Cloudy conditions at the NSW Law Society

Ethics committee purged by incoming Law Soc prez ... New guidelines on cloud computing and outsourcing not adopted ... Distressed email 

THERE'S turmoil at the NSW Law Soc, and so early in the year. 

Member of the LS council Coralie Kenny has been dumped from the ethics committee by the new president John Dodson, and she's pretty grumpy about it - as you can see from her email (below). 

The ethics committee has been beavering away on guidelines for outsourcing by solicitors and the use of cloud computing. 

It's all about lawyers getting clients' consent before sending confidential information to the cloud, either specifically or by way of retainer agreements. 

The same with the outsourcing guidelines. 

Nothing terribly controversial, yet for some reason the Law Society has decided not to adopt these guidelines. 

They were prepared in conjunction with Steve Mark, the Legal Services Commissioner. 

According to Coralie's missive, the matter was dealt with by the council at its December meeting "in camera". 

"The outcome was for Pres Elect Dobson and the CEO to meet with Steve Mark of the OLSC ... which they did just before Christmas." 

The upshot is the the OLSC will publish them, but the society won't adopt them. 

Weird, hey? 

A guide on practice issues: cloud computing 

A guide on practice issues: outsourcing 

From: Coralie Kenny

Sent: Wednesday, 9 January 2013 11:54 AM

Subject: Re: Ethics Committee

Dear All,

Unfortunately President Dobson has not appointed myself or Terry Stern to the Ethics Committee for 2013. No prior consultation occurred, no reasons were provided and President Dobson has advised me that he 'will not enter into any further communication' with me on this.

As you are aware from our last committee meeting in 2012, the conduct Guidelines on each of Outsourcing and Use of Cloud Computing were put to the December meeting of Council, having been held over from the November meeting in order for them to receive input from the IT Committee, chaired by then Pres Elect Dobson.

The matter was dealt with by Council at its December meeting in camera.

The outcome was for Pres Elect Dobson and the CEO to meet with Steve Mark of OLSC (with whom the Guidelines had been prepared), which they did just before Christmas.

The Guidelines will not be adopted by the Society. OLSC will publish these Guidelines.

I would like to thank those committee members who were involved in the exercise to prepare the Guidelines. It is of great credit to you that the Guidelines are looking to be used as a base to be adopted by other legal profession representative bodies throughout Australia. Input was provided on that basis by bodies including the Ethics Committee of the Law Council of Australia. It is therefore disappointing that the Society is not prepared to adopt them. However, they will be available to benefit practitioners through the OLSC.

I'd also like to thank each of you as 2012 committee members for your support during my time on the committee. I would like to have remained a committee member, particularly as a couple of the issues the committee seemed poised to be involved with in 2013 are of particular interest to me as a proponent of improved good corporate practices. 

I hope to join the committee again in future.

Many thanks

Coralie Kenny