Protecting law firm and client data

Woodwise Ethics

By Allison L. Wood

Allison L. Wood formerly served as a hearing board chair and as litigation counsel with the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission. She is principal of Legal Ethics Consulting P.C., where she provides ARDC defense and ethics evaluations for malpractice cases. Her website is legalethicsconsulting.com; her e-mail is aw@legalethicsconsulting.com; and she’s on Twitter at @WoodWiseEthics.

Posted October 5, 2015 3:44 PM

Updated October 7, 2015 4:46 PM

In my previous column (Aug. 3), I discussed how cyber liability is a serious risk-management issue for lawyers, given our Rule 1.6 duty to maintain the confidentiality of client information.Given the high profile cyber-attacks against Target, Sony Pictures Entertainment, the U.S. government and the Ashley Madison website, many law firms may believe they are not big enough to be a target, or they don’t have data that cyber-criminals would find attractive. These law firms would be wrong on both counts.Even though they …

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