The State Bar Association of North Dakota Spring 2014 Gavel Magazine | Page 15

Sometimes The Best
Solution Is Resolution.
Lisa N. Borgen
Litigation and
Family Law
• Qualified neutral under
Rule 114 on all civil
and family rosters in
Minnesota
• Former District Court
Judge in Northwestern
Minnesota

Jerilynn
Brantner Adams

Lisa
Edison-Smith

Angie Lord

Leah Sonstelie
Warner

Bob Udland

Family Law

Employment Law

Litigation

Family Law

Employment Law
and Litigation

• Focusing on divorce and
child custody disputes
• 19 years of experience
in family law
• North Dakota Statewide
ADR Neutral Roster

• Former Clay County
attorney

• Focusing on workplace
disputes and employment
litigation

• Mediation focus in general
litigation, professional
liability and personal injury

• MSBA Certified Labor and
Employment
Law Specialist

• 15+ years of trial
experience

• Qualified Neutral under Rule
114 in Minnesota, as well
as North Dakota Statewide
ADR Neutral Roster

• Qualified Neutral
under Rule 114 in
Minnesota, as well as
North Dakota Statewide
ADR Neutral Roster

• Focusing on family law
mediation
• 12 years of experience in
family law and litigation
• Qualified Neutral
under Rule 114 in
Minnesota, as well as
North Dakota Statewide
ADR Neutral Roster

• Chair, Joint ADR
Committee of the NDSC
and the SBAND
• Qualified Neutral
under Rule 114 in
Minnesota, as well as
North Dakota Statewide
ADR Neutral Roster
• More than 37 years of
trial experience

www.vogellaw.com
With offices in Fargo, Bismarck and Williston, ND,
and Moorhead and Minneapolis, MN

be a weighing of the interests of the lawyer or law firm in producing
the client’s file in an efficient and cost-effective manner against the
client’s interest in receiving the records in a format that will be useful
to the client or successor counsel.” 12 The Committee explained:

circumstances require delivery of an electronic file. For instance, a
spreadsheet printed on paper without formulas could destroy the
usefulness of a file.14 “Similarly, a video recording cannot be reduced
to a paper format and therefore must be provided to the client in its
original format.” 15

Therefore, records that are stored on paper may be copied
and produced to the client in paper format if that is the
most convenient or least expensive method for reproducing
these records for the client. If converting paper records to
an electronic format would be a more convenient or less
expensive way to provide the records to the client, this is
permissible if the lawyer or law firm determines that the
records will be readily accessible to the client in this format
without undue expense. Similarly, electronic records may be
copied and provided to the client in an electronic format
(they do not have to be converted to paper) if the lawyer or
law firm determines that the records will be readily accessible
to the client in this format without undue expense. 13
The North Carolina Committee also noted that certain

1
North Carolina State Bar Formal Ethics Op. 2013-15, available at http://www.ncbar.com/ethics/
printopinion.asp?id=887
2
See, e.g., Maine Prof. Ethics Comm’n. of the Bd. of Overseers of the Bar Op. 183 ( January 28,
2004), available at http://www.mebaroverseers.org/attorney_services/opinion.html?id=89459 and
Op. 185 (April 1, 2004), available at http://www.mebaroverseers.org/attorney_services/opinion.
html?id=89456
3
State Bar Ass’n. of North Dakota Ethics Comm. Op. 99-03, available at https://www.sband.org/
userfiles/files/pdfs/ethics/99-03.pdf
4
Id. (citing State Bar Ass’n. of North Dakota Ethics Comm. Op. 97-09, available at https://www.
sband.org/userfiles/files/pdfs/ethics/97-09.pdf ).
5
North Carolina State Bar Ethics Comm. Op. 2013-15, p-1.

Finally, the North Carolina Committee noted that both attorneys
and their clients would be well served to discuss at the beginning
of representation “the records that will be retained as a part of the
client’s file, and the format in which the records will be produced at
the termination of the representation.”16 This also would be a prime
topic for coverage in North Dakota engagement agreements and
retainer documents, especially given our Professional Conduct Rule
1.19 on client files.

Id.
N.D.R. Prof. Conduct. 1.16(e).
8
Id. cmt. 10.
9
N.D.R. Prof. Conduct. 1.19 cmt. 1.
10
North Carolina State Bar Ethics Op. 2013-15 at 2.
11
Id.
12
Id. (citation omitted).
13
Id.
14
Id.
15
Id.
16
Id.
6
7

SPRING 2014 15