No excuses, attorneys. It’s time to add boning up on the latest technology to your to-do list.

That’s the only way to fulfill the requirements of six resolutions the ABA House of Delegates adopted in August to amend the association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

Among every lawyer’s new duties: keeping up with technology relevant to the client and the representation, and protecting electronically stored confidential client information. Seems straightforward enough. But it’ll almost certainly require more of your brain’s daily bandwidth.

Technology is pervading every legal specialty, and it’s your job to track trends in your practice areas, contends Lucy L. Thomson, a solo practitioner and tech consultant in Alexandria, Va. Thomson also chairs the ABA Section of Science and Technology Law.

“You’d look at it from the perspective of what work you, as a lawyer, would be doing for a client,” Thomson explains. “You have to understand the technology thoroughly enough to make the right decisions and ask the right questions. … A good example is you have to know that access to your clients’ online accounts and passwords is an issue and what the scope of the accounts might be.”

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