I have been emailed, written, called, and conversed with ad nauseum about the Data Privacy Act and what it means to Massachusetts attorneys.  Having read, re-read, and slept with both G.L. c. 93H and 201 CMR 17.00 under my pillow, I still cannot comprehend fully why the entire Act applies to attorneys, how attorneys are to fully comply with the Act (except we need our maintenance people to sign papers by 2012), and how the OCABR would learn of a breach and enforce the Act against non-compliant attorneys.

There are many articles and blogs written about how the Act applies to attorneys and how attorneys, in turn, can comply with the Act and, should you wish to educate yourself more about the Act I suggest you start with the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program’s (“LOMAP”) “Law Practice Advisor” blog, where there are several in-depth articles written about the Act. 

However, if you are like me, a “show me” kind of person, I recommend that you attend the Data Privacy Act plenary session at the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Annual Conference on Thursday, March 11 at the Westin Copley Place. Beginning at 9:00 A.M., the topics will include “What is the Data Privacy Act?” presented by David Felper, Esq. of Bowditch and Dewey, followed by “It’s Lost – Now What?” by attorney Scott Schafer of the Office of the Attorney General, and finally “Key Tools to Prevent a Breach,” presented by Blake Martin, IT Director of Sten-Tel in Springfield.  The session will conclude with a panel discussion featuring the speakers, along with attorney Daniel C. Crane and Kurt Baumgarten, VP of Information Security at Pentus Security in East Longmeadow.  You may notice that several of the speakers are from Western Massachusetts.  That’s because this very same program was attended by close to 600 people in Springfield last month!

 Knowing the content of what will be discussed, I guarantee you that you will come out of that session understanding what you need to do to comply with the Act.

To register for the conference, click here.  Hope to see you all next week.