Best practice: file management
Preparing for travel to the U.S. will be easier when you follow file management best practices all the time.
- Separate your personal files from client files.
- Label privileged information.
- Segregate privileged information on devices.
- Encrypt access to privileged and confidential information.
- Store files on the cloud, not on your device.
- Use different log-in passwords for your device and for access to cloud-stored information.
Advise clients of ways they may lose the protection of solicitor-client privilege when travelling. Provide information about the risks in your retainer letter. In the same way that you need to take steps to protect client information, clients need to understand that they may lose the privileged status of communications with you when a border official asks for access to their device and finds correspondence with you.