All firm-owned portable computing and storage devices used for firm business should be secured with encryption. Malpractice and cyber liability insurance applications are increasingly asking for information about how firms are securing data, including device encryption. If your firm works with clients in the financial or health-care sectors they may request an audit, or evidence of security protocols and standard…
Today’s smartphones are millions of times more powerful than the Apollo 11 guidance computers. While they still can’t take us to the moon, these small but mighty computers give us the world of work (and play) in our pockets. How can you apply protections to ensure that your device is properly secured against exposure of confidential client and personal information?…
The security landscape has become overwhelming for many lawyers. The last 10 years have witnessed an increasing awareness that a lack of compliance with security best practices may put lawyers and their clients at elevated risk. The updates to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct in 2012, now adopted by nearly 39 states, served as a wake-up call to…
On May 18, 2022 the CPM Learning Objective online seminar was called How to Identify a Phishing Attempt and Thwart It. Opening or clicking on one link in a phishing email sent to your firm can have disastrous effects. It is not just email either, they come from phone calls, texts, messaging services, and more. Learn how to identify the…
Whether you are preparing for retirement, already retired, or just cleaning up old files that have long passed the retention period you probably have some documents that need shredding. What are the ethical requirements and the practical realities of shredding old legal documents? Read on! Keep, Toss, or Shred? In a private law firm records include, but are not limited…
Securing and protecting your firm’s data are essential. Client files, important communications, and valuable work product often exist exclusively in digital format today, and thus a major data loss could have catastrophic professional and ethical ramifications. Whether you are creating a plan for business continuity that contemplates natural disasters, fabricated disasters, pandemics, or other things that go bump in the…
If an attorney or support team member is terminated or quits, law firms should have a checklist of items that need to be acted on to ensure that firm and client data is not compromised and ensure client needs are met. Offboarding Checklists Most firms and businesses hold exit interviews. However, that is just one of many things to do…
Using templates for word processing documents is a wonderful way to maintain consistent formatting, reduce errors and improve efficiency. However, two “ripped from the headlines” examples serve as reminders of how templates can be a powerful risk management tool or lead to costly and embarrassing risk exposure. What Are Templates? There are many ways to leverage templates in the tools…
Every week subscribers receive the ICYMI enewsletter from the NCBA Center for Practice Management. The newsletter highlights tips, tools, trends, and techniques to help your law practice. Following are a few popular links from the past issues of the newsletter. Judge Disparaged Lawyer, Apparently Unaware of Livestream: ‘Can You Imagine Waking Up Next to Her Every Day?’ (January 21, 2022) We have…
In the early 2000s many lawyers were horrified to find that their documents could reveal more than they meant to share. In addition to forgetting to remove comments and track changes, Microsoft and PDF documents have file properties that reveal everything from author to editing times to file location. There are many ethics opinions that address metadata, including NC 2009…