Backup Work on Your PC - IT Panel Article 2008

If you are a barrister who uses a PC to draft opinions and pleadings, you will know as a matter of common sense that it is vital to save a backup copy of the work, and to do so at a location away from Chambers in order to guard against loss of your files through theft of your PC, or its destruction by fire or flood or other mishap. You will almost certainly be processing “personal data” within the meaning of the UK and European data protection legislation, in which case this precaution is also required by that legislation’s seventh data protection principle. What is the most practical way for you to make effective backups?

Personal backup by removable disk

One simple but effective method of making backups is to copy every folder and individual file repeatedly as you work on it, and again when you complete it, to a removable disk or stick that connects with a USB port on your PC. A 2 gigabyte disk will generally be sufficient to hold several years’ work, and may be bought in a computer or stationery shop or on the Internet for under £20. It is small enough to carry around in your pocket or bag or on a key-chain. You will also then have all your past work available to you for reference or for a template when working at home, or if you are away from home on a case or a conference. If you also want to back up work-related e-mails and their attachments you will need a more capacious removable disk, but it is possible to buy an 80 gigabyte removable disk for under £50 that will still easily fit in a pocket. If you want an 80 gigabyte removable disk that will also automatically synchronise files on a continuous basis, one can be bought for under £50 but it is bulkier, and although it will fit in a briefcase, it is too big for a pocket. Whichever you choose, you should give serious consideration to protecting the files on your removable disk with a password or encryption in case you lose it.

Relying on Chambers

Every well-run set of Chambers will have procedures for backing up the Chambers electronic diary and fee collection systems. However, it is important to understand that the back-up routines used by the clerks will not include work which has been saved only on a barrister's PC. It would anyway be risky to rely upon someone else to back up your work. If your computer has been configured so that your files are stored on the chambers network server, your files will probably be backed up on a regular basis, but you would not yourself be able to retrieve the backups, and this would need to be done by the Chambers IT specialist and may take time. You also need to consider the possibility that you will not be able to recover your files if the Chambers network is temporarily unavailable. You should therefore ask for assistance in configuring your computer so that files are saved on your own local computer as well as on the network, using the Synchronisation function available in Microsoft Windows XP Pro and Vista, or using the Backup function in other versions of Windows.

Commercial backup

There are a number of businesses based in the UK or overseas which offer a service of storing a backup of your work. In some cases the backup may be made automatically at specified intervals of time. In some cases your files may be encrypted for security. On the other hand, using such a service carries significant risk and disadvantage in relation to security and data protection, which need to be given careful consideration before you sign up to the service. This is particularly but not exclusively the position if you have any criminal practice. The problems include the following:

1) Absolute security cannot be guaranteed, particularly if your files are held on a server that is physically overseas or is controlled from overseas. Even if the company providing the service desires to keep your files secure, it may be forced by government, law enforcement agencies, a regulator, or a court, to disclose your files. As already mentioned, these files will almost certainly contain information on other persons which qualifies as “personal data” under UK data protection legislation. So you would need to assess whether the risk that your files might be forcibly inspected would make it preferable to use a removable disk.

2) You should also read the small print very carefully to see what liabilities you may incur to pay the service provider’s costs of complying with the requirements imposed upon the service provider. Indeed, there are many strange provisions to be found, of which our favourites are to be found in the standard terms of a US service that include each of the following complete sentences: “Furthermore, you agree to use the software or service exclusively for good and for awesome”, and “Do not taunt happy fun ball”. You have been warned.

3) Sending your files for storage outside of the EU will also risk breach of the eighth data protection principle under UK and European legislation, on the ground that you may not realistically be able to guarantee protection of the rights of “data subjects”, those individuals to whom the “personal data” relates.

4) Because as a barrister using a PC for drafting you are inevitably processing “personal data” within the meaning of the UK and European data protection legislation, you are required to register with the Information Commissioner. If you are sending “personal data” outside of the EU, even as a backup, your registration must be on that basis, otherwise you commit an offence.

5) You must be careful to make and preserve separately a backup copy of any personal encryption key allotted to you, because if you lose it and have no backup, you are in the same position as if you had lost or destroyed a removable disk.

Organisation

It is also advisable to adopt a disciplined organisation of your files in folders to make it easy to find and retrieve your work. Whether you organise your folders by names of instructing solicitors, case names, date, areas of work, or in some other way, the system you devise for your own use needs to be consistent. Because PC search functions tend to be very slow in operation (at least in Windows), it is also advisable to have enough subdivisions that each folder contains a relatively limited number of files. The reason is that it is easier to retrieve files from a folder that is restricted to a particular case, with sub-folders for pleadings, advices, working notes and so on, than from a folder containing hundreds of files in alphabetical or chronological order. In other words, it is easier to work from hierarchies of folders than from lists of files.

Peter Susman QC, Chairman of the IT Panel, with input from the following members of the IT Panel: Clive Freedman, Stephen Mason, Jacqueline Reid, Robert Onslow, Lawrence Akka, and Daniel Barnett