Many law firms issue or subsidize laptops for their attorneys. So what happens when attorneys move between firms? Can they take their laptops with them? This very issue has arisen in lawsuits between law firms. The law firm from which the attorneys departed may have concerns that laptops contain sensitive, proprietary or client confidential data; the law firm that hired the departing attorneys may want to ensure that its new employees can transition their practice seamlessly.

This sort of dispute highlights the challenges that arise from the portability of today's modern technology. It is much more difficult now than ever before for law firms to protect themselves and to assure compliance with the ethical and professional rules that govern their conduct.

Laptops (and now flash drives and the cloud) present a new set of risks for law firms. Today, departing attorneys can take information—a law firm's most valuable commodity—without taking a single box of files or photocopying a single sheet of paper. Forms, client contact information, and client files can be taken with the single stroke of a computer key. Controls aimed at protecting or securing hard copies are largely meaningless in today's electronic world.