The question of whether attorneys will ever be required to be technologically competent sounds crazy. After all, 40 states have amended their Rules of Professional Conduct to include a comment, not a rule change, stating that understanding relevant technology is included in an attorney’s duty of competence. But if you look more closely, it becomes clear that states are not disciplining lawyers for technological incompetence that impact clients.

While some states have disciplined attorneys for failing to deal ethically with social media, few, if any, have imposed public discipline on attorneys who commit ethical transgressions based on their ethical incompetence or ignorance. There are two current examples.