Secure e-mail for corporate lawyers

The lifeblood of the legal profession is paper-based mail. Postal mail and premium services such as certified mail and express delivery services are critical to most law firms. A profession so tightly tied to paper-based mail is an obvious candidate for e-mail. But a lot of legal correspondence needs to be confidential, unchanged while in transit and auditable. Services such as confidentiality, proof of delivery, proof of receipt and integrity have been much easier to achieve with traditional mail than via e-mail. Corporate lawyers typically distribute documents such as merger agreements, copyrights, patents, initial public offerings and other intrinsically confidential data.

Some leading-edge law firms are beginning to move to e-mail for corporate legal correspondence. For example, the firm of Fenwick & West LLP is leveraging S/MIME-based security to provide Internet-based client communication. It uses WorldTalk's WorldSecure service as the basis this service.

While Fenwick & West is clearly pushing the envelope for Internet-based secure messaging, expect much more to come. While, as we've previously discussed, the security infrastructure is still in an embryonic phase, selected applications such as those focusing on the legal industry will be some of the early drivers of secure messaging technology. Initial services will focus on confidentiality, integrity and confirmation of the sender's identity.

So why should a law firm move to secure electronic communication? Motivating factors include speed of delivery, integration with other computer-based processes (for instance, send computer files directly rather than print and send), support for the electronic modification of in-process documents between the attorney and the client, and future competitive pressure. The drawbacks are the immaturity of secure messaging technology and laws that were primarily developed with paper-based mail in mind. It's only a matter of time, however, before these barriers will be broken down.

The Burton Group is a leading information technology advisory and consulting firm. It provides in-depth analysis of emerging network computing technologies such as directory services, next generation messaging, secure messaging, NOS migration, public key infrastructure, and networking infrastructure. As part of its Network Strategy Service for network planners, The Burton Group offers the Catalyst Conference once a year in late July.

Moving toward encryption interoperability:
Network World Network World on Groupware and Messaging on Groupware/Messaging, 7/10/98.

Secure messaging is a matter of trust:
Network World Network World on Groupware and Messaging on Groupware/Messaging, 4/14/98.

Network World Fusion's Cryptography resources page

Sorting Through the Secure Messaging Maze:
From the March/April issue of Messaging Magazine.

S/MIME Central from RSA, Inc.

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