Independent review · cybersecurity for the practice of law
Sidebar reviews the encryption, e-discovery, and endpoint tools law firms actually deploy — measured against Model Rule 1.6(c), not marketing copy.
Independent. Not legal advice. Every affiliate relationship is disclosed — see Exhibit F.
Three ways ordinary security gaps become bar-complaint and malpractice exposure for a firm specifically.
Model Rule 1.6(c) requires "reasonable efforts" to prevent unauthorized access to client information. Reasonable now gets defined by opposing counsel and bar investigators, after the fact.
MFA, encrypted backups, and a written incident response plan have moved from nice-to-have to renewal conditions at most carriers writing legal malpractice policies.
Every litigation hold, review-platform login, and shared exhibit folder is a new place privileged material can leave the firm's control before trial.
Every entry gets a holding, not a star rating. See the full docket →
Shared vaults, per-matter access, forced two-factor.
Holding — Vaults separate matters by client; forced MFA closes the most common intake-form leak.
Client-side encryption layered over existing email.
Holding — Keeps privileged attachments unreadable in transit, satisfying a plain reading of the "reasonable efforts" standard for email.
Endpoint protection with ransomware rollback.
Holding — A locked matter-management server is a malpractice claim waiting to happen; rollback matters more here than at most SMBs.
Permissioned file sharing built for matter teams.
Holding — Permissioning is strong out of the box, but full audit-trail export sits behind the higher tier — budget for it before hold season.
Under review — vendor response pending before publication.
Scroll to flip through the file
The controls a malpractice carrier or bar auditor is most likely to ask about. See the full list →
| Tool | MFA enforced | Encryption at rest | Audit-trail export | Litigation hold support | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Password Business | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | $7.99 / user·mo |
| Virtru Email Encryption | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Custom |
| Bitdefender GravityZone | Yes | Yes | Basic | — | $6.71 / device·mo |
| Egnyte for Legal | Yes | Yes | Higher tier only | Yes | $20 / user·mo |
Playbooks written for the managing partner, not the IT department.
One email a month: new verdicts, rule changes that touch data handling, and nothing else. Unsubscribe like you'd expect.