Alleged Pillow Talk Via Email

An attorney who allegedly provided his spouse with unfettered access to his law firm email account has been charged with violations of the duty of confidentiality by Ohio Disciplinary Counsel.

The spouse is not an attorney and was not employed by the law firm. She is a "content metadata specialist for a large corporation."

The conduct was discovered by the firm shortly after the attorney moved to another firm when one of the attorney's former clients sought the case file. An associate with access to his computer files found "derogatory" comments about firm employees.

The firm's office manager then found the alleged spousal sharing.

He allegedly gave his user name, password and firm domain information to his spouse one week after starting there. He was at the firm for nearly four years.

The remarkable allegations are that he shared client confidential financial information with his spouse, that she had regular access to "client names, case types and descriptions of their legal issues," and that she reviewed and sometimes edited his work emails.

Further, she allegedly had access to confidential firm salary and performance information from which she created a chart comparing his salary and bonuses with four other firm lawyers. (Mike Frisch)