Dov Kesselman and Tara Smith Williams Published in HR Magazine
“Speak, You’re on Candid Recorder: Psst… Here’s the 411 on secret phone recordings”

The July 2007 issue of HR Magazine includes Dov Kesselman and Tara Williams’ article, “Speak, You’re on Candid Recorder.” In their article, Dov and Tara delineate the complexities involved with secretly recording conversations. Dov and Tara note that most states and federal statutes, “require the consent of only one party to a call to legally tape a telephone conversation.” However, they caution that “at least 11 states… require the consent of both parties to the call” before it can be recorded. The authors show that confusion arises “when a conversation between a person in a single-consent state and a person in a dual-consent state is taped.” The authors illustrate, however, that different courts in different states use different criteria to determine governing law. “In sum,” Dov and Tara note, “companies can navigate the issues presented by the conflicting state laws, but need to be aware that it no longer suffices to know your own state’s law.”