The ethical obligation to pay attention

Last week we did an in-house webinar for all staff—not just attorneys and paralegals—about practical, ethical approaches to use of cloud-based applications and mobile devices that involve the storage or transfer of client-related information, in whatever form. The webinar was driven by the demands of the recent California State Bar Formal Ethics Opinion No. 2010-179. (A few months ago, I posted a short summary of the ethics opinion.

Slide decks never do justice to being there, a truism reinforced by my personal presentation style favoring slides that are as visually simple as possible and with as few bullets as possible, and optimally with no bullets at all. (Hey, but that’s me.) That said, you can download an edited version of our Technology and Client Confidentiality slide deck . We have also posted at SlideShare a 38-slide, step-by-step guide to How to Encrypt Your Laptop with TrueCrypt, by Ed Lachgar, part of the LSNC IT team.

A few presentation notes worth observing: The heart of the presentation was given by Bob Stalker, the managing attorney of the LSNC Vallejo Office. Of note is that Bob, at the time the ethics opinion was drafted and vetted, was a member of the California State Bar Ethics Committee and so he brought particularly helpful insights to an understanding of the State Bar’s approach to these issues. Bob covered the “attorney practice” aspects of the ethics opinion. Mark Sawyer, IT Manager for LSNC, covered the “practical technology” issues, with refreshingly clear explanations of how to evaluate and assure a reasonable level of security, to comply with the standards in the ethics opinion. Me? As you would imagine, compared to the other two presenters I was just the resident bloviator. But I do think I created a solid slide deck.

Bob Stalker is the one who came up with the summation in the next to last slide: “Pay attention to what you’re doing.”