediately. Firms can usefully attach this sample warning message to e-mail correspondence by using a template or a signature block. Firms may feel that attaching such a warning to all e-mail correspondence is unnecessarily burdensome and may depreciate the importance of the warning. However, unless solicitors consider whether to include a confidentiality warning on each occasion they send a message, it is recommended that the warning be attached to all e-mail correspondence.
Email presents new problems because it can arrive unperceived by other members of staff.
Firms are recommended to make effective technical and practical arrangements to ensure that e-mails receive a timely and appropriate response. It is also recommended that, in the same way as firms arrange for mail and faxes to be checked when a member of staff is absent, arrangements should be made to check incoming e-mails when a person is absent. Especially if an absent solicitor has subscribed to mailing lists and remains subscribed while on holiday. In disputes even deleted e-mails may well be subject to disclosure. This may include obligations to notify the subject of the personal data about why you are processing their personal data and who you may pass it to, and their prior consent may be required before processing their data in certain circumstances.