NeoCertified
for the Legal Industry
The
legal field is the ultimate realm of discretion and confidentiality.
E-mail is a quick and easy method of communication for every
lawyer, but by its nature it is an open, public system and
certainly not discreet, confidential or secure. Even an
e-mail traveling only several miles often crosses the nation,
passing through 10 to 25 different unsecured servers, all
of which are susceptible to hackers, compromise and pirating.
Consider
the following regulations, which may apply to legal organizations:
• In
1998, the American Bar Association
issued an extensive opinion (Formal Opinion 99-413 dated
3/10/1998) approving e-mail as a confidential and privileged
means of communication, as required by legal community's
Model Rule 1.6. This rule requires that communications by
US Lawyers be governed by the ethical obligation to protect
confidential client information. With the recent rash of
lawsuits as a result of e-mails, many defense lawyers are
questioning the ability of e-mail to meet the requirements
of Model Rule 1.6 to provide a confidential and privileged
means of communications. NeoCertified makes all e-mail communications
secure.
• The
1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act's
(GLBA) privacy provisions may affect some
lawyers who fall under the financial-institution section
of the act. Specifically, Section 6801 of the GLBA, requires
some lawyers to have the "administrative, technical and
physical safeguards" to protect the security and confidentiality
of their client records by May, 2003, including e-mail communications.
A fine of $10,000 per infraction can be charged for noncompliance
with the law. NeoCertified provides these security safeguards.
How
does NeoCertified work? Your e-mail, with any attachment,
is encrypted, and then saved to the secure NeoCertified
server. The server then sends an e-mail notification to
the recipient(s), containing a secure link to the NeoCertified
web site where the message can be securely retrieved. Microsoft®
Outlook™ users, you can work in your familiar environment
to create e-mail messages. For sensitive messages, just
click the “Send NeoCertified” button on your existing toolbar
instead of the “Send” button. It’s that easy.
