Welcome to a new year of the Marin Lawyer. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season with some relaxing time off with family and friends. I love to see the festive decorations around town and to stay in and enjoy my own Christmas trees (yes, that plural is not a mistake!) At the same time, I know that many lawyers have year-end crunches and I hope all of you are taking a break for yourself soon. Since one of the main things I do in addition to editing this very publication is mediate family conflict, you can imagine the holidays are not idle for me!

Onward to 2018: When you hear the word, “security,” what comes to mind? The line at Civic Center? A well-funded IRA? President Trump’s bigger nuclear button? Who would have thought that we would be legitimately concerned about nuclear war in 2018? But nuclear security is not the only thing North Korea is disrupting. Last month, the U.S. officially blamed North Korea for the “wannacry” cybersecurity attack that affected over 150 countries. With Russian hacking, the Equifax breach just one of many, cybersecurity is much in the news.

Has all of this news translated to any action to improve your own cybersecurity? If you heard Lucasfilm Deputy Chief Counsel Rhonda Hjort speak at our membership meeting last summer, you know what a massive undertaking cybersecurity is for businesses—and the law firms they hire. This month, Michael Overly gives a few tips to get you and your clients started on improving your cybersecurity. I would like this to be a theme for 2018 and if you have advice about it or just want to share the good practices you take, please consider sharing it through the Marin Lawyer. What do you tell your clients about the insecurity of email? How secure is the cloud service you use to share documents? I think most of us could still learn a lot about cybersecurity.

Jaime Dorenbaum comes at cybersecurity from a different angle: his article paints a disturbing portrait of the potential reach of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Have you considered that you could be subject to criminal prosecution for simply using the “delete” key on your work computer? He makes clear that the law could use an improved approach to cybersecurity itself.

I would like to thank our guest editor this month, Tom Brown, who also happens to be MCBA’s new President. He is starting the year as a prolific author, including his welcoming President’s Message, a profile of Marie Barnes, one of MCBA’s new Directors, and an inspiring article about the Canal Baseball Academy.

Please join me in welcoming Tom into office at MCBA’s annual Installation Dinner, coming up soon on January 20th. You can sign up to attend here.