How Do Legal Assistants Maintain Confidentiality?

Have you ever wondered how legal assistants secure information? In law practice, one small mistake can ruin the relationship and cause the client’s case to be lost. That’s why one of the greatest assets for the job of a legal assistant is the ability to maintain confidentiality. But how will you handle confidential documents, client conversations, and courtroom documents? 

Understanding those duties is the best way to establish a solid professional foundation for those interested in legal assistance. Northwest Career College students learn the best practices for keeping client information confidential while supporting lawyers. Let’s explore how legal assistants ensure confidentiality — and why this is truly important!

Why Confidentiality is So Important to the Legal Profession

As a Legal Assistant, you will encounter a lot of private information. The clients expect all the professionals handling the case to do well and maintain confidentiality. Improper leakage or sharing may affect a client’s case or his life. 

For example, if any client shares personal information regarding a criminal case with their attorney, such information should be kept confidential to save the rights and future of the client.

Laws ensure confidentiality, which the legal assistant must follow carefully. The rules also allow a trusting relationship between the client and their attorneys. Fewer clients would be willing to share the essential details necessary for their case without trust.

Key Rules and Laws Protecting Confidentiality

• The attorney-client privilege is one of the most critical laws that dictate confidentiality protection. 
• Essentially, this means that whatever a client says to his or her attorney is highly privileged and personal and not to be given out to any third party, including the court. 
• Legal Assistants are part of the legal team; hence, they must respect this privilege. 

Even if the information they handle is not directly related to the client stated, it should be kept private and secure.

Another piece of legislation that assists in protecting confidentiality is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPAA. While HIPAA addresses individuals working in the healthcare field, Legal Assistants who work with healthcare legal cases also fall under its expectations. HIPAA ensures that susceptible health information, such as medical records, remains private and is only disclosed to authorized persons.

How Do Legal Assistants Protect Confidential Information?

Now that you understand why confidentiality is important let’s discuss how Legal Assistants can protect confidential information.

Secure Documents

Among the first things Legal Assistants do to manage confidentiality is keep documents and files safe. This would mean, for example, paper, digital, and emailed documents. These must be stored in a secure place that prevents unauthorized access.

On the one hand, you can store them in locked filing cabinets or rooms. On the other hand, for digital files, Legal Assistants use password-protected computers and encrypted software so that hackers or persons not entitled to see the files cannot read them.

Limit Access to Confidential Information

Not all information has to be kept confidential from others within the legal office. One of the Legal Assistant’s essential tasks is to know when disclosure is appropriate and when confidence should be maintained. For example, you may be preparing a document for the attorney that they should only disclose to other office personnel if the attorney allows them to disclose the document.

This also applies to discussing cases. Legal Assistants should never discuss a client’s case with anyone other than the legal team on that case. If a client confides sensitive information in you, the information is not to be repeated with friends, family, or even coworkers, except when necessary for the case.

Professional Communication Should Be Used

Legal Assistants constantly communicate with clients, attorneys, and sometimes other businesses or courts. When relaying this communication, you must be conscious of how to release confidential information accidentally. When faxing, emailing, or calling, for example, a Legal Assistant should refrain from discussing a case if the assistant is in a public location where others could hear it. They should also ensure that the emails are addressed to the right person and not attach some essential documents to mail sent to the wrong person.

Court Confidentiality

Legal Assistants may occasionally be required to attend court or conferences with clients. You must do this in the interest of observing the same amount of confidentiality as would be expected. You should not discuss cases even in a hallway or discuss information that is considered confidential in public areas.
 

Continuous Training

Even after initial training, you will continue to have learning needs associated with protecting confidentiality. This is self-explanatory, as laws and best practices sometimes change over time. Legal Assistants must be informed about changing privacy laws, new technologies that impact information storage, and the most viable methods for keeping sensitive data from falling into unauthorized hands.

At Northwest Career College, students are taught the legal skills to be effective Legal Assistants and the best practices for handling sensitive information. Much of the curriculum involves training on maintaining confidentiality, and the students are trained to handle sensitive data securely and responsibly.

Conclusion

As a Legal Assistant, you will work with secret and crucial information daily. Generic confidentiality management is one of the main items in your job description. You can safeguard the information you work with by following strict rules and best practices in daily life.
If you are ready to become a Legal Assistant and learn the skills you need to succeed in this vital field, then enroll now at Northwest Career College. Our comprehensive program will teach you the tools and techniques to protect confidentiality while helping clients navigate the legal system.