How the Information Age has transformed the practice of law, and what you need to do know to adapt y

The “information revolution” has had profound effects on how we live our lives and interact with one another. Digital information is now the predominant thing of value and means of commerce in our economy. What people and businesses once stored on paper in file drawers and in their wallets are now stored in their smartphones and on “the Cloud.” This transformation to an information age society requires lawyers to profoundly shift their thinking about how to fulfill their obligations of being a zealous advocate for their clients.

This paradigm shift is all encompassing. Lawyers must change how they prosecute their clients’ cases to preserve and collect relevant digital information from all manner of sources including computers, smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, digital storage media, social media and cloud-based storage.

Once this data is amassed by law firms it must then be adequately catalogued, maintained, and most importantly secured from unauthorized disclosure. Threats to the security of this confidential digital data held in trust by law firms come from within and without.

The digital age has also brought with it new torts that could never have been imagined before the advent of the Internet. Internet and electronic privacy violations and defamations are now widespread occurrences. Federal and state law provides for potentially huge liquidated civil damage awards to the victims of these privacy violations and defamations but the procedures for properly handling these matters, especially in quickly obtaining the evidence held by Internet Service Providers, requires a certain level of expertise and knowledge of the inner workings of Internet technology.

Abrams Cyber Law & Forensics is a new breed of law firm focused like a laser beam at these three new challenges of legal practice in the digital information age. We can help other law firms with issues related to cyber practice. We are experts in digital forensics and e-discovery. We can help secure your data and that of your clients. We can help you maximize liquidated and tort damage recovery for cyber-age torts. In coming blog posts I will be taking each of these areas separately and in more detail to help my readers manage the new challenges and opportunities for their law practice in the information age.