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Sensei Officers Featured in Attorney At Work

June 23, 2020

Sensei’s Sharon Nelson and John Simek’s helpful tech advice was included in a recent article “Tech Tips: Remote Work Lessons to Take Forward From the Shutdown” by Joan Feldman.

Excerpt:

It’s been a couple of months of working remotely — figuring out what works for us, learning new words (Zoom, N95, sourdough starter), and settling into an alternate rhythm of work and life. Some remote work lessons have been eye-opening (why haven’t we done this before!?), while some have been frustrating. It’s run the gamut from finding the mute button, to getting the damn printer to work, to setting up security tools.

So, we decided to ask our experts: What lessons have you encountered during the shutdown? And, going forward, what’s your best advice on using technology to get work done remotely and keep your business healthy? 

Here’s valuable guidance from Sheila Blackford, Brett Burney, Jim Calloway, Andrea Cannavina, Natalie Kelly, Sharon Nelson and John Simek, and Camille Stell.

Sharon Nelson and John Simek: Put Security First

The first step in being successful in a work-from-home environment is to do so securely. As an attorney, you have an ethical responsibility to protect the confidentiality of your client’s information. That means making sure you are taking steps such as having a secure configuration for your computing device, regularly applying all operating system and application updates, connecting to a secure home network, etc.

In line with working in a secure environment, the No. 1 question we get is, “How do I use videoconferencing (e.g., Zoom) to securely communicate with clients, colleagues and the courts?” Don’t be resistant to using Zoom because of any histrionic press you’ve seen. Most reported Zoom problems have been user error and a lack of knowledge about how to securely configure Zoom. Read our post “Getting Start With Zoom — and Using It Securely” here.

We’ve learned that attorneys can be taught new tricks (when they are forced to!). In addition to videoconference tools, many are successfully using virtual private networks (VPNs) to perform their daily tasks. They’ve quickly learned how to digitally sign documents using a product like DocuSign. They are now using multifactor authentication in more places. They are extending secure endpoint protection to home machines.

As for us, we have learned that, in these tumultuous times, we are working harder and put in more hours than we did in the office. Mind you, we are grateful for that!

Read all the tech tips here.