Canadian Lawyer

Law Office Management Maintaining client confidentiality in a mobile world As technology changes and access becomes easier, lawyers have to be hyper-aware of security around their information. L awyers on the go are increasingly exploring options for accessing information from offsite locations. This trend promises to continue as more and more portable digital platforms are developed and enter the market. Smartphones, an array of tablets, along with the old laptop computer, allow us to take a phenomenal amount of technology just about anywhere. Combined with emerging services like cloud computing we can also have access to the office, complete with software and reference material. Moore���s Law suggests that computer technology, through transistors and integrated circuits, along with digital electronic devices, will double every 18 months to two years. It���s a steep curve that began in the 1960s and is expected to continue until about 2020. It is anticipated in the coming 18 April 2013 www.CANADIAN years there will be more than one trillion cloud-ready devices, allowing users to work more quickly, conveniently, and sometimes at a lower cost. There will continue to be more ways through which we can work on the go. But for those dealing with sensitive information, it means treading carefully. Questions that arise include what methods are available and how can that information remain secure to ensure client protection and confidentiality? While criminal lawyers, for instance, might benefit a great deal from the services available through cloud computing in between court appearances, protecting their client information might well trump the convenience of accessing those files if they can���t be satisfied the information can remain secure. David Whelan has explored many of L a w ye r m a g . c o m the options and issues surrounding them, from the technical perspective. Whelan is the manager of legal information with the Law Society of Upper Canada and author of Practice Law in the Cloud. He points out there are a variety of ways for lawyers to work remotely while having access to their office files. ���A law firm using a virtual private network, a virtual desktop tool like GoToMyPC, or even a personal cloud tool like Tonido, could leave their files and data on their internal computers and access them from outside their office,��� he says. ���Cloud computing shifts the responsibilities.�� If a law firm is enabling remote access to internal computers and files, then they bear the responsibility of ensuring that the technology is implemented to limit unauthorized access. If they put it in the cloud, that technology obligation shifts Matthew Billington By Marg. Bruineman

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