Attention All In-House Lawyers and GCs: Missteps Before Or After A Data Incident Could Land You In Professional Hot Water

Ethics credit approval is pending in Illinois. Materials will be made available to participants who want to apply for credit in other states.

Generally speaking, you may know that cyberattacks are now a daily occurrence and, even, that emboldened threat actors are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of attack. What might not be apparent? A lawyer’s failure to be vigilant in order to avoid a data breach and to respond competently to one if (or, really, when) it happens might put the attorney in the crosshairs of the Rules of Professional Responsibility. Gone are the days of leaving this to the “tech” department; “lawyers must employ reasonable efforts to monitor the technology and office resources” that connect them to the internet and external data sources.

Join Molly Arranz, chair of Amundsen Davis’s Data Privacy and Security Group, and Special Agent in Charge Joe Scargill, United States Secret Service, for a timely discussion on the current threat landscape, the particular challenges with work-from-home, and what really happens on the dark web. Molly and Joe will give real life examples of these attacks and an overview of the destruction and responsibilities that may lay in the wake. Molly will also explain how cyber-attacks can implicate a lawyer’s professional duties in light of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility’s Opinion 483, which addresses how a “data breach” impacts the traditional ethics rules for attorneys.

Being vigilant about data privacy and security—exercising appropriate cyber-hygiene—is not only necessary given the ever-advancing technology surrounding us but because of one’s ethical obligations as a lawyer.

Speaker Bios

Molly Arranz chairs Amundsen Davis’s Data Privacy and Security Practice Group and is a certified privacy professional (CIPP-US), making her a recognized Privacy Law Specialist by the American Bar Association. She has served as a breach coach for companies large, medium and small, and in this role, is regularly part of the incident response team. Her level of experience ranges from assisting a three-person real estate company with the legal fallout from a stolen laptop to counseling a multinational company on the response to a zero-day attack that affected over 140 systems. Molly also counsels companies on the execution of their legal responsibilities and disclosure requirements in light of the evolving patchwork of federal, state and industry regulations and laws on data privacy and security. Email: marranz@salawus.com

Joe Scargill is the Special Agent in Charge of the Minneapolis Field Office for the United States Secret Service. His career with the Secret Service has spanned more than 21 years in a variety of assignments. Special Agent Scargill started his career in the Columbus, Ohio Resident Office. Following that assignment, Special Agent Scargill was selected as an instructor at the James J Rowley Training academy, where all special agent trainees as well as assigned special agents and uniformed division officers receive their training. Following that assignment, Special Agent Scargill was selected as the assistant Attaché to the US Embassy in Sofia Bulgaria. Special Agent Scargill was then promoted to the Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit, MI Field Office. During his time there, Special Agent Scargill established the Michigan Electronic Crime Task Force. Prior to his current assignment as the Special Agent in Charge of the Minneapolis Field Office, he served as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the George HW Bush Protection Division in Houston, TX. Email: Joe.Scargill@usss.dhs.gov