The COVID-19 Pandemic has accelerated the change in how attorneys work with their clients. Social Distancing requirements make on-site client meetings at a firm's "brick and mortar" office, travel to experts for same-room depositions and in-courthouse hearings, trials, and oral arguments increasingly infrequent if not nonexistent. It is a concept that attorneys and judges are going to have to embrace, given the uncertainty of COVID. But legal professionals need to ask, "are our video conferences" secure from prying eyes?

The demand in video conferencing caught video-conferencing company Zoom off guard. Security flaws in its service were being abused by unscrupulous parties. This, of course, raises immediate concerns about the privacy, confidentiality, and overall security of utilizing video conferencing as a secure and legally ethical means for attorneys to conduct business for and with their clients.

Zoom just rolled out major security upgrades to its system. As a practical matter, this will not solve all of its problems. No service, e.g., Facetime, Microsoft Teams, Skype, etc., including Zoom, are foolproof – heck, Apple iOS was just revealed to have a possible security flaw that may have been around for ten years! Remember, build a better mousetrap, a smarter mouse will come along. Worse when you do not even know there are problems with your proverbial mousetrap! But what then is a lawyer to do?

ABA Rule 1.1 [8] requires that Attorneys "… maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology, engage in continuing study and education and comply with all continuing legal education requirements to which the lawyer is subject." In the same vein that requires us to keep our software up-to-date (security patches everyone!), secure wi-fi /internet (password protect your router and use VPNs in public) and password protect your smartphone, tablet, laptop, and desktop, you need to keep your video-conferencing software up-to-date. Moreover, you must pay attention to the news and be wary of security announcements, breaches, and updates to the software and hardware you use at work (and at home).

Diligence requires that you pay attention and act when news hits! And with social distancing becoming the "new norm," video conferencing will be here for a while.