Virtual Law Practice

Delivering legal services online

Confidentiality

Massachusetts Bar Association Publishes Cloud Computing Ethics Opinion

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The Massachusetts Bar Association published Ethics Opinion 12-03 regarding the use of cloud computing in law practice, specifically referring to lawyers’ use of Google docs. The scenarios posed in the opinion is this: “A lawyer wishes to store and synchronize the electronic work files that he creates in the course of his law practice across multiple computers and devices (e.g., smartphones, iPads, etc.) so that he can access them remotely.” ...READ MORE

Factors Determining “Reasonableness”

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The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 published its revised draft resolutions for comment regarding Technology and Confidentiality at the end of last month. Under Comment [16] to Rule 1.6 “Confidentiality of Information”, the revised draft contains a list of factors that determine whether the lawyer has made reasonable efforts to prevent “unauthorized access to, or the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of, confidential information.” ...READ MORE

NC Cloud Computing Opinion Published

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At its meeting on January 27, the NC State Bar Council adopted and published the last version of 2011 Formal Ethics 6 “Subscribing to Software as a Service While Fulfilling the Duties of Confidentiality and Preservation of Client Property”. The last version of this opinion was sent to subcommittee in July 2011, but the discussion over the structure of the opinion has been almost a year and a half-long process. ...READ MORE

Proposed NC Ethics Opinion on Cloud Computing Returned to Subcommittee

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The Ethics Committee at the North Carolina State Bar voted to send the proposed formal ethics opinion 6 (FEO 6), entitled “Subscribing to Software as a Service While Fulfilling the Duties of Confidentiality and Preservation of Client Property” back to the subcommittee to reconsider responses they received to inquiries #1 and #2. Both of these inquiries contained worrisome […] ...READ MORE

Revised Proposed Ethics Opinion on SaaS

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UPDATE: CHECK OUT THIS POST by Erik Mazzone, Director of the Center of Practice Management at the NC Bar Association, on his Law Practice Matters blog.  Erik is concerned that the proposed opinion will limit the cloud-based vendors that attorneys in NC can use based on the location of their servers.  While most legal SaaS […] ...READ MORE

Why I Read Hacker Mags

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If you are using technology to deliver legal services online then it’s part of your responsibility to keep up to date on the technology that you are using. Different security risks pop up every day and if you aren’t aware of the them then you can’t protect your law practice and your clients. For example, just […] ...READ MORE

Virginia & the Ethics of Cloud Computing in Law Practice

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James M. McCauley, ethics counsel for the Virginia State Bar, has written an article for the February issue of the Virginia Lawyer Magazine, entitled “Cloud Computing — A Silver Lining or Ethical Thunderstorm for Lawyers?” Even if you aren’t licensed to practice in Virginia, I would recommend reading this well-balanced article on cloud computing.   McCauley summarizes […] ...READ MORE

Outsourcing and the Virtual Law Office

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A virtual law office relies on a third-party provider to operate.  A legal SaaS provider maintains my virtual law office and the data is hosted on a server that is maintained by another third-party company that has leased its servers to my SaaS provider.   By using this form of technology to practice law online, am […] ...READ MORE