ABA Provides Formal Opinion to Lawyers Virtually Working – In a Nutshell, It All Comes Down to Security

Is your law practice secure when you working from home?

About a year after the pandemic started, the ABA recently released ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct Formal Opinion # 498 titled "Virtual Practice.”  Remember, the ABA (and many state Bar Associations) adopted Comment, #8, to its Competence Rule, #1.1, that requires us to be diligent and competent in using technology in our practice.  Now, the ABA gives lawyers guidance about working from home and monitoring the technology we use daily to help our clients during the pandemic and into the future. 

The way I read the Opinion, it seems to come down to one factor – security.  Is your Wi-Fi secure (with a VPN if necessary), are your cloud services secure, are your office electronic files secure, are your means of communications secure?  Whether you are working from home or in a “brick & mortar” office, the issues of security remain the same – the responsibilities are just a little more focused on the attorney when he/she works from home.