Using Your VLO to Maintain Attorney-Client Privilege
Recently, an appeals court in California held that emails sent by an employee from her work email address to her attorney are not protected by the attorney-client privilege where the employer’s handbook expressly states that an employee’s emails might be monitored. When dealing with clients, it is best to assume that someone might have access to their email but that does not mean you have to avoid electronic communications altogether.In today’s world, communicating online is a common practice, and often your clients will prefer to read a quick email over visiting your office or searching for a quiet, secluded place to speak to you on the phone. Thus, having a secure, private way to communicate with your clients online is essential for any law firm, including traditional brick and mortar offices.
This is where your virtual law office will come in handy as a simple way for you to communicate written messages to your clients without invalidating the attorney-client privilege. Virtual Law Office Technology provides the same SSL protection used by online banking and government institutions. Data is encrypted at the storage level using industry-proven algorithms and is house in an accredited, dedicated, secure data center. When you send a message to your client using your virtual law office, your client will receive an email that prompts him or her to log in to your VLO to access the message. That means you will never have to worry about exposing sensitive client information to a not-so-private company email server.
Are you already using virtual law office technology? If so, what other ways do you use your VLO to expand services to your clients that you wouldn't be able to provide without it?
