Lawyers Don’t Even Use Secure and Private Communication – Privacy

I made an appointment with a lawyer for the first time. They booked me for a short conversation via Microsoft Teams. I felt uncomfortable about undermining my privacy in such a case, so I asked if it had to be Microsoft Teams. They said no, it could be a phone call, which seems even worse.

WTF!? I don’t know if this is normal for lawyers? If so, I feel paranoid that I’m using Signal when these guys don’t even think it’s necessary.

I don’t know what to do.

You can ask them to use Signal, you can go there yourself, or you can find another lawyer who does meet your privacy requirements.

BTW this is a pretty serious company… I’m not talking about a little Saul Goodman. I really get the feeling that privacy is a waste of time… these guys can’t use Microsoft Teams unless they trust them… and if lawyers trust them… maybe we should too.

We have the interview via Microsoft Teams; my spokesperson and one of the hosts were sitting in a room with an impressive backdrop of the official seals of the NSA, the US Central Command, and the United States Cyber ​​​​Command. I was doing my work from a conference room in the World Trade Center, praying that my wifi wouldn’t go out.

You can tell them to use Jitsi. Like Louis Rossmann did with his doctor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzt0tzsaWDE

Yes, I would meet with them in person first and then tell them what your communications needs are before hiring them.

Even if you let them talk to you through Signal, I bet they write their notes and reports in Microsoft Word and save all the files to Onedrive.

Find a tech-savvy lawyer. It’s a bit tricky.

Several lawyers I work with have Signal. One of them even has a Protonmail account so you can send E2EE emails.

The reason most lawyers don’t do that is for two reasons. One reason has been mentioned: most lawyers are low-tech.

Another reason is that in most countries, communications with your lawyer are protected by law. In other words, your conversations with your lawyer cannot be used against you.

There are two striking examples of this type of event. One is a mafia leader who is also a lawyer and who organized the sale of drugs from his law firm. The police intercepted these conversations, but because the information is confidential, all charges were dropped.

Another example: police monitored mafia members’ conversations with lawyers, seized $35 million. Charges were dropped, all the money went back to the mafia.

This is the main reason why lawyers don’t care. Your conversations are protected by law in most countries.