While I don’t usually do requests, my pal  Dissent was pissed about the fact that lawyers treat client files without sufficient respect for privacy.  She had a point.  Via Office of Inadequate Security :

Don’t lawyers have a duty of confidentiality – apart from any state laws that might apply – about disposal of records with personal information? I am, well, frankly annoyed at all the news reports I’ve seen about lawyers or law firms not disposing of records securely. Here’s yet another one, this time from Louisiana:

Below the interstate at Dalrymple and along the sidewalk, there are documents strewn about with personal information – names, account numbers and addresses just lying around for anyone to pick up.

But that’s not all. 9 News found court documents, some with social security numbers, bank statements complete with account numbers, even a Mastercard account number.

The law firm from whence the files came had told its cleaning company to dispose of them. Apparently, the cleaning company figured the interstate was the perfect place to do so.  While outsourcing and clouds are all the rage, the files ended up on the side of the road, exposing a whole bunch of people’s personal information to view and, potentially, abuse. Nice, right? Nobody talks about the folks you hired to do a job properly, but don’t. It’s not enough to pay someone else and wash your hands of it.

My lame explanation to Dissent was that it costs money to dispose of files properly, and lawyers are cheap.  Back in the old days, when there was no such thing as shredders, they were typically tossed in the garbage.  A really high class firm might burn them, but that would cause smog, and nobody wants that.  Truth be told, the elimination of dead files after the time to hold them elapsed just wasn’t much of an issue.  It should have been, and it must be today.

Shred old files.  Protect client privacy by properly destroying old files in a way that no one can access them.  Not even the employees of your cleaning company, who might see the side of the interstate as a really great place to dump them. 

Even if you hire a service to perform the shredding, it’s your responsibility to make sure it’s done, and done properly.  They aren’t lawyers, and they might not share your lawyerly concern for privacy.  They might even take your money and still dump the files on the side of the interstate.  It’s your responsibility to see that they don’t. 

Once again, Pogo was right.  Destroy files properly.  I know it costs money, and there’s nobody to bill for it.  Being a lawyer is such a burden.

Having dealt with Dissent’s beef, now one of my own. I’ve been deluged with calls from young, out of work lawyers who have gotten jobs cold-calling lawyers for a variety of companies selling everything from case management systems to promotional gimmicks to put on your vanity wall.

I understand that you need the money. I really do.  I also understand that you would much rather get a job practicing law than sit at home in your undies and call up people who despise you. Nobody wants to be despised.

But you’re annoying those of us who have work to do.  Here’s the deal: First, if you cold call me, do not get on the phone and ask for “Scott.”  We’re not old friends. You have not been invited to address me informally.  The only thing this does is piss me off, and I absolutely guarantee you that I will not buy anything from someone who pisses me off.  I am Mr. Greenfield to you, until I inform you otherwise.

Second, if you lie about where you’re from or what you want, you are a liar.  Even if I have the slightest interest in whatever you’re selling, I won’t buy it from a liar.  If you tell the truth, you may not get through to me, but at least you aren’t a liar.  Either way, you won’t make a sale, but if you take the liars path, you won’t make a sale and you will go to hell.

Third, don’t ask me how I’m doing. Don’t ask me how I currently manage my files.  I don’t want to chat with you. I don’t tell cold-callers about how I do anything in my practice. I’m busy and you are wasting my time. That’s when I immediately hang up the phone.

Fourth, if I tell you I’m not interested in whatever you’re selling, say good-bye and hang up.  If you push it, I will be rude.  No, I don’t care about your feelings. Not at all.

And finally, to all those in the cottage industry of scum-sucking vultures trying to take a few points out of lawyers by marketing them, and who somehow manage to put my name on your website as if I have agreed to be a part of your scum-sucking network, and then have the chutzpah to send me emails saying I’ve subscribed to you. there is a special place in hell for you.

Anyone reading this far, please note that Dissent’s beef is far more important than mine.  But since I have the keys to the front door here, I get to throw mine into the mix.  They may be trivial annoyances compared to the serious problem raised by Dissent, but they bug me.