The Atlanta Lawyer April 2020 | Page 12

An Unpredictable Future Calls for an Informed Community New Section Forming: Technology, Privacy and Cybersecurity Law. STEPHEN BUSH Bodker, Ramsey, Andrews, Winograd & Wildstein, PC [email protected] 12 April 2020 MICHAEL JABLONSKI Law Office of Michael Jablonski [email protected] “Come gather ‘round people, wherever you roam,” sang Bob Dylan in 1964. The line was a call to all that, without knowing how things may turn out, the times were in fact changing. Was this written and solidified in all its vinyl glory with the understanding that one day the entire planet would experience a deadly pandemic that would keep us inside our homes, comforted by the technology on which we have come to rely? Or, was it some time-traveling premonition that one day, after a career spanning half a century, Bob himself would record a new 17-minute song, to be announced in 2020 solely via the now-ubiquitous (and politically-tumultuous) technology platform Twitter. Nobody back in 1964 could have imagined that. With this idea in mind, we are forming a new Atlanta Bar Section focused on technology, data privacy, and cyber security, as main areas of interest. Furthermore, the Section will explore how practitioners can better understand the relationship between these areas, how we can better advise clients, and how we can create a lively community within which a robust system of knowledge and referral sources can be accessed. Our clients do not know what they do not know. This is no different for attorneys, who must serve as trusted advisors, and thus must remain out in front of the concept and scope of what privacy means. This is the future for every person, and by extension every single area of law practice. An in-depth understanding of data privacy should be a basic tenant of any attorney’s practice. This is the spirit behind the Technology, Privacy, and Cyber Security Law Section: to serve as a reminder - through education, community, and overall public service – of just how far times have changed, and to constantly be aware, for the benefit of our practices, our clients, and by extension those communities we serve, of just how nimble we all must be. Speaking of nimble innovation, the Board members of the Atlanta Bar Association, for the first time in its illustrious history, have allowed the mandatory petition to start this new section proceed electronically, via an online petition. Please join us today. There is no better time for practitioners to consider the privacy and