Protect Your Firm During These Extraordinary Times

Attorney Protective

Use this time to review the firm’s practices and procedures. Check that the firm has the appropriate policies in place regarding intake procedures, pleading templates and conflict checking systems.
Maintaining thorough documentation regarding instructions received from clientsand work performed on a file may help in defending a potential legal malpracticeclaim in the future.
If you are considering expanding your area of practice, register for CLE coursesto educate yourself with the laws and procedures in that field. There are a lot of discounted or free CLE programs right now, so take advantage!

Consider deploying external message flagging, so that users
are alerted thata message is from an external source.
Do not click on suspicious attachments or links.
Consider utilizing multi-factor authentication which, as well as
a user nameand a password, requires additional information
to access the email account.
Look into providing employees access to a virtual private
network (VPN) so they can establish a secure connection
to Wi-Fi from home.
Find more security tips in the latest edition of AttPro Ally.

Conduct communications, including telephone calls, text messages, email, and video conferencing in a manner
that minimizes the risk of inadvertent disclosure of
confidential information.
Employees’ remote workspaces should be designed to prevent
the disclosure of confidential information in both paper and electronic form.
Consider the use of encryption to assure that information sent
by electronic mail is protected from unauthorized disclosure.
A written work-from-home protocol specifying how to safeguard
confidential business and personal information can be beneficial
For more guidance on ethically providing legal services from a home office seePBA Formal Opinion.

Review with clients whether, in light of COVID-19, it is in their interest todefer decisions or activity.
Confirm whether pending matters fall within the confines of any court continuances.
If transitioning from an e-calendar on your work device to a home device,check for gaps in data and print a hard copy of the calendar as well.
If working from home, it is important that you have secure
access to any data or information you may need to meet any
e-filing deadlines.
For more information visit AttPro’s COVID-19 risk management resource page

Firms should create a BCP designed to respond to any type
of disaster, from a hard drive failure to a sudden illness.
Determine when the plan should be put into action, identify
key players, and what to do if those essential personnel
aren’t available.
Utilize guides such as the ABA’s GUIDE TO DEVELOPING AND CONDUCTING BUSINESS CONTINUITY EXERCISES to help your firm establish an effective plan.

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