Med Mal News

The personal injury and medical malpractice law firm, Newman McIntosh & Hennessey, of Bethesda, MD, is suing President George W. Bush and the overseas legal support services firm Acumen Legal Services of India, seeking a ruling on the effects on privacy rights when privileged client data is outsourced to an overseas location. Acumen offers services to attorneys, such as contract drafting, legal research and legal analysis. Joseph Hennessey, a partner with the firm, says his organization fears for privacy rights because foreign companies like Acumen do not enjoy the presumption of privacy and attorney/client privilege that U.S. firms do, and the National Security Agency may not be constrained by the U.S. Constitution to refrain from spying on outsourced records. 'We are really heading toward a collision between globalized economic interests and the limited extension of constitutional rights,' Hennessey says. The court is being asked to rule on whether constitutional protections extend to overseas outposts of the legal field, and, if not, whether law firms' clients' consent should be required before their records can be sent abroad. 'It's not paranoia. It's just fact,' Hennessey says. 'Now that we're outsourcing services, we have given no consideration to the ongoing practice of the government harvesting information out there.'