What questions should you ask about data security and confidentiality?

Data security and confidentiality questions matter because you are entrusting a firm with sensitive information about contested situations, sometimes material the client would never want associated with it publicly. The questions to ask: what the NDA and confidentiality terms actually cover, and whether they bind the firm’s full team. How client data is handled and stored, and whether the practices are secure rather than ad hoc. What access controls govern who within the firm can see your information, since looser internal access is a real exposure. What the breach-response procedures are, so you know how the firm would handle a security incident. Who owns privacy and data governance at the firm by name, so responsibility is assigned rather than diffuse. And what happens to your data when the engagement ends – whether it is retained indefinitely or deleted on a defined policy. A firm that answers these crisply has thought about it; one that improvises has not. We operate under strict confidentiality with defined data practices and are glad to walk through each of these.