Attorneys who use encryption should be encouraged to use the product that will allow them to communicate easily and securely with as many other attorneys, clients and potential clients as possible. FPGA chips, commonly used to test integrated circuits, are commercially available and cheap. The board for them fits inside a PC like an internal modem. Of course, more powerful equipment can crack encryption even faster. These time estimates assume that the encryption algorithm has been implemented perfectly.
Perfect implementation is the exception, however.
As noted in the Bruce Schneier essay quoted earlier, mistakes are common, leaving weaknesses. When you decide what level of security you need in an encryption program, don't decide based on the ordinary message you send. It's more logical to base the decision on the most sensitive message you might conceivably want to send or receive. PGP is the overwhelming choice when this test is applied. Due to its popularity, PGP has been examined extensively by the academic community and legions of amateur hackers.