BIG LAW CANNOT PROTECT YOUR DATA– SO WHY ARE YOU USING THEM?

• Holland & Knight: Disclosed a cyberattack attributed to social engineering that gave an unauthorized actor remote access to a single firm computer. [1]
• Nelson Mullins: Sued in federal court in South Carolina after a threat actor accessed a user’s laptop and copied a limited set of documents. [1]
• Troutman Pepper Locke: Hit by a breach impacting roughly 37,000 individuals; the firm reported that an employee fell victim to social engineering. [1]
• Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan: Disclosed an incident where an unauthorized third party accessed stored files via a compromised user account. [1]
• McDermott Will & Schulte: Filed breach notices with state attorneys general (such as Vermont) revealing that Social Security numbers and health records were exposed. [1]
• Greenberg Traurig: Disclosed a security incident that led to proposed class-action lawsuits in federal court. [1, 2]

Again this is just 2026.

So I asked the AI machine if there were any more in 2026. Here’s what it came back with:

• Squire Patton Boggs: Alongside Holland & Knight, the 2,600-attorney firm disclosed a breach to the Vermont Attorney General. An unauthorized third party obtained a limited set of information, which included exposed Social Security numbers. [1]
• Seyfarth Shaw: Hit by a targeted social engineering attack where an actor impersonated the IT help desk. This deceived a single employee into emailing over client documents, exposing names and Social Security numbers. [1]
• Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton: Disclosed to multiple state attorneys general that an attorney fell victim to a social engineering scheme and handed over files to an unknown third party. A former paralegal subsequently filed a class-action lawsuit in California federal court, alleging that the breach exposed the data of at least 1,000 individuals. [1]
• Taft Stettinius & Hollister: Detected unusual activity on a system that exposed client Social Security numbers. [1]
• Chartwell Law: Filed a notice with the Massachusetts Attorney General revealing an intrusion where social engineering was used to access data. [1]
• Peña & Bromberg: Detected irregular network activity, launching an investigation and notifying California regulators. [1]

• Greenberg Traurig Specifics: The ransomware group known as Silent Ransom Group (SRG) claimed responsibility for the firm’s breach. The threat actors alleged they maintained access via a corporate iPad. The leak reportedly exposed data belonging to roughly 126,000 unique individuals, heavily consisting of class members in lawsuits handled by the firm. Multiple class actions (e.g., Addison v. Greenberg Traurig) followed in Manhattan federal court.
• The $50 Million Ransom Report: Industry B2B reports indicated that major firms—including Goodwin Procter, Weil Gotshal & Manges, and WilmerHale—have collectively paid an estimated $50 million in ransom payments to resolve their data breaches.
• Vendor Ecosystem Vulnerabilities: Legal tech software vendor DocketWise also issued notifications affecting 116,666 individuals, highlighting that law firms are increasingly compromised via their third-party SaaS platforms rather than direct network intrusion. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Now GenAI is ridiculously inaccurate so maybe 80% of the above is correct. But still… this is insane.

Troutman Amin, LLP, on the other hand, safe and sound. No data breaches. No chaos. Steady as a rock.

If you are knowingly using a #biglaw firm you are on notice. They are easily infiltrated and common targets by bad actors. They cannot keep their data safe– and their newfound reliance on half-baked AI tools make them even easier targets.

Honestly it feels like malpractice for inhouse lawyers to knowingly hire #biglaw at this point– but that’s just my opinion.

Good luck out there.

And its PROBABLY not malpractice to miss Deserve to Win ep. 53– featuring an interview with Chris Michelson of EnrollHere and Medicare Compliance .com just ahead of AEP–but why risk it? Catch the podcast and get up to date with all the biggest TCPA news of the week!

Chat soon.