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STATE BAR ASSOCIATION CREATES PRIVACY TASK FORCE
Panel to Make Recommendations
to Ensure Privacy Rights of
Attorneys and Clients are Protected
The New York
State Bar Association today announced the formation of a Task Force on
Privacy that will examine current policies, practices and legislation
that threaten attorney-client privacy today, and make recommendations to
safeguard this most fundamental legal right. The task force was created by Association President
Bernice
K. Leber (Arent Fox LLP) and is
one of her key priorities.
“The
right to privacy for lawyers and their clients is a fundamental precept of our justice system. Protecting lawyers and clients from third-party disclosure
should be a vital concern not only to our profession, but to all
Americans,” Leber said.
“From eavesdropping
on attorneys representing detainees at Guantanamo Bay to the
illegal interception of emails, if the privacy of just one lawyer is
compromised, the privacy of every client could be in
jeopardy. This task force will conduct a
thorough examination of these privacy issues and develop policy and
legislative solutions that will ensure that these
important rights are preserved. I would like to thank all of the
members of the panel for agreeing to tackle this critical
problem,” Leber added.
The Task Force on Privacy
will be co-chaired by Kelly M. Slavitt, Corporate Counsel of the
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), and
Alison Arden Besunder (Arent Fox LLP). The
panel will also include members of the Association’s Business,
Criminal, Health, Labor and Employment, and Intellectual Property law
sections.
The task force
will study specific areas where attorney privacy is most vulnerable,
focusing on the Internet, health and financial data, and issues
affecting the principle of attorney-client privilege. It will propose reforms of current statutes as
needed. Through its work, the panel also
will educate the public and the profession on ways to reduce the risk of
violations to privacy. In addition, the task
force will review and report on the current remedies and compensation
available to those whose data has been seized for illegitimate
purposes.
Members of the Task
Force on Privacy include:
- Kelly M Slavitt, Esq.,
Corporate Counsel, ASPCA, Co-Chair;
- Alison Arden Besunder, Esq.
(Arent Fox LLP), Co-Chair;
- Grace Sterrett, Esq.
(Hudson Cook,
LLP);
- Cliff Weber, Esq. (Hinman,
Howard & Kattel, LLP);
- Malvina Nathanson, Esq. (Law
Office of Malvina Nathanson);
- Mark Mahoney, Esq. (Harrington
& Mahoney);
- Jo-Ann Marchica, Esq. (Arent
Fox PLLC);
- Jill Steinberg, Esq. (Arent
Fox PLLC);
- Paul Gillan, Esq. (Capital
District Physicians Health Plan);
- Lauren Fass, Esq. (Arent Fox
PLLC);
- Robert N. Swidler, Esq.
(Northeast Health);
- Darrell Gay, Esq. (Arent Fox
PLLC);
- Matthew Asbell, Esq. (Ladas
& Parry LLP);
- Raymond A. Mantle, Esq. (Law
Office of Raymond A. Mantle);
- Lindsay Martin, Esq. (McKool
Smith);
- Jay G. Safer, Esq. (Locke Lord
Bissell & Liddell LLP); and
- Oren Warshavsky, Esq. (Baker
Hostetler).
For more information about the
Association’s Task Force on Privacy, members of the public can
visit its Web Site at www.nysba.org/privacytaskforce.
The 74,000-member New York
State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in
the nation. Founded in 1876, the Association’s programs and
activities have continuously served the public and improved the justice
system for more than 130 years.
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