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18 July 2013 / Robert Brown
Issue: 7569 / Categories: Features , Legal services , Profession , Technology
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Head in the cloud

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Robert Brown examines the implications for eDisclosure when a company’s data has moved into cyberspace

We may not realise we’re doing so, but we all use the “cloud”. E-mail services such as Hotmail and Gmail are cloud-based, as is Microsoft’s Office 365 and the popular data storage tool Dropbox. The corporate sector too has been no less enthusiastic in its adoption of cloud-based software and data storage, for both mainstream and specialist applications. In addition, law firm applications are increasingly moving towards the cloud with legal libraries and case management tools being, perhaps, the more well-known examples.

The concept of managing eDisclosure within the cloud, however, is somewhat ambiguous and, as far as many companies are concerned, shrouded in mystery. One consequence is that many companies are far less circumspect about what happens to their data in the cloud than they are with more conventional providers of IT services.

An important aspect of using the cloud that is frequently overlooked, often until it is too late is what happens in

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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