WWW.ILTANET.ORG 41
At the close of the 1787 Constitutional Convention,
Maryland delegate James McHenry famously recorded
the following exchange with Benjamin Franklin: "A
lady asked Dr. Franklin, 'Well, Doctor, what have we
got, a republic or a monarchy?' 'A republic,' replied the
Doctor, 'if you can keep it.'" Benjamin Franklin knew
that keeping a republic with multiple major stakeholders
and centers of access to authority would be hard work.
IT and security professionals in law firms know this, too:
They serve as guarantors of a sort of republic, overseeing
access to information that is increasingly dispersed in
the mobile era and negotiating with firm management
to strike the right balance between convenience and
compliance.
