
Cybersecurity And The Realities Of Practicing Law In 2018
Responding to cyberattacks is an unfortunate part of practicing law in the 21st century now that breaches are an inevitable reality.
Responding to cyberattacks is an unfortunate part of practicing law in the 21st century now that breaches are an inevitable reality.
What does this ruling mean with respect to your company (or your client)?
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How can lawyers help their clients protect their data, and how can lawyers help in the event of a breach?
* Now that special counsel Robert Mueller has interviewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions for hours on end, he's getting closer to interviewing the president himself, and it looks like the focus will be on the ouster of Michael Flynn and James Comey (i.e., obstruction of the Russia investigation). [Washington Post] * After the federal government shutdown ended, Justice Neil Gorsuch dined with Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn and other Republican senators and Trump administration officials. Ethics violation? Nah. "Justices don’t take vows to be hermits. Nothing here remotely suggests ethical issue." [National Law Journal] * More than one million corporate email addresses from the United Kingdom's top law firms were found on the dark web, and 80 percent were associated with passwords, which puts those firms at a very significant risk of being hacked. Be wary about cybersecurity breaches in the future thanks to this. [Infosecurity Magazine] * The University of Windsor Faculty of Law in Ontario, Canada, suffered a major data breach earlier this month after a law school staff member accidentally posted confidential information -- names, GPAs, LSAT scores, the works -- about current applicants to a blackboard accessible by current students. Oops! [Lawyer's Daily] * If you're thinking about applying to law school, make sure you keep in mind that anything you include (or neglect to include) in your application can and will be used against you during your character and fitness evaluation when you apply to take the bar exam after graduation. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]
By following these 5 lessons, your company can better handle any breach, from large to small, more effectively.
Cybersecurity is very important, and your in-house legal team must be at the forefront of managing any type of breach.
From training to technology, uncover the essential steps to futureproof your law firm in a competitive market.
What's a consumer -- and society -- to do about these issues?
You cannot predict when (or where) the next data breach will occur, but you can prepare for it.
* "Legal aid is critical after a natural disaster," so the Florida Bar has raised the income cap for its online legal clinic so Floridians affected by Hurricane Irma can get legal assistance, and the Florida Bar Foundation has set aside $500,000 to support legal aid organizations. How generous! [Law.com] * Sixteen years have passed since the September 11 attacks, but we've yet to try or convict any of the five men who are said to have planned the day that changed America, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged "architect of 9/11." Some lawyers wonder why this "isn't a cause for more outrage." [Al Jazeera] * In case you missed it, Irell & Manella has elected Ellisen Turner as its first African-American managing partner. Among the many accolades he's earned over the course of his illustrious legal career, Above the Law once referred to him as a "hottie." Congratulations on all accounts! [Big Law Business] * Lawmakers from both parties are interested in holding hearings on the massive Equifax hack, and after outcry from state attorneys general about an arbitration clause that would have prevented those affected by the data breach from suing, the credit reporting agency has changed its terms of service. [The Hill] * In the wake of Justice Scalia's death, Justice Kagan says the remaining justices did everything they could to avoid 4-4 split decisions: "[W]e all made a very serious effort to try to find common ground even where we thought we couldn’t. It sort of forced us to keep talking to each other." [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel] * Which Biglaw firm is about to get a lot bigger? It's Cozen O'Connor, apparently. According to CEO Michael Heller, he'd like to increase the firm's head count to somewhere between 700 and 1,000 lawyers in the next five years. About 600 attorneys are currently working at Cozen. [Am Law Daily]
If approved, this will be the biggest data breach settlement in history.
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* Brad Pitt filed a motion to seal the details of his custody arrangement with Angelia Jolie to protect his children's privacy, but a judge has rejected the actor's request. A lawyer for Jolie had this to say: "His ... request is a thinly veiled attempt to shield himself, rather than the minor children, from public view." Ouch. [Philadelphia Inquirer] * CHECK YOU EMAILS OFTEN, PARTNERS! Several Biglaw firms -- including Cravath and Weil Gotshal -- were hit by data breaches over the course of last year, and it's now been confirmed that those data breaches were carried out by Chinese operatives who were successful in stealing about seven gigabytes of data by hacking their way into partners' email accounts. [Fortune] * Each December, Jeffrey Toobin creates a "semi-accurate, semi-serious" list of his predictions for the top legal stories for the coming year. Perhaps most notably, Toobin predicts President Donald Trump will appoint Judge Diane Sykes of the Seventh Circuit to the Supreme Court as the late Justice Antonin Scalia's replacement. [New Yorker] * Which is more prestigious, a judicial clerkship or a first-of-its-kind Capitol Hill clerkship? Earlier this week, four senators introduced a bill to create a dozen yearlong Congressional clerkships for recent law school graduates. The bill would allow law school graduates to "spend a formative year in the legislative branch." [National Law Journal] * Per the most recent Corporate Equity Index survey released by the Human Rights Campaign, more Biglaw firms are doing well when it comes to protecting their lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees. One hundred and twelve firms earned perfect scores for their inclusive policies in the survey, up from 95 last year. [Am Law Daily]
How much is cyber crime costing the economy?
* Mathew Martoma, the former Harvard law student who fabricated his transcript when applying for clerkships, gets nine years in prison for insider trading. [DealBook / New York Times] * If Bingham McCutchen moves forward on merger talks with Morgan Lewis, a bunch of Bingham partners might bail. [American Lawyer] * Congratulations to Judge Jill Pryor, who will join Judge Bill Pryor on the Eleventh Circuit. [Fulton County Daily Report] * Can you be fired for medical marijuana in Colorado, where the drug is legal even for recreational purposes? [ABA Journal] * Dewey have some good news for the embattled ex-leaders of the defunct law firm? [New York Law Journal] * Home Depot is the latest major retailer to be hit by a data breach. [Washington Post]
ATL Tech Interrogatories asks Ajay Patel of HighQ seven questions about legal technology.
Drew Lewis, eDiscovery Counsel at Recommind, shares his thoughts and insights about the legal technology industry.