The legal industry is constantly changing, and new ways of providing services have arisen. While some of these innovations are being adopted by large law firms, others are originating in startups and even law firm subsidiaries that augment traditional legal services. These entities and their strategies are often referred to by the label “new law.” New law may be easy to define in principle, but the practical detail of how it works differs from company to company.
The public’s right to review the processes of government decision-making and to see the documents, statistics and information that lead to those decisions should not be thwarted by cloaking such records behind the guise of confidentiality or privacy. The legislature therefore declares that the people have a right to know what goes on in their government and the information that is used to make decisions that affect them.
A state agency shall promptly make available to the public all records, information and data, unless the disclosure is specifically prohibited by statute or by federal or state law. The agency shall not, however, disclose to the public any private identifying information or confidential business information of its employees or members of the public, except as provided in this article.
To protect personal privacy, the agency may adopt guidelines regarding deletion of identifying details or withholding from public release of records otherwise available under this article to prevent unwarranted invasions of personal privacy. The agency shall notify the committee on open government concerning any such guidelines and their adoption.
This bill would amend the City’s law on security breaches to align it with State law and require that City agencies disclose a person’s private identifying information to affected persons, to the City’s chief privacy officer and the Office of Cyber Command, and to news media outlets. It would also allow the City to provide additional types of notification as circumstances warrant.
In the past, some legal firms have viewed new law as a way to cut costs by finding ways to deliver services more efficiently without hiring full time staff or working out of high-cost locations. But more recently, these companies are rethinking the concept of new law as a way to unleash their potential. This involves looking at a different set of clients, deploying strategies that have not been part of the normal mix in the past, and bringing them to fruition in ways that are profitable for the firm.