With major law firms, big eDiscovery providers, and the ABA are all nonetheless getting hacked, the authorized career already has sufficient cybersecurity fish to fry. Sadly, the risk vectors aren’t slowing down to permit attorneys to play catch up. Confidential knowledge thrashes round inside legislation companies like children ready for recess — penned up however ready to make a chaotic mess if anybody cracks the door. However one offsite dwelling of essential shopper knowledge that is perhaps neglected is your chosen courtroom reporters.
Given the adversarial nature of something involving a reporter, they’re usually not going to have something you’re nervous in regards to the different facet seeing — which is sweet — however that’s not the tip of the inquiry. Proof will be topic to “eyes solely” agreements, the case could possibly be dealing with commerce secrets and techniques, they usually’ve clearly acquired a whole lot of PII. Each phrase they’re typing all through the deposition is doubtlessly confidential. Courtroom reporters are like a tidepool on the authorized trade’s confidential knowledge seashore harboring a slice of the entire in its personal self-sustained group.
So are your courtroom reporters securing that knowledge? Extra importantly, how are you going to be so certain?
Usually, System & Group Controls (SOC) reporting exists to assist guarantee clients that a company is able to preserve knowledge safe from outdoors assault. A SOC 2 report is the flowery certification that corporations can get detailing the processes that they comply with to maintain issues safe. An skilled takes a fantastic comb and ensures that there aren’t any weak hyperlinks of unpatched software program or workers leaping knowledge outdoors the community.
For courtroom reporting, it’s a superb information for somebody who wants to ensure a specific matter’s knowledge stays safe. Strongly contemplate searching for that seal of approval.
However then somebody identified to me that there’s an additional wrinkle on the subject of reporting as a result of courtroom reporters… aren’t all the time workers. Quite a lot of transcription corporations deliver on courtroom reporters as “routine freelancers.”
That doesn’t essentially doom a SOC analysis. Usually talking, a reliable SOC auditor will embrace contractors inside the scope of the analysis assuming the contractor has a serious affect on the general system being licensed. In different phrases, the pest management man that sprays the workplace as soon as a month isn’t a part of the analysis… the 25 courtroom reporters the service makes use of shall be.
Nonetheless, it ought to give companies somewhat additional pause. As a result of a SOC report will contemplate the processes courtroom reporters make use of in that system, however might make further representations that will solely apply to the full-time employees versus the reporters. In different phrases, the reporters meet the certification necessities, but when your shopper calls for increased requirements for community credentialing, you possibly can’t essentially depend on a report that states “workers use XYZ credentialing” as a result of the courtroom reporters wouldn’t be included in that definition. So… they may use the identical safety that the remainder of the staff do. Or they may not? Simply be sure you know what the certification is admittedly certifying.
After all some transcription corporations have all their courtroom reporters as full-time workers, which is the best as a result of it’s all lined.
Irrespective of the way you go in regards to the course of, it’s secure to say that the tactic I deployed as a working towards legal professional — the courtroom reporter service that despatched the nicest swag — is not sufficient in these occasions of high-tech threats.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Legislation and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Be happy to email any ideas, questions, or feedback. Observe him on Twitter should you’re excited about legislation, politics, and a wholesome dose of faculty sports activities information. Joe additionally serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.