While often looking for ways to innovate, the legal industry historically has been slow to adopt new technology. The pace changed, however, when the pandemic forced courts and law firms alike to shut down in 2020, accelerating the use of technology.
In 2021, as firms began returning to fully in-person operations, their adoption of cloud migration, artificial intelligence, workflow automation, cybersecurity and other technology advances created opportunities for more seamless integration into the legal space. Law libraries are part of this change: Their digital assets will play a part in how firms and corporate legal teams continue to accommodate attorneys and staff through in-person, remote and hybrid operations.
Knowing the Risks
For more than two decades, many corporate legal departments and law firms have been transitioning to hybrid-digital or fully digital law libraries. The advantages of digitization are well known and include a smaller physical footprint for the law library, increased accessibility, and the ability to share common law library resources across multiple locations. In addition, the flexibility to find resources from anywhere, upload documents, use AI to ensure accuracy and record and organize notes via a range of software tools make the digital law library an invaluable resource.
As with transitioning any resource from a physical to a digital location, digitizing a law library comes with risks. These risks could irreparably damage the reputation of a business or law firm and leave them open to insurance claims and costly litigation:
- Cyber Attacks: Digital law libraries do not typically store sensitive client or financial data. However, any connection between a firm or company's digital library and their digital system offers a potential doorway for hackers to access confidential information, leaving corporate legal departments, law firms, and their clients vulnerable to a cyberattack.
- Lack of Training: While attorneys and legal professionals are no strangers to research, transitioning resources from a print to digital format presents challenges in learning to use new technology and platforms, which in turn could make digital research more difficult and prone to errors.
- Destruction of Property: The process of scanning old or discontinued publications, cases or resources into a digital system can be risky. In addition, physical materials are subject to a range of threats, including loss, damage, or theft. If any documents are mishandled, their use to the firm or legal department can be lost.
- Irrelevant Content: Cases and resources are often updated. For hybrid libraries, storing the content in more than one place raises the potential threat of inconsistency. Without a resource management process in place, updates can slip through the cracks and lead to damaging misinformation.
- Licensing: If any law library resources have licensed or copyrighted material, a law firm or company could be at risk of copyright or licensing violations when they upload that content to an online repository. The result can be legal trouble or a costly fine.
All these risks offer the potential for a negative client experience or damage to a corporate legal matter. Fortunately, law libraries can take steps to reduce risk exposures related to digitizing resources.
Using Best Practices
Like any company with online resources, law libraries can protect themselves by using best practices for cybersecurity. These best practices include empowering everyone in the management of the law library responsible for the protection of the system. This protection includes following routine protocols like password protections, a dedicated email address, and specific authorization to access the digital law library.
Additionally, using a VPN and putting protocols in place for when and how long individuals are allowed to remotely access the law library network can help protect the system. Training on how to look for and identify phishing schemes (when hackers send emails that seem familiar in order to trick a user into sharing valuable or protected information) is essential as well.
Similar to cybersecurity training, a law firm or company's information professionals can provide regular training and educational resources on how to best use and protect a firm or legal department's technology. This includes access to its digital law library resources. Such training can save attorneys and legal professionals valuable time and provide them with the tools to quickly find the most relevant information to their case.
Real-world resource management products such as Onelog, Research Monitor, or Lookup Precision can help track product usage to ensure that all technologies and systems are being used to the best of their ability. Additionally, workflow automation can help librarians guarantee that any content in the system is up-to-date and relevant.
To protect themselves from copyright infringement, law libraries can register a copyright agent with the US Copyright Office. A copyright agent can help law libraries understand their rights and comply with takedown notices.
Understanding What's Covered
In addition to these best practices, law firms or corporate legal departments should work with their insurance agent or broker to ensure their insurance program is designed to help protect against these and other risks. No one insurance policy covers everything, and in a world of rapidly advancing technology, annual reviews of a law library's insurance coverages are advisable. A good insurance agent or broker can help legal professionals understand what is and isn't covered in their firm or corporate policies.
For instance, the most common insurance claims that libraries experience are slip and fall claims. General liability coverage will protect libraries from claims of both bodily injury and property damage that may be the result of negligence. Popular property policy-related claims would be destruction or damage to property and/or contents due to burst pipes, fire, storms, or theft.
General liability will not protect a library from cybercrimes, which are a real, dangerous, and growing threat. For this risk, a law firm or corporate legal team needs to purchase cyber liability as a separate policy or as an endorsement to current coverage. Limits for cyber policies can vary from $25,000 to $10 million depending on the business and perceived risk.
Although cyber insurance is not required of libraries, they are becoming increasingly important coverage options, especially as libraries, and law libraries specifically, transition to digital resources. There are always risks when transitioning to a new system. By following these best practices and working with your insurance company, you can protect yourself from a costly situation.
Domenic Antinucci is Program Manager for MemorialPro and By the Cover, The Brownyard Group's Cemetery and Library programs. Email: [email protected]. Phone: 800-645-5820 ext. 106.
These views are the author's own.