How to Safeguard Your Intellectual Property Through Document Management

Illustration by Shaw Nielsen

This article appeared in Cybersecurity Law & Strategy, an ALM publication for privacy and security professionals, Chief Information Security Officers, Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Corporate Counsel, Internet and Tech Practitioners, In-House Counsel. Visit the website to learn more.

Documents are the lifeblood of any law firm. The documents that a firm produces are its greatest asset, yet firms historically have not made sufficient efforts to safeguard those documents from both internal and external threats.

For decades following the advent of word processing systems and continuing even into today's sophisticated document management platforms, law firms have typically had an open-door approach to document access. This means that anyone in your firm can likely access any document at any time, leaving your firm's intellectual property entirely unprotected.