On June 6th, the Bordeaux School of Lawyers (EDA Aliénor) launched a new training program for young lawyers wishing to master the essential digital tools for their professional practice.
This program is part of a series of training courses dedicated to digital law, including the following courses scheduled for September 2024:
- March 2024: Metaverses, Virtual Reality Solutions and Their Legal Implications
- September 2024: Law of Influencers, Streamers, and Content Creators
- September 2024: Video Game and Esports Law
This training session, led by Pierre-Xavier Chomiac de Sas, explores the challenges of digitalization in society and for legal professionals, highlighting issues that are often overlooked or poorly understood, particularly regarding cybersecurity risks and the impressive opportunities offered by artificial intelligence solutions.
We would like to thank all the colleagues who attended this training session, which facilitated a particularly fruitful exchange and interaction.
Digital tools for legal professionals: cybersecurity and artificial intelligence
The digital revolution has transformed our society and inevitably impacts all legal professions. Highlighting technological advancements and their societal impact, PCS Avocat emphasized the digital transformation of law firms, supported by a variety of online tools affecting all legal sectors, from advisory to litigation activities:
- Digitalization of exchanges between lawyers and courts;
- Online legal databases for case law and legal scholarship;
- Creation of online platforms for administrative documents – creation, modification, and publication of corporate documents and business law matters;
Cybersecurity and Personal Data. Recent years have seen an explosion in the number of cyberattacks in various forms: (spear)phishing, ransomware, DDoS attacks, etc. These attacks affect individuals as well as companies and businesses. Law firms are thus affected both by indiscriminate attacks targeting the general population and by more specialized entities interested in the particularly sensitive data that law firms may retain in the course of advising their clients.
Law firms must also ensure strict compliance with the protection of the personal data of their clients and partners in accordance with the GDPR regulations.
Bound by professional secrecy, lawyers must exercise great vigilance and care in implementing appropriate and necessary protocols and procedures.
Artificial intelligence. Tools based on artificial intelligence technologies—algorithms or machine learning—appear incredibly promising for assisting and optimizing the work of lawyers.
Lawyer’s advertising & communication
Digital communication is a key driver of visibility for lawyers, enabling them to present and promote their firms’ activities. The training covered various topics related to freedom of communication as defined by recent European court decisions, the associated proportionality test, and evolving advertising regulations.
Lawyer & Communication: Applicable Ethical Rules
In matters of advertising, lawyers, like any individual or company, are bound by the applicable legal provisions:
- Rules relating to promotional practices and consumer protection, notably those set out in the Consumer Code;
- Rules concerning regulated advertising for specific products and services;
- Civil and criminal rules relating to editorial liability;
- Regulatory and legal provisions concerning data protection.
As a regulated profession, lawyers are also required to comply with a number of specific rules regarding their communications. These are set out in Article 10 of the National Internal Regulations.
In summary, lawyer communication is governed by a dual principle: identifying the author of the advertisement and providing truthful and honest information regarding its content. Prohibited statements are also outlined, reiterating many prohibitions already present in the legal provisions applicable to businesses.
The variety of lawyers’ online communication methods was analyzed through the study of different distribution channels:
- The lawyer’s website;
- Personalized solicitations offered to litigants or clients;
- Service offerings from lawyers’ commercial platforms;
- Integration into directories and referencing platforms, etc.;
- The use of social media.
Lawyers’ Use of Social Media: A Marketing Strategy
Social media platforms account for a significant portion of the digital content published and consumed in 2024. The diversity of social media platforms, their content, their audiences, and their algorithmic systems necessarily requires lawyers to carefully analyze their objectives in order to develop an effective communication strategy.
A number of concrete situations related to lawyers’ presence on social media were discussed. These situations raise interesting issues, particularly regarding intellectual property, the protection of professional secrecy, ensuring that content is published to guarantee the strict protection of clients’ interests, and showcasing legal expertise or information, notably through infographics or legal design.
“Influencer” Lawyers
The final part of the training focused on the emergence of colleagues on social media whose notoriety and influence allow them to benefit from the new status of “influencer lawyers.”
This new practice raises a major issue for the legal profession, whose practice necessarily entails strict adherence to the principle of independence and the prohibition of engaging in commercial activity: can a lawyer behave as a commercial influencer on social media?
PCS Avocat – Communication & Advertisement
PCS Avocat Conseil has been assisting professionals with issues related to communication and, more generally, digital law for several years, providing training on all these topics on a regular basis at various universities, businesses, and law schools.
This training allows you to acquire essential skills to navigate the digital world as a lawyer. Don’t hesitate to contact the firm for more information!
For any information or assistance requests, you can contact us via the contact form or at px@chomiacdesas.com.
