Migrate Legal Software to the Cloud in 6 Steps

In today’s world, technology is literally at our fingertips and has become the backbone of all business process and functionality.  Long past are the days where a firm could run with a typewriter, some file cabinets, a copy machine, and maybe even a shared printer.  Technology truly has transformed the landscape of business productivity and turned it into a virtually well-oiled machine, accessible 24/7/365, and constantly processing the business functions. Most of this is achieved by abandoning the old local technology and moving your data to the cloud.  Making a plan to move to the cloud can be a nebulous thought, as there are so many technologies that can be utilized, and the market is becoming saturated with “cloud” providers.  Naturally, some providers are more robust than others, and it can be overwhelming for the aspiring firm to make technology decisions like this with little intellectual knowledge of what would work best for their firm.  With this in mind, here are some good pointers as to how to make a responsible and educated decision on moving your firm’s technology to cloud services:

How does your firm operate?

Many firms are migrating their software to the cloud for a number of reasons. Some firms want to eliminate purchasing expensive hardware servers and the maintenance that comes with the new hardware. Some firms, such as Personal Injury firms, need to be HIPAA compliant and find it’s less expensive and less of a headache to move to the cloud. Some firms migrate to the cloud to experience greater accessibility and collaboration between multiple office, home office, and courtrooms. The cloud allows safe access to data, files, and software from anywhere.

Fully vet and evaluate a cloud provider

You will absolutely get what you pay for. Get a few different quotes and evaluate them thoroughly. Most of our clients have used other cloud providers and eventually came to Legal Workspace when their needs were not being met by other providers. Based on our clients’ feedback, we’ve compiled an article on vetting cloud providers here. Long story short, Law firms need top-notch support, state-of-the-art security, and ABA compliant cloud vendors.

Evaluate users and permissions, does everyone really need access to your General Partnership Documents?

Not everyone at your firms needs access to all data. Does your paralegal need access to practice management software? In the cloud, you can custom tailor your solution to grant access to what each employee needs access to, giving all the benefits of a cloud-based system, with the level of security of an enterprise organization.  It takes the guesswork out of who can access your confidential data, and allows you to quickly grant and deny access to your team members. 

Reconcile Data – Time to check in on compliance and housekeeping.

Once you’ve decided on a cloud provider, it’s time to Marie Kondo your data. Most state bars require law firms to keep data for a certain number of years but there could be data lurking that can be safely deleted. We see a lot of duplicate files and moving to the cloud is a great opportunity to consolidate and clean up data.

Sending Data to the Cloud Provider- Make sure this is encrypted.

There are a few different ways to send your law firms’ data to your cloud provider. Your cloud provider may remote into your network and export data directly to the cloud. Your cloud provider may use a physical hard drive to transfer data from your firm to their cloud.

Run Parallel Systems (and test the concept)

Once your legal cloud provider has your law firm’s data, they will run two networks simultaneously – your old network and your new cloud. As you’re working, the cloud vendor will see if any data was added to your old network after the transfer and ensure all of your connections are working properly. Most modern-day legal software programs sync well with each other and the connections you had previously, say from Worldox to TimeMatters(pls change if this is wrong, looking for well-known apps that sync), will transfer to the cloud. 

If you have any questions about migrating your firm to Legal Workspace, please give us a call at 877-713-8302 or send us an email info@legal-workspace.com.

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Security With Zero Effort

Security With Zero Effort

Do you know that October is cybersecurity awareness month? More importantly, do you know what you need to do in order to keep your data secure? Or, are you aware of what you need to do…except sometimes tasks (like regular back-ups) fall through the cracks?

Maybe your IT person or department is responsible for security, but you’re not really sure what that entails – which could mean that you’re not really sure if the efforts your law firm makes toward securing its data are effective.

It makes sense that managing partners of law firms would want to concentrate on the business of law rather than spend precious time attempting to grasp the intricacies of cybersecurity. But, managing partners also understand how important it is to secure their firms’ data.

So, how does a savvy law firm strike a balance: not wasting time (and money) on something better left to experts, but ensuring that its data is completely secure?

There is a way for law firms to benefit from military-grade cybersecurity without the hassles that accompany elite in-house security. No personnel management. No constant upgrades, patches, or maintenance. No unexpected expenses, such as the sky-high cost of replacing a server. No downtime. No cumbersome back-ups. Just peace of mind.

When a law firm opts to work with a cloud environment, such as Legal Workspace, security stops being an issue that anyone in the firm needs to consider.

No more worries, just security

Law firms can be lucrative targets because they store privileged information that hackers can use in unintended ways. If your law firm’s cybersecurity isn’t up to snuff, it could mean that you are at risk. Having holes in your cybersecurity could be considered the equivalent of leaving privileged information out in the open for anyone to take and use.

And, if a law firm’s technology isn’t up-to-date and fully operational, that means a different sort of problem. What would happen if your server failed? How much time – and how much data – would you lose?

When you work within a cloud environment specially designed for law firms, you don’t have to worry about any of those issues any longer. With geographically redundant data centers, such as those used by Legal Workspace, your data is safer in the cloud than it could ever be in an on-site server. Access to those data center servers is limited, and staff is always on-hand to monitor for and prevent problems – and to react should anything unexpected occur.

Advanced data encryption, firewalls with a sophisticated detection system, and automatic back-ups secure your data so well that passing compliance standards, such as HIPAA and PCI, is just a regular part of what Legal Workspace does.

What to do instead

If you make the switch to the cloud and your security worries disappear, your attorneys and employees can spend more time on revenue-generating activities. And, if you have an IT person on staff, he or she doesn’t need to spend the day running from place to place, troubleshooting and patching up problems. Instead, that person can concentrate on strategy: discovering and implementing new technology that will save your law firm time and money.

As for law firm management? Well, you can just sleep better at night, knowing that your data is secure, and your clients are happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Not All Clouds Are Equal: Select the Best

By now, you’ve heard all about the cloud, how it can keep your data secure, and how using a cloud environment is a more convenient way to work. You’re convinced that working in a cloud environment is the way to go. What’s the next step? How do you get the cloud and make it work for you? Will any cloud do?

As with any other technology, you must be selective. Choose the cloud environment that provides security and support.

Legal Workspace goes way beyond providing just cloud storage for lawyers. Its cloud environment was designed with the particular needs of the legal profession at its forefront. Because of that, Legal Workspace’s cloud environment – and its set-up and support team – provide special features that make it the best choice.

A dedicated team

When you work with Legal Workspace, you aren’t just buying space and an interface. You get to work with a dedicated team that is there to help you with your technology needs. This team is made up of people with legal industry experience.

That legal industry experience allows the team to immediately comprehend and meet your firm’s needs. The team takes an unbiased approach to hosting, and they understand a law firm’s daily workflow in addition to all of the facets of technology. For example, they can help you customize programs and applications for greater efficiency. Beyond that, if you ever need advice as you make technology decisions, the team can contribute CIO-level guidance.

And, certain aspects of tech maintenance become invisible. Just think: You will never need to worry about updating software again – because it will happen automatically.

 

A secure environment

You have your dedicated technology team to set up and maintain your own distinct cloud environment when you work with Legal Workspace. But that’s not all your team can do for you. You can consult with your team about security, too. Because Legal Workspace is designed specifically for use by those in the legal profession, it has developed and locked in place a multi-layer defense system to protect your – and your clients’ – data from exposure.

Legal Workspace uses two-factor authentication, advanced intrusion detection and prevention systems, state-of-the-art antivirus software, and anti-spam solutions as tools in its mission to keep your data safe. The security teams at Legal Workspace are always working to keep your data secure with proactive monitoring, redundancy, and airtight training and policies.

 

A compliant mindset

Legal Workspace takes security and compliance seriously. It knows how important compliance is to you and to your clients. That’s why on-staff security and compliance experts are easy to reach and at the ready to help you make compliance decisions and meet the demands of standards required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).

And, data storage isn’t a mystery with Legal Workspace. Your data is stored in the United States – in Dallas, TX, and Denver, CO – and it will never leave those locations.

When you work with a cloud solution that understands the challenges the legal profession faces, you have the opportunity to take advantage of its expertise. You can work in a cloud environment designed especially for law firms, and you can work with teams with legal industry experience and technology expertise. That makes it so much easier to set up a cloud environment that does what you need it to do.

 

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Selecting The Right Document Management Tools

Attorneys’ time is a precious commodity. It’s a waste of time to search for documents or recreate transactional documents from scratch.

How do you maximize the time attorneys spend on matters that need their expertise and minimize the time spent on administrative or repetitive tasks?

Document management software, simply, helps law firms organize their documents. But, it’s more complex than that. Not only does a document management system store your information, but it provides a way for you to search and index your files and share data with other authorized users. Better document management systems can manage versions of documents, integrate with your email system, and allow remote access. Many are intuitive to use so they require little training.

Document generation software does just what its name implies: It automates document generation, which keeps attorneys from having to reinvent the wheel every time they create a contract or other transactional document.

Because law firms have particular security needs, many document management and document generation applications are built specifically for the legal profession. These big five brands of document management and document generation software have different features and strengths.

Document Management Software

1. iManage
iManage is better for large law firms because it can be hosted in the cloud or on-site and requires maintenance by trained IT professionals. iManage has the advantage of being well integrated with Microsoft Office. That provides ease of use and further streamlines time spent on filing emails or documents into the system.

2. Worldox
Worldox also integrates with Microsoft Office, and it is an appropriate choice for law firms of all sizes. It has a central document control system, which means that information from multiple databases can be combined for greater time-savings.

3. MetaJure
MetaJure also can be used by any size law firm. One of its advantages is the automatic integration of all documents (including image-based documents, such as PDFs).

Document Generation Software

4. HotDocs
Users who want to create a transactional legal document, such as a will or contract, interact with a HotDocs template to input information specific to a case or matter, which increases accuracy.

5. ProDoc
ProDoc generates transactional legal documents by asking questions specific to each situation. It also allows users to further customize documents if necessary.

Questions to ask

Selecting the right document management and document generation software for your firm is of the utmost importance.

Here are just a few questions to ask to make sure you get the best software for your needs:

• Is the application hosted on-premise or in the cloud? Does the cloud provider have experience assisting law firms with your legal and business applications?

• Do you need on-site or on-call IT people to manage the system? Can it be easily installed or must it be completely customized?

• Was the software built specifically for use by those in the legal profession? Does it include standards of security that will keep your law firm from breaking privilege?

• How would you prefer that the document management application structure its organization? By project? By matter? By work group? In some other way?

• How intuitive is the software? Does it require extensive training, or is it simple for users to get on board?

• Does the application allow for offline access? For access across multiple devices?

• Does the software use multiple databases or is the data housed centrally?

If you need assistance determining which type of software has the features you need, or if you would like help integrating new applications with your existing system, Legal Workspace’s application support specialists can help. You can take advantage of Legal Workspace’s Software as a Service licensing model for certain document management or document generation applications. Legal Workspace can also move existing licenses for software to its cloud environment.

Document management and document generation software can act as time-savers—but law firms must put in time up-front to select the program that will work best for their specific needs.

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