Data security is your responsibility even if you don’t understand how it works.
Ever since law firms began using computers, there have been concerns about whether attorneys must or should use special security measures, like encryption, to protect confidential and sensitive information. Changes in ethical and procedural rules, including the requirements that lawyers must (1) be technologically competent, and (2) redact court filings, highlight the need for lawyers to be proactive when handling everything from email to smart phones to their office technology.
This program will explore and provide practical tips about attorneys’ duties to safeguard electronic communications, including:
- Competence and confidentiality in the use of technology
- Ethical and legal duties for handling electronic data
- What is encryption, and how and when to use it
- When, and by what methods, attorneys may attachments containing “information relating to representation of a client”
- Threats to the security of electronic data and communications
- An easy to understand explanation of encryption
- Options for securing electronic data and communications
- How and when attorneys may use unencrypted email and when they must take special security precautions when required by a client, by rule, by law, or when the nature of the information requires a higher degree of security
- Practical tips to safeguard confidential and sensitive data
The Agenda
Welcome & Introduction
Safeguarding Confidential Information: Attorney’s Ethical & Legal Obligations
An Overview of the Many Types of Threats to Law Firms and Their Electronic Data
An Easy-To-Understand Introduction to Encryption
Practical Steps: How to Secure Electronic Data and Communications
How and When Attorneys May Use Unencrypted Communications and When They Must Take Special Security Precautions
Co-sponsored by the PBA Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Committee
All attendees will receive the course book as a digital download. A printed copy of the course book is available, at a discount to attendees, for $40. Additional copies are available at full price. If you wish to purchase the printed version of the course book, please call PBI Customer Service at 800-932-4637. Please allow up to two weeks after the program for the printed versions of the course book to be shipped.
Recorded in March 2022.