Twenty years ago, when I was starting out as a lawyer, cell phones were exotic. Worse, they were insecure. People hated talking private business on them. In fact, there were legal ethics opinions that lawyers should not discuss confidential client information on cell phones. How times have changed! Now, everyone does it and doesn’t think about it. It’s taken for granted. Part of this is familiarity and part is the evolution of cell phone technology to digital rather than analogue. But even digital calls can be tapped. It’s just harder.

What about email? Or Facebook? Or any of the other ways to communicate? These days it’s complicated. Some lawyers have taken to discussing this explicitly with their clients and then having the clients sign a waiver indicating that the client knows the risks and is willing to take the risk of having their confidential communication(s) intercepted in exchange for the convenience of email/fax/whatever method of communicating.

What do you (my potential clients) think? All of you so far just seem to like email and cell phone. But have you even thought about the question. I’d like to know.