Esquire’s CIO to Speak on Information Security at First Chair Conference

Esquire Deposition Solutions’ CIO Jim Ballowe to contribute to full day of continuing legal education programming for more than 500 attorneys.

Atlanta, GA, August 29, 2017 – Esquire Deposition Solutions, LLC (esquiresolutions.com), the nation’s leading provider of court reporting, video, and interpreting services, announced today that Jim Ballowe, Esquire’s Chief Information Officer, will be speaking about information security at the First Chair conference on Wednesday, August 30, 2017, in Chicago.

First Chair is designed to bring together a community of accomplished attorneys in private practice with their talented in-house peers in order to recognize achievement. Ballowe will share his expertise in a breakout session titled “Is Your Law Firm’s Data Safe?” with some of the more than 500 attorneys set to attend the conference.

“I’m excited to share some important security best practices with the First Chair attendees,” said Ballowe. “Even if your security ecosystem is locked down, your law firm can still be vulnerable to the often overlooked attack vectors of third-party vendors and partners.”

Two-thirds of chief legal officers view cybersecurity as very or extremely important, according to the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Chief Legal Officers 2017 Survey. The average total organizational cost of a security breach in the U.S. is $3.62 million, according to the Ponemon Institute and IBM.

“For corporate legal departments, the weak link may be an outside law firm. For a law firm, the weak link may be a deposition solutions provider,” continued Ballowe. “Armed with a few simple questions for vendors, law firms can mitigate the risks inherent to third-party relationships, avoiding costly and embarrassing security breaches.”

Ballowe has spent over two decades in the information technology field, including working with global technology pioneers Digital Equipment Corporation, HP, and Lucent. He leveraged this experience to start, build, and sell two technology consulting firms before joining Esquire in 2015. As Esquire’s CIO, he is responsible for enterprise architecture, infrastructure, product development, and information security, and he is helping Esquire and its clients navigate Litigation 2.0.

Esquire is a Platinum Sponsor of the First Chair event, which includes a full day of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programming. It has become the must-attend event for in-house counsel and their partners in the private legal community.

For more information on the importance of knowing the security of your service providers, please read “Cybersecurity: have you checked your service providers?” on our blog.