Page 10 - Leisure Living Magazine August 2017

Technology Affects
Lawyers Duty To
Protect Information
Continued from page 9
Q: Should my attorney’s law office employees be allowed to work remotely with my client data?
A: If there is a proper system in place, this may be acceptable, as long as the employee always adheres to your attorney’s profession obligations. You may want to question your attorney about the firm’s plan for protecting your client information at all times. For example, you might ask your attorney: Will any of your staff members work on the firm’s laptop or their home computers? Is the firm’s computer or external storage device password protected? Do staff members work on files remotely and email them to the office? There are many ways a law firm can address these concerns by using various encryption options. These options are now standard on most word processing programs and .pdf files,
but the encryption only works if a password is sent by separate email to the person receiving the information. Passwords should be changed daily, using a randomized password that nobody can memorize.
Q: Should I send information to my attorney through Instant Message, Facebook, or Instagram?
A: No. You cannot expect your attorney to safeguard your information when you submit it through an unsecure platform. Your attorney’s law office likely spends time and money to understand every aspect of the proper storage, transmission and destruction of your client information. Law offices also must train support staff and third-party vendors on the firm’s best practices. If you open the door for a data breach, however, none of your attorney’s safeguards will protect your information.
This “Law You Can Use” column was provided by the Ohio State Bar Association. It was prepared by Dayton attorney Gregory M. Gantt. Articles appearing in this column are intended to provide broad, general information about the law. Before applying this information to a specific legal problem, readers are urged to seek advice from an attorney.
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10 |LeisureLiving August 2017
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