3 Resolutions All Law Firms Should Make in 2019

Another New Year is upon us! ‘Tis the season for law firms to take stock of the past year’s successes and shortcomings and make goals for the upcoming year.

It used to be that preparing a law firm for a new year mainly meant staying the course and constructing growth goals. While growth is something that most law firms want to happen in 2019, there’s now more that goes into making a robust and agile law firm.

Get up-to-date on technology

If your law firm is still going about the business of law the old-fashioned way, it is going to be left behind. Technology has helped to even the playing field for law firms. Now, with technology’s help, smaller firms can take on more complex clients. And, larger firms can provide more efficient, more accurate service.

Automation and management

With a wide array of legal applications, law firms can streamline management and administration. For example, practice management software, such as Amicus Attorney® or Time Matters®, allows administrators to track and manage schedules and records. Document management software, such as Worldox®, takes organization and productivity a step further.

Time and billing software simplifies the invoicing process, increases accuracy, and frees up valuable attorney time. And, legal document generation automation software, such as Hot Docs® and ProDoc®, prevents attorneys from re-inventing the wheel every time they create a transactional document.

Using this kind of technology releases legal minds from the tyranny of busy work. It also allows management to manage instead of worrying about the little things.

Flexibility and reliability

By now, most law firm management has heard about using the advantages of using a cloud environment. One benefit is that attorneys and employees can access their workspaces from their Smartphones, tablets, laptops – practically any device that can connect to the internet. And, downtime is a thing of the past: Cloud environments like Legal Workspace use top notch technology and talent to provide clients with reliable, seamless service.

And, all of the above mentioned legal applications are compatible with Legal Workspace – which means that you can either do a complete technological overhaul when you make the switch to the cloud, or, you can work with Legal Workspace to integrate your current software with its environment.

Secure your data

Hackers have New Year’s resolutions, too: to work continuously and find new ways to penetrate defenses and steal data. Clients are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers and have higher expectations for data protection. And, of course, large clients and clients in certain industries (such as those associated with medical records) have high security standards (such as HIPAA) that need to be met.

Legal Workspace was created solely for law firms, so security is paramount. The Legal Workspace cloud environment utilizes military-grade security, which means that your clients’ data is much safer than it would be if you were to attempt to build your own secure environment. Not only that, but if a client does have a particular security request, Legal Workspace can adapt its environment to meet its needs.

Prep for disaster

No one likes to think that a natural disaster might occur that could wipe out their law firm’s records. Fire, flood, and tornadoes are just a few examples of challenges that could interrupt business and cause irreparable damage to a law firm.

When you have your data and workspace housed in a cloud environment (and that data is stored redundantly in multiple geographic locations and regularly backed up), that’s it: You’re prepared for disaster. Your data will still be accessible in the cloud no matter what might happen on the ground.

These three ways to prepare your law firm for 2019 can be accomplished easily by making one decision: to move to a cloud environment. Make this year the year that technology and data stop causing challenges in your law firm.

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Who Wants Budget Stability? A New Year, Better Predictability

The year’s end is a time for reflection and projection. You look back at what happened over the past year, and you think about what the future holds. Some of this process is subjective, and some of it is speculation – but some of it is hard numbers.

Take your law firm’s budget, for example.

How was your IT spending in 2017? Did you stay within the parameters, or did you experience any major technological fall-out that caused you to dip into another line item?

What about next year? How’s your server holding up? Will this be the year be the one that results in multiple repair bills or the cost of a replacement server (and the associated migration costs)?

Good news: There is a way that you can stabilize your law firm’s IT budget for 2018. Migrate to a cloud environment, such as Legal Workspace, and you will experience predictable monthly costs instead of highly variable IT repair and maintenance bills.

Consistent bills, consistent budget

Because a cloud environment like Legal Workspace is constantly upgrading its software, servers, and security, those costs to your law firm – and that worry – can just disappear.

The responsibility is on Legal Workspace’s shoulders, not yours. No longer will you have to pay for upgrades. You won’t have to stretch a dying server’s viability until its last gasp. Instead, your data will be stored on up-to-date, state-of-the-art equipment.

You’ll simply pay for a predictable, unchanging monthly bill. Now that’s easy to budget.

Quicker client payments

Not only will you be able to stabilize your law firm’s IT budget, but you can utilize Legal Workspace’s tools to get paid faster, too.

Administrators can spend hours reviewing invoices. They might allocate a significant portion of their day to sharing invoicing information with attorneys – and attorneys might be wasting their time on clunky timekeeping and pre-billing. The Legal Workspace team can work with law firms to determine the best technology and processes for streamlining billing.

Working with Legal Workspace on this issue results in faster payment. As Diane Kuhre, firm finance manager for Davis Schilken, PC, puts it, “Since I can complete monthly billing in half the time, invoices get out the door in two days. The firm gets paid much more quickly now.”

All-in-one solution

Other headaches can fall by the wayside, too, when you start to use a cloud environment. Constantly adjusting to hackers’ increasingly adept and creative ways to penetrate law firms’ shields is a major annoyance – and it takes significant expertise (not to mention serious dollars) to protect your firm’s data adequately.

That’s one of the many reasons so many law firms now take advantage of a cloud environment for data storage. Law firms no longer need to worry about security updates or maintaining back-ups; it is all taken care of for you.l

Adopting the use of a cloud environment like Legal Workspace results in many benefits – not least a healthier bottom line. Just one simple decision can stabilize your IT budget, take away headaches about security and back-ups, and get your law firm paid more quickly.

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Server or Cloud? A law firm deliberates

We get many calls every week from law firms that are debating between the cloud and maintaining local IT resources. Yesterday, we received a call that a law firm is losing productivity because of unexpected server downtime. Concerns about data loss overwhelm the managing partners. What if the server fails?

The law firm is being proactive and looking into solutions. One option is working with their IT vendor, which wants to upgrade their server hardware. But the estimate for that project is prohibitive: $15,000 for server hardware and 40 hours of work at $175 ($7,000). On top of that, they can expect the usual costs for network upkeep that come from quarterly updates, 6 hours of work every quarter ($4,200 annually), and monthly maintenance, four hours of work each month ($8,400 annually).

The managing partners wonder: What if there’s another way to protect our data and reliably keep our firm up and running? Is there a more sustainable option to stabilize costs and eliminate downtime?

There is.

It’s the cloud.

An instant productivity boost

The law firm has an IT administrator on staff who deals with server downtime and other day-to-day tech issues. From his arrival to his departure at the office, he spends every day running around troubleshooting. What would his day look like without the hassle of damage control? He could spend his time evaluating new technology, customizing legal applications, and training new employees — all in the service of maximizing billable hours.

Other, smaller firms have a slightly different IT problem: Attorneys and staff members have to figure out what to do when technology fails. Imagine that problem disappearing. They could get back to focusing on revenue-generating activities.

Were the law firm to migrate to a cloud environment, such as Legal Workspace, the IT administrator, attorneys, and staff members could reclaim their time. Legal Workspace’s data centers have a history of more than 14 years of 100% continuous uptime.

Wasted time eliminated.

More than convenience: Safety

That concern the managing partners have about data loss if the server fails? It’s a real problem that could occur whenever you use an onsite server. Cloud solutions such as Legal Workspace have geographically redundant data centers that render data safer in the cloud than it could ever be on an onsite server. Here’s a video that illustrates the difference between server and cloud security. Legal Workspace has advanced security measures in place, such as:

• Limited physical access to servers
• Staff that’s available to react if a problem occurs
• Firewalls with sophisticated detection system
• Advanced data encryption

Using a solution like Legal Workspace also allows law firms to provide the tightest security available to their clients. For example, a firm that works with healthcare providers will need to be HIPAA compliant. Legal Workspace has a HIPAA-compliant version of its cloud environment and will even sign a business associate agreement. Other special security mandates from financial institutions and government contractors are easy for a solution such as Legal Workspace to meet and exceed.

Security concerns eliminated.

What choice would you make?

What choice do you think the law firm made? Did they plunk down $21,000+ and upgrade their onsite server, or did they jump at the chance to advance both productivity and security by switching to a cloud environment? Did they decide to eliminate downtime and stabilize costs?

The choice seems pretty clear.

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5 Ways Employees Accidentally Threaten Data Security

What do you think is the biggest threat to your IT security system? A hacker getting past your firewall? Unencrypted emails? Lack of consistent back-ups? Those may be serious concerns, but the biggest threat to security for a law firm is actually its employees.

That’s right: The very people who keep your organization running are the same people who might be putting your data at risk. Here are the top five ways in which employees jeopardize security.

1. Opening email virus attachments5 ways employees threaten

An attorney receives an email with an attachment called myresume.zip. He or she opens the attachment, and—just like that—a CryptoLocker Ransomware virus is running rampant through your network.

CryptoLocker Ransomware viruses install a program on the infected computer that systematically accesses and locks all of the data files—including network files. To regain access to the files, money (usually hundreds of dollars) must be sent to the hacker. This type of virus can be increasingly aggressive and quite lucrative for the hacker. And, there’s no guarantee that the hacker will honor his side of the deal and unlock the files.

This is one of many viruses that an employee could unleash into your law firm’s network by simply clicking the wrong link or opening an unsafe email attachment. To halt this type of attack, educate employees not to click on anything unknown. Make sure that your antivirus programs are regularly updated and can sufficiently block malware file types and are capable of removing infected files.

2. Weak user IDs and passwords

As the number of usernames and passwords needed by the average person increases, some employees take the following shortcuts to remember their information.
• use the same ID and password across multiple accounts
• use common words or phrases
• use personal information, like a spouse’s name or birthday

Weak user IDs and passwords account for a significant portion of data breaches. A 2015 security analysis states that along with weak remote access security 94% of breaches were because of weak passwords. Often, news stories about famous people being “hacked” are actually about people or automated programs gaining access to celebrities’ information because they’ve been able to guess their usernames and passwords.

Educate users about what constitutes a strong password and put systems in place that require frequent password changes.
• use passwords of 10-charcter length or more with complexity
• randomly insert symbols and numbers mixing lowercase and uppercase letters
• use multiple security questions

3. Phone scams to access a computer

An employee might receive a telephone call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft support. The caller might say that the attorney’s computer has been compromised and is sending out critical personal information. In order to correct the problem, they must allow the caller remote access to his/her computer or give other identifying account information.

Of course, the caller isn’t really a Microsoft support representative. It’s a very sophisticated hacker. Warn employees about phone scams. Callers might claim that they’re following up on open service tickets or investigating virus infections. Employees should never allow unknown callers remote access to their computers.

4. Unrestricted administration rights

If every attorney and staff member has permission to install programs or applications at the firm, it forms a security loophole. These security risks create vulnerabilities on the computer that can be exploited by hackers to gain access to the network. Many employees are tech-savvy and aware of current security threats, but some may inadvertently download a virus or malicious application.

To prevent these weaknesses and diminish the risk of downloading malware, tighten administrative rights so that an individual—someone in a supervisory position or an IT legal professional—manages program and application installation. .

5. BYOD security risks

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) opens security holes in a couple of different ways: through home computers and various other devices.

When employees use home computers, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connects them to the company network for remote access. But, the company doesn’t have any control over the home computer’s security. Is there robust antivirus software installed on that computer? Are there others at home using the computer unknowingly downloading viruses? Is it updated regularly? All of these threats, if not regulated could place the entire law firm’s data and security at risk.

Tablets, Smartphones, and other devices can also complicate the process of securing a network. One potential issue has to do with applications installed on Smartphones or tablets. Permissions for those applications might allow a third party access to data, such as images or contacts, on that device. Access to images on one of these devices could leak sensitive confidential information that compromises your client or law firm.

How to protect employees from themselves

Provide a work station use policy, which outlines do’s and don’ts for employees. Training helps employees understand the reasons behind the policies and reinforces appropriate actions.

Legal Workspace is a cloud service for law firms that provides IT training for its clients and employees. We work with clients to implement a number of security policies and procedures to protect data against security threats. And, because Legal Workspace’s cloud-based solution is designed in such a way that remote devices can only access the environment through an encrypted channel, BYOD issues get eliminated.

Employees’ mistakes could have serious consequences to your business. Take the necessary steps to protect your system today and increase your data security for the future.

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9 Data Security Questions You Should Ask Your IT Provider

Wondering how secure your data is? Ask your Cloud, SaaS, or existing IT provider these nine questions to make sure it’s protected. Their answers could mean peace of mind—or they could mean that your future will hold a data breach, data loss, or a cumbersome recovery process after a disaster.

  1. Do you have an intrusion prevention/detection system?

An intrusion prevention or detection system senses strange traffic on your server. Hackers continually scan IP addresses, searching for vulnerabilities. An intrusion or detection system recognizes when they’re attempting to break in and cuts off their access.

Occasionally, a user can inadvertently mimic the signs that an intruder is attempting to break in. For example, someone might enter the wrong passcode into a Smartphone, and cause a glitch to occur where the phone tries repeatedly to log into the system. Does your provider have round-the-clock security staff to restore access in case something like that happens?

  1. Do you support two-factor authentication?

Two-factor authentication requires two components for an attorney to log in. This type of authentication makes it impossible for a person or an automated system to log in to a computer by remote and start guessing passwords.

Here’s one example of two-factor authentication: When a user logs in to his or her system, a mobile application confirms that the user is trying to log in. The user cannot log in to the system until the user has confirmed his/her identity on the mobile device.

  1. What government/industry security standards has your environment been tested for?

Any law firm with clients who store, transmit or access protected health information must be HIPAA-compliant. Depending on the sensitivity level of your data, your cloud, SaaS, or IT provider should maintain an environment that meets the security standards you need. It’s also necessary for any business that accepts credit card payments to be PCI-compliant.

  1. What type of firewall are you using?

The answer you should hear from your provider is: an enterprise-grade firewall that is routinely patched. An even better answer would be that the provider has more than one of those firewalls in place. That way, if one firewall fails, there’s another present to act as back-up.

  1. Are the employees who have access to my information data-certified? Do they have certification on security procedures?

This is an important question to have answered because who can access your data (and their level of experience and expertise) could mean the difference between mishandled information and security. Administrators that have access to clients’ data should have information security certifications, specialized training, and execute non-disclosure agreements.

  1. Do any third-party providers have access to your hosted environment?

Let’s say that there’s a problem with an application hosted on your environment. What protocol does your cloud, SaaS, or IT provider follow? Does it allow the application vendor onto the virtual server? If so, that gives a third party access to all of your data, which puts it at risk and violates the HIPAA standard.

  1. Does the cloud, SaaS, or IT provider support encryption of data on the server, including email?

Email is an often overlooked factor in data security. For it to be completely secure, it should be encrypted—even when it rests or is in transit. This is the most common security vulnerability because constructing the appropriate security measures is difficult for a typical IT department to do; it’s a complex process that requires a high level of expertise.

  1. Do you routinely perform internal and external security scans to seek vulnerabilities?

A provider might believe that they’ve set up a secure environment—but technology is constantly changing, which means that the ways in which intruders attack are constantly changing.

To make certain that your data is protected, your provider should be performing security scans regularly. These scans are required for both PCI and HIPAA compliance; to be HIPAA-compliant, both an internal and external security scan need to be performed at least once a year.

  1. Does your provider have a secondary site for data storage?

What happens if all of the redundancy fails and a major disaster strikes? If something, such as a theft or a fire, were to happen at your location, are your disc back-ups replicated offsite? Many organizations omit that step. And, even if you do store back-ups at a secondary location, is that location secure? Do only your provider’s employees have access to the data at that location—or can a third party access it as well?

If your data is replicated and secure, how long will it take you to get back up and running? It could be hours. It could be days.

Constant protection

Redundancy is built into every security measure at Legal Workspace. That means clients’ data is constantly being monitored and protected.

Legal Workspace’s HIPAA Compliant Edition (HCE) achieves the highest level of data security because it is both PCI- and HIPAA-compliant. Employees are all HIPAA-certified and have additional information security certifications. They’re the only people that have access to your data: third party vendors aren’t permitted to access Legal Workspace’s environment.

There’s no need for attorneys to be concerned about email vulnerability; Legal Workspace encrypts email in transit and in your inbox. And, clients’ data gets backed up to a second data center, which means that you could be back up and running within minutes in the aftermath of a disaster.

It’s very difficult for a small—or even a medium-sized—law firm to build a solution that answers all of these questions appropriately. . . working with an expert in data security and cloud services for law firms, like Legal Workspace, will give your law firm the highest level of security at a fraction of the cost to do it on-site. Keep your data secure and protected by making sure the best safeguards are in place.

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Colorado Legal Tech Expo

This years Colorado Legal and Technology Expo was held at the Warwick Hotel on August 21st. The expo featured the latest in technology innovations and Legal Workspace was a presenting sponsor featuring a presentation on security and the cloud. Our team was also there exhibiting and providing information on cloud services for law firms. We want to thank all the attendees who stopped by our booth and attended the presentation.

To recap our presentation, we covered multiple factors to consider when choosing a local or private cloud, but the main focus was security. One of the biggest threats to a law practice is the lack of understanding where the risks exist and not knowing the right technology to use to protect your firm. Having the right security measurements implemented is especially important for HIPAA compliant hosting. By utilizing proper legal IT cloud expertise your firm can ensure data security and compliance is in place, resulting in increased productivity, profitability and more billable hours.

Legal & Technology Expo - Denver

Legal & Technology Expo – Denver

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Joe Kelly, Founder and CEO of Legal Workspace, to Speak at the 2015 Colorado Legal and Technology Expo

Legal Workspace, a leading provider of cloud-based work environments designed specifically for law firms, today announced that its founder and CEO Joe Kelly will be a featured presenter at the Colorado Legal and Technology Expo in Denver, Colo., on Aug. 21.

The expo, presented by the Colorado Bar Association, shares the latest in trends, legal services and technology that can help attorneys improve their law firms’ efficiencies. A resource for solos, small firms, larger firms, and legal departments, it provides hands-on practical information that can result in an increase in billings, greater operational flexibility and cost savings. The program also offers CLE presentations on key technology topics presented by leading attorneys who live and breathe technology in their practice.

Kelly’s presentation, scheduled for Aug. 21 at 3 p.m. MT, will focus on the convergence of the cloud and security. He will discuss how the expectations are changing for attorneys when it comes to keeping their clients’ data confidential. This includes explaining key security concepts such as physical and technical security, disaster recovery, firewalls, Intrusion Detection and Prevention systems, compliance, encryption and more.

What: Cloud and security presentation by Joe Kelly at the Colorado Legal and Technology Expo
When: Aug. 21, 2015
Time: 3-3:30 p.m. MT
Where: Warwick Hotel, 1776 Grant Street, Denver, CO 80203
RSVP:

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7 Advantages of the Cloud for a Law Firm

Law firms make one important choice that affects numerous other aspects of their business: whether

  1. to set up their own IT infrastructure and house data onsite or
  2. use a cloud-based solution to host all of their applications and data.

Here are the seven ways in which a law firm will benefit from the cloud:

  1. Maximize Internet Security

The Legal Workspace (LWS) solution has four internet providers protected by redundant enterprise-grade firewalls and an intrusion detection/prevention system that has the ability to do dual-factor authentication.

7 Advantages

This level of security is difficult—if not impossible—to replicate in an onsite IT environment. Certainly it’s out of reach for small firms with limited budgets. As a result, many small firms end up with imperfect solutions, such as a consumer-grade firewall protecting their onsite server.

Joe Kelly, Founder and CEO of Legal Workspace, says, “We’re able to offer small law firms better internet security than most Am Law 100 firms have in place.”

  1. Reliable Physical Security

Some people question the importance of physical data security. After all, if someone were to penetrate a firm’s physical defenses, they’d still need to log in to the server. But, physical security is very important: Backup media could be stolen; it’s even possible that someone could take the whole server.

LWS’s servers are located in secure data centers. To gain entry, authorized LWS employees must provide biometric identification as well as an ID card. “Only our people have the code to physically access our servers,” Kelly says.

  1. Immediate Disaster Recovery

Our enterprise-grade equipment is housed in two data centers in different states. “Only our full-time employees have physical or electronic access to these redundant systems,” Kelly says. That means that if something were to happen at the data center in Colorado, our cloud services could still operate because of its intact center in Texas.

That’s one of the disadvantages of storing data in onsite servers: Should something like a fire happen onsite, a law firm would be able to eventually access its latest backup in the cloud. But, restoration could take a few weeks—which could be devastating to business.

That problem doesn’t exist if a law firm uses Legal Workspace’s cloud services. In the same situation, “They could go to any electronics store, get new laptops, log into their secure cloud environment, and they’ll be right back where they were. Even their Windows desktop is sitting in the cloud,” Kelly says. Nothing lost, no delays.

  1. Predictable IT Budgeting

Technology equipment has to be depreciated over five years, but firms often have to buy the latest version of document management software or a new server every two or three years. It’s hard to anticipate what will be needed when.

LWS’s regular monthly fee means IT spend will be a known quantity with 100% predictability. And, with that monthly fee, customers automatically are upgraded to the latest versions of legal software included in the package they select.

  1. Eliminate IT Distraction and Hassle

“Every law firm has to run a little IT department,” Kelly says. Even if a firm only consists of three people, the managing partner still has to spend time and energy configuring technological needs and managing vendors. A larger firm might have a full-time IT person on staff.

None of that is necessary if a firm uses our all-in-one cloud solution. For a monthly fee, all IT worries evaporate, and lawyers can get back to doing what they excel at doing: practicing law.

  1. Inherent Remote Access

Typically, configuring remote access for firm lawyers and staff can be a painful experience with a lot of extra work and expense. Larger firms might need to set up a terminal server or a Citrix server cluster. Small firms might utilize a service such as GoToMyPC, which allows subscribers to access their desktop remotely for a fee.

Those options can work, but they don’t have all of the advantages of a solution like LWS. Our whole cloud system is remote: Even when lawyers are sitting in their office at a desktop, they’re accessing the files remotely when they’re logged into LWS. In other words, setting up remote access is just part of the process of working with LWS and not an extra step.

  1. Experienced Law Firm Cloud Services

Hundreds of law firms that want the advantages of a cloud-based solution have been using LWS’s services for years. As a result, LWS has seen what methods and strategies work well, which means they get it done right the first time.

Kelly says, “There’s no guess work for us. We do this work over and over, and it’s all we do. We pass along the benefit of our experience to our customers.”

A cloud environment makes technology more accessible to every member of a law firm, regardless of size. But, a cloud environment like LWS does much more than that. From security to ease of use to predictability to flexibility, LWS removes the obstacles of working with technology. It renders technological issues invisible, which allows its users only to see—and benefit from—its advantages.

7 Advantages of the Cloud for a Law Firm

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How to Centralize and Simplify Satellite Office IT for Law Firms

Law firms take on new shapes as they grow. One might become a regional powerhouse with two or more offices; another might act as an umbrella for a consortium of small offices located near to one another.

Regardless of the shape a growing law firm takes, firms with more than one location (or satellite offices) need to take on ever more complex technological solutions to manage and secure data.

The engineering team at Legal Workspace says that a law firm with satellite offices faces many of the same challenges as a firm concerned with optimizing mobility. Those firms will encounter issues around architecture and infrastructure.

Many of these types of firms opt to install their own infrastructure, using servers and Wide Area Networks that allow remote offices to access data—but even carefully constructed and well-maintained systems will run into difficulties, most of which revolve around performance, collaboration, and cost issues.

Improve Productivity by Enhancing Performance

When a firm operates from its own servers, there are any number of performance issues that could arise, including defective components, power problems, bottlenecks, software licensing surprises, and network and security issues.

Most of these firms need to work with an IT consultant or add a staff member to troubleshoot problems and maintain the system. Issues that might appear could be based on “age, equipment, or abuse,” according to Legal Workspace experts.

If performance issues are severe enough, they waste time and resources. And, if they interfere with productivity on a regular basis, it might be time to switch to a solution that is maintained continually by legal IT experts.

Because the specific needs of law firms are the foremost objective at Legal Workspace, its engineers can design a solution that allows users to be relieved of performance problems.

Streamline Workflow with Document Collaboration

When numerous people collaborate on the same documents, it’s important that they don’t waste time updating different or duplicated versions. If the same data is saved in multiple locations—or if someone has to go to a certain shared drive for information of one kind, and another server for information of another kind—confusion and mistakes are bound to happen. Now, with the most recent version of SharePoint we even have the ability for attorneys to work on a document at the same time.

The engineers at Legal Workspace help many law firms with satellite offices maintain a collaborative infrastructure—a central depository of applications and data, or a shared location—in order to diminish the likelihood of lost productivity from collaborative, but keeping a collaborative infrastructure in place gets expensive.

Making the transition from supporting a local technology infrastructure to a virtual cloud-based solution IT management is well worth it. The complexity of the transition is situational, but Legal Workspace makes planning a priority to get everything consolidated in one location where everyone can find everything easily.

Reduce On-Site IT Infrastructure Costs

Let’s say a firm has two major locations. The infrastructure might be set up in any number of ways. For example, there could be a server at each location, or a server in one location that the other location remotes into via an MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) tunnel. MPLS tunnels are devoted high bandwidth tunnels that run between offices to keep data synced.

But those tunnels are expensive: Depending on the amount of bandwidth you need, it could cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month, which adds up quickly.

Law firms experiencing rapid growth benefit from a cloud-based IT solution, like the one provided by Legal Workspace, because adding local servers makes growth more complicated. With each new office added, more equipment and software licenses need to be purchased; whereas, with our cloud workspace, all a firm needs to do is add users.

And, regardless of the way in which a law office might build its infrastructure, data backup remains the most important factor. Accidents, glitches, and equipment failure happen, but they don’t need to interrupt business with the right cloud based IT infrastructure. Legal Workspace backs up its clients’ data in real time and to a second data center.

A cloud-based solution that works

Should a law firm decide that performance, collaboration, or expense issues are interfering with its ability to do business, a Legal Workspace solution could streamline workflow and simplify the way its workers interact with technology and information.

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HIPAA Compliance For Lawyers As Business Associates

lockThe rising number of data breaches and storage practices have opened the demands for heightened security that is often beyond the specifications of your IT infrastructure. With Legal Workspace’s HIPAA Compliant Edition (HCE), law firms as business associates can comply with the mandated security regulations of HIPAA. These regulations require that entities and their business associates have appropriate safeguards for protected health information (PHI). These safeguard responsibilities are broken down into three categories administrative, physical and technical.

Law Technology Today an ABA publication recently published an article by our CEO explaning what HIPAA compliance means for lawyers as business associates.

“As a business associate, law firms need to physically secure their offices, networks and data. This involves controlling facilities and electronic information to limit access to those who have the necessary authorizations. Law firms must also secure the area where computers are kept, as well as the computers themselves.”

– Joe Kelly

To read the full article click here

 

Legal Workspace is the only cloud-based solution exclusively for law firms that is HIPAA Compliant.

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