Although technology has become a staple in the workplace, lawyers have seemingly had more trouble implementing new technologies. Unsecure
According to the American Bar Association TechReport 2019, its survey results indicate minimal strides by legal professionals. Specifically, the TechReport cites that attorney’s lack of attention to cybersecurity has become a “major concern.”
Cybersecurity is a concern because of the duty of confidentiality that attorneys owe to their clients. Like much information in the modern era, confidential client information is stored on servers for firms to access and on attorneys’ personal electronic devices, such as laptops and smart phones. To protect this client information, law firms and lawyers must use secure technology.
The ABA’s surveys identified the most popular forms of security among attorneys to be secure socket layers (35%) and secure local data backups (27%). Despite 94% of attorneys answering that a vendor’s reputation was an important factor under consideration before deciding to execute a contract for security services, only 23% reported actually investigating a vendor’s security history before hiring.
Interestingly, 26% of the attorneys that responded to the survey stated that their firm’s security had been breached. Also, 58% of the attorneys responded that they were utilizing a cloud-based technology, but a mere 25% noted that they were reading ethical opinions that involved cloud services.
It appears that the legal profession and attorneys have not been as adaptable to new technology and the related necessary precautions as professionals in other fields. The state bar associations and the ABA offer CLE programming, ethics opinions, and other programs, to assist attorneys with the use of cutting edge technology. The resources are available, but it appears they are often under-utilized by legal practitioners.
Read the full article here.
Read the full ABA TechReport 2019 here.
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