The Akron Legal News

Login | March 29, 2024

Tips from the ABA for travelling lawyers

RICHARD WEINER
Technology for Lawyers

Published: December 2, 2016

The American Bar Association has published some recommendations for attorneys on the road. It’s a pretty good overview of topics that legal tech writers have been covering for years, so--- here we go!

Put your name and contact info on all of your devices on self-adhesive tape. Many devices also allow a lock screen to display contact info (mine has my email, since having my phone number on my phone would be useless).

While you’re at it, “keep track of your devices.” Basically, never let them out of your sight. To be really safe, never lose physical contact with any of them.

Also, physically protect all of your devices with padded cases, and don’t send them through checked baggage.

Along the same lines, insure all of your devices, and keep an accurate list of everything you take on the road, including serial numbers and receipts.

Keep confidential information away from road devices. At this point, the cloud is safe enough that you don’t have to carry contracts or other confidential documents on your devices. Put them all in the cloud when you travel.

Stay off public Wi-Fi. That’s the safest route—however, you can use a VPN and be pretty safe. BTW—this is also true within the confines of another office or courthouse. Treat them all like they’re public Wi-Fi’s.

Install locator apps. Make sure that these include memory wipe capabilities, as well as “find my device” and locator functions. Search your app store for one.

Don’t forget to be wary of attachments and other strange email doings. You may be in a hurry on the road to get stuff done, but don’t lose track of your basic security routines. Ninety-nine percent of all ransomware comes from opening email attachments. Of course, if you’re in another attorney’s office, you can download questionable attachments on one of their computers. Just kidding (JK). No, really. I’m just kidding. Honest.

Make sure that all of your data is backed up. I’d recommend backups in the cloud, and data storage unlinked to the Internet on site at your office.

Oh, yeah—also, encrypt everything. How different would the US elections have been if all of those emails had been encrypted?


[Back]