Kutak Rock attorneys Elise Dieterich and Gregory Mottla authored an article, “Data Sharing in the Cloud: When is the Attorney-Client Privilege at Risk?,” in the July 2015 edition of The Corporate Counselor.

While storing and sharing data in the cloud is efficient and cost-effective, the article investigates whether client communications stored in cloud are safe from inadvertent waiver of the attorney-client privilege. In the article, Dieterich and Mottla examine best practices for selecting a cloud-based document repository. In particular, the authors emphasize the need for thoughtful due-diligence, such as examining the provider’s subpoena policy, and stress that determining the degree and types of third-party access permitted by the cloud provider is crucial to ensuring that the privileged status of documents stored in the cloud will be upheld. They recommend considering cloud service providers built for the legal community that provide a high degree of data security, and that pledge not to access the content of stored client communications.

Dieterich is a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and has over 25 years of experience advising clients on a wide range of matters affected by government regulation, concentrating during the past 15 years on telecommunications, privacy and data security matters. Dieterich is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP-US), credentialed by the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Mottla is a public finance associate in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office, whose practice is focused on housing finance and commercial litigation. He primarily assists in the representation of issuers of single-family and multifamily housing bonds, including by state and local housing agencies.