With data and other electronic security breaches on the rise and work from home being part of the new “normal,” there is no better time to make sure you are satisfying your ethical and legal obligations as a Delaware lawyer to protect your client’s confidential information.

  • So, what are those obligations?

The Delaware Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct (the rules or individually, a rule) identify a Delaware attorney’s ethical obligations with regard to, among other things, the protection of a client’s electronic confidential information. Specifically, Rule 1.1 requires a lawyer to competently represent a client with the requisite legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness, and preparation. A lawyer must maintain competence in legal practices including the risks and benefits associated with the technology used in the representation of a client. A lawyer must competently preserve the client property and confidential information he or she has been entrusted with while using technology. To this end, lawyers may maintain competence through training or employing staff who are competent regarding the use of technology.