Back in October, the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) issued a Professional Conduct Advisory Opinion stating that a lawyer may use cloud-based services to store client information as long as the lawyer takes reasonable measures to ensure that the client information remains confidential and is protected from breaches.
Carefully choosing an internet cloud space provider is, of course, the first step a lawyer must take in order to comply with the duty. But, it is important to note that the opinion clearly states that a lawyer does not comply with the obligation to protect the client information by merely selecting (however carefully) a reputable provider. Thus, the opinion concludes that lawyers must conduct periodic reviews and regularly monitor existing
practices to determine if the client information is adequately secured
and protected. This means lawyers can not simply rely on the providers, the lawyers themselves must do something. And to do something, the lawyers must know what it is they are dealing with. As I say to my students, lawyers must become personally knowledgeable in computer science of employ someone who is.
States continue to adopt the ABA's suggested language on a duty of competence related to "technology" and this opinion, obviously, follows the trend. All lawyers are now expected to know about, and understand, the advantages and the risks of using technological advances such as cloud storage. As reported recently, Florida lawyers are now required to take CLE credits on technology issues. As technology advances, lawyers are expected to keep up.
You can read the ISBA opinion here. For information on the current state of the law regarding ethical issues and cloud computing, check out this page in the ABA's website.
Thanks to Ethics in Motion for the update and the link.
No comments:
Post a Comment