What Lawyers Should Do When Using Conferencing Calls
As an attorney, you are obligated to ensure that you do everything possible to keep your conversations secure and confidential. These are some tips for when you have to get involved in a conference call.
Prioritize Integrity and Security
One thing you should always do during legal conferencing is prioritized integrity and security. Your clients are counting on your firm to be transparent, trustworthy, and honest. These three attributes should flourish within your organization at all times, and you should hold every one of your attorneys to that standard.
Be Professional at All Times
You should also ensure that you carry yourself in a professional manner at all times. Use proper English when speaking to clients and use the appropriate phone etiquette and mannerism. For example, allow the other party to speak before you speak and take the time to explain crucial legal processes when necessary.
Always Be Patient
Patience is a part of professionalism, and it means that sometimes you have to be patient with people who may not be as legally savvy as you are. You must be willing to take time to explain options, terms and consequences to anyone receiving your services.
Make Sure the Call Is Secure
You should take steps to ensure that all of your conferences are secure, whether they are video conferences or phone conferences. Ensure that the software you use has encryption methods in place. For example, telephone conversation encryption will encrypt your entire conversation so that hackers can’t get any use out of it even if they’re able to hack into it. The messages will be encrypted so that no one else will understand a single word that’s being said in the conversation. Security is a must. Therefore, you must conduct research to ensure that you are using a reliable conferencing service.
Notify Your Participants if You Will Record the Call
You also have to make sure that you respect the client’s confidentiality. Therefore, you need to notify the participants if you are going to record any part of the conversation you have with them. Check the legalities in your state and how they work in terms of recording conversations. Some of the conference calling programs have features that allow conference calls to be recorded. While this can be a handy feature, it can also be detrimental to your firm if anyone gets upset because you failed to give proper notification. Protect your firm by doing your due diligence.
Use Features That Eliminate Unauthorized Participants
Finally, you should use conference call features that eliminate unauthorized participants. There is one feature, for example, that will allow you to exclude participants at will. Therefore, you could use that feature any time that you don’t want a certain person or people to hear the information being shared in the conversation. That way, there will be no breach of trust between you and your client at any time.
Stick to these rules when you have conference calls with your clients, and everyone will always be safe. Always ensure that you protect your law firm as well as your clients, no matter what you do.
