Ethics of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has been and continues to be a hot topic amongst legal professionals. With the increasing popularity of Google Docs, DropBox, Evernote and legal specific SaaS vendors such as Clio, RocketMatter and Lexis Firm Manager, the formal ethics opinions of state bar organizations are going to be interesting. Why? Because many bar organizations haven’t yet addressed the topic, while attorneys continue the migration to online services.

The North Carolina Bar has issued a proposed formal ethics opinion on attorneys using SaaS vendors, and one of the pioneers on the subject, it’s likely that other state bas will adopt similar positions. How does this affect you? Walking a line right down the middle, the NC Bar does however include the following provision:

The agreement with the vendor must specify that firm’s data will be hosted only within a specified geographic area. If by agreement the data is hosted outside of the United States, the law firm must determine that the hosting jurisdiction has privacy laws, data security laws, and protections against unlawful search and seizure that are as rigorous as those of the United States and the state of North Carolina.

Are attorneys really going to be able to confirm where there data is stored? Is Google going to make special arrangements for the legal market? Probably not.

For more information on the NC Bar opinion, visit Erik Mazzone’s blog posting here.

-John and Mike