Law firms increasingly turn to “cloud services” for processing and storing confidential client information because of their greater flexibility and efficiency. Use of “the cloud,” however, outsources the administration, physical control, and maintenance of sensitive data to a third-party vendor, which raises IT security and data privacy risks.

Recent amendments to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Model Rules) indicate less leeway for lawyers who inadvertently violate their ethical obligations through the use of technology, including such ubiquitous services as cloud computing. While the cloud does not enjoy a single accepted definition, it generally encompasses a variety of products and services that provide on-demand access to remote computing services over the Internet. Cloud services can include: (1) productivity applications such as Google Docs; (2) online document and practice management software such as Rocket; (3) remote data storage, file sharing, and retrieval services such as Dropbox, Carbonite, or iCloud; and (4) web-hosted email services such as Gmail and Hotmail.

Originally published in the ABA Section of Litigation, Commercial and Business Litigation Committee.