Legal Technology Journal

An extensive new survey sponsored by global content protection company Workshare has revealed that IT executives working in UK law firms are not confident in their firm’s ability to maintain client confidentiality.

The survey, conducted among over 100 IT executives, assessed the volume of information being handled by law firms and how concerned executives are about potential breaches of security.

Only 30.7% of respondents said they were ‘completely’ confident in their firm’s ability to secure and manage the information it handles. Just over 68% said that they are ‘somewhat’ confident and 1% said ‘not at all’.

The results come as a vast majority of firms (89.3%) also revealed that they have been subject to an increase over the last 12 months in the amount of information handled, and an 84.2% increase in mobile working
practices, as fee earners continue to rely less on paper correspondence and documentation.

Duncan Eadie, head of IT for Baker & McKenzie said: “Security of information is an important element and will only grow in importance in the future as more information is committed to electronic means.”

Given the increase in the volume of information handled it is perhaps unsurprising, but nonetheless highly significant, that 45.5% of firms are more concerned about the issue of information security and management
compared to this time last year. Over 52% of firms have the same level of concern while 2% said they were less concerned and three respondents declined to answer. A large majority of firms, meanwhile, believe that data protection legislation needs updating.

IT executives have good reason to worry, given the potentially catastrophic effect of a publicly disclosed data breach. Ninety eight percent said that such a breach would have a negative impact on the firm’s reputation, with 72% agreeing that it could cost millions in lost revenue.

Despite increased concerns, however, only 41.6% of firms said they were planning to increase spending on information security and management in the next six months.

Director of IT at Lewis Silkin Jan Durant said: “If the UK legal sector is to maintain high levels of client confidence it needs to actively demonstrate that it can keep data secure even when it sits with third parties outside the corporate network.”