Security, Stress and Schedules: How Collaboration Tools Are Changing Legal's Culture
Publisher: Legaltech News
November 20, 2020
Chief Information Officer Kermit Wallace was quoted in the Legaltech News articles, "Security, Stress and Schedules: How Collaboration Tools Are Changing Legal's Culture, and, "4 Unintended Problems Caused by Pandemic Tech Adoption." The articles discuss the ways collaboration platforms are changing how law firms and corporate legal departments think about external or internal communications, and their tolerance for tools that encourage a higher degree of informality and cybersecurity risk.
Wallace explains that when the pandemic first began, the firm was encouraging attorneys to use its preferred collaboration platform, complete with passcodes and other safety measures, for client interactions. However, it quickly found that clients had their own idea of what tools offered the best functionality and security.
"From a support perspective, I would say in the past we were more rigid in our approach. And clients and other entities were generally accepting of that and they were also more rigid, right?" Wallace said.
Now eight months into remote work, firms are having to show more flexibility. Wallace explains attorneys have been coached on how to gently redirect clients toward more secure platforms rather than risk discussing sensitive information over more casual channels, such as texting or Slack. He furthers, "we're doing it for their protection. We don't want to use what is typically a much less formal channel to address something that needs a level of professionalism that they've come to expect from us."
