Law and Software

Recently I posted about how to keep confidential files encrypted in the cloud storage you may be using with an online practice management system. The screenshots below are unrecognizable but are from me using Clio. This is just a quick note about the other side. I’ll blog it in more detail when I get a moment.

Attorney-Client Privilege is the #1 issue facing lawyers who wants to use super-convenient cloud solutions to get away from having to run their own office computer infrastructure. Apart from documents, the big problem is that day-to-day data in a cloud based practice management system may occasionally be very sensitive. What if your client is undocumented? Adding their name to an online data record may be malpractice. It is certainly not wise.

So I’ve written a small bookmarklet based javascript app – think of it as a webpage extension – that allows you to encrypt stuff when you need to. Maybe a client name – maybe a contact address – maybe a note to yourself. It uses 256 bit AES encryption on the client side and is served securely over https. You remember (or forget) your password. Caveat Cryptor.

The app is here. Its on the web for me to use in my practice. But anyone is welcome to play with it as long as they read the big red warning print on the page first.