Company News

Recently, Sensei’s Sharon Nelson was quoted in “Lawyers Have an Ethical Duty to Safeguard Confidential Information on the Cloud” by Jason Tashea of the ABA Journal. The ABA Journal is read by half of the nation’s 1 million lawyers every month. It covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession from Wall Street to Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Excerpt: Whether for personal or professional applications, remote storage has become the standard for millions of Americans. However, this and other internet-enabled technologies can create unique ethical quandaries for lawyers. With changes to ethics rules reflecting technology’s role in the profession, many find the prevailing reasonableness standard difficult to interpret. For cybersecurity ethicists, however, an ethical attorney is not just doing one thing; they are in a constant state of evolution and growth to keep pace with threats and best practices.

When discussing cybersecurity and legal ethics, “there are four basic rules that govern,” says Sharon Nelson, president of Sensei Enterprises, a cybersecurity company. Those are ABA Model Rule 1.1, which deals with competence; Rule 1.4, which involves communications; Rule 1.6, which covers the duty of confidentiality; and rules 5.1 through 5.3, which focus on lawyer and nonlawyer associations. However, she calls competence and confidentiality “the big two.”

When the ABA updated the Model Rules of Professional Conduct in 2012, two significant changes occurred regarding confidentiality and competency. The rules now require “reasonable efforts” to avoid the “inadvertent or unauthorized” disclosure and access to client information, and for lawyers to not only keep abreast of the law but technology, as well.

See the entire article here.