Future-Proof Your Law Firm

Use the Cloud to Keep Up with the Pace of Technology

It’s no secret; technology has accelerated the pace of change – in work and in life. There are a few ways that your law firm can go about adapting to these changes.

You could:

1. Bury your head in the sand and insist on the traditional ways of doing things.

2. Throw money at the problem, amassing all the new software and gadgets available and hiring experts to teach you how to use everything.

3. Make a simple change to the way you do work and handle your data.

Of course, the third option is making the change over to using a cloud environment, such as Legal Workspace. Using the cloud is an easy way to set up your firm for any future tech innovations, in addition to the other advantages it promises, like security and flexibility.

Why the cloud allows for rapid change

When a law firm operates from on-site servers, it lacks the kind of agility that using a cloud environment can provide. For example, what would happen if your biggest client suddenly placed regulations on your firm? How would you go about making sure you could meet those requirements? How much time, effort, and money would it take to give them what they wanted?

And if you were able to pull it off, would the client still be there, waiting for you to bring your security to their level?

Taking advantage of law firm cloud services removes that worry. Legal Workspace, because it was created specifically for law firms, utilizes military-grade security for all of its clients and can accommodate special requests from firms who use its services. HIPAA compliance obligations and any other high-level security requirements can be quickly applied to ensure that your clients’ data is protected.

That kind of behind-the-scenes agility is important because it also allows you to make changes to the way you do business. For example, if you’re not already taking advantage of legal document generation automation to streamline your attorneys’ workloads, you can select one of the applications that is compatible with Legal Workspace, work with its team of experts to customize the program to your preferences, and increase your efficiency.

Beyond that, the simple fact is that workplace culture is changing. Many attorneys are putting in the same number – or even more – hours than they ever did before, but they’re not necessarily doing it from the office. A cloud work environment, like Legal Workspace, allows attorneys to access their workspace from anywhere, on any device, at any time. If an attorney has a big realization while watching their kid’s soccer game, they can grab their smartphone and get moving.

The future is in the cloud

When you migrate to the cloud, a big chunk of worry falls away. No fretting about your data security’s adequacy. No concern about making the right software and application choices. No restrictions for your attorneys with regard to when and where they choose to work.

Now, which of these three options sounds like the best strategy:

1. Stick to tradition and hope your firm remains viable?

2. Throw money at the problem and try to do it yourself?

3. Or, lean on experts to take care of your technology issues by using a cloud environment?

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Boost Law Firm Productivity & Revenue

Law firms and technology have made some giant leaps in the last decade or so. Now, there are applications made specifically for law firms that track time, facilitate billing, generate and manage documents, and even help you manage your practice.

We know that you want to take full advantage of the efficiencies and transparency that legal applications can provide to a law firm. That’s why, at Legal Workspace, we make it a priority to host and support the most popular and most effective legal apps on our cloud environment.

 

How it works

Because Legal Workspace was created specifically for law firms and their unique challenges, we understand that firms need certain legal applications to be available anytime and anywhere in order to be able to function at full capacity.

Working with Legal Workspace provides law firms with the opportunity to migrate their existing legal applications to the cloud – or to strategize and make new decisions about what technology they want and need to make work and life easier (and more accurate).

Legal Workspace’s engineers are certified in the top legal applications, so they can provide support if and when it’s needed. They can also consult with clients to identify which apps might work best in their particular situations.

And, Legal Workspace can even license certain legal apps, which simplifies billing.

 

What apps does Legal Workspace host?

Legal Workspace hosts a wide variety of legal applications. Law practice management software includes Amicus Attorney ®, Time Matter®, Needles®, Practice Master®, Thomson Reuters ProLaw®, Juris®, and LawBase®.

Legal document management software includes Worldox® and Microsoft SharePoint®.

Time and billing software includes PCLaw®, Timeslips®, Tabs3®, and Quickbooks®.

Legal document generation automation includes Hot Docs®, ProDoc®, and Amicus Attorney®.

You can find out more about how you can customize your Legal Workspace cloud environment with a variety of legal applications and software here. 

And, what if you have your own proprietary software that you use for practice management, for example? That’s no problem. Legal Workspace can host the software law firms develop.

 

Cloud benefits

When you work with a cloud environment that hosts the legal applications you need, you are using technology to your advantage. And, you get so much more from using the cloud.

Your attorneys and staff can access the programs and data they need from any location at any time. Remote access isn’t the only benefit: You’ll save money on hardware – and its set-up and maintenance. Instead of laying down big money to get started, you’ll have one simple monthly bill.

Your data is continuously monitored and protected. Beyond that, working in the cloud means that recovery of data – if a disaster were to occur – would be that much simpler.

Working with a team like Legal Workspace’s enables you to get the most from your technology. The legal applications that it hosts can propel your law firm to new levels of efficiency and accuracy. With Legal Workspace’s engineers’ help, your law firm can take another giant leap by allowing technology to work for you – so you can concentrate on the business of law.

 

 

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Should Responsible Law Firms Use Cloud Storage?

Protecting privilege is one reason law firms have been hesitant to adopt using the cloud for document storage and sharing. Fears of hacking or inadvertently providing access to privileged documents have kept many firms from embracing technology that could save them time and money.

Most tech-savvy law firms have taken precautions and put protocols in place to secure client documents and communications as they’ve upgraded to cloud sharing. However, some firms have been lax in their safeguarding procedures — which means their clients were left unprotected.

Unprotected file-sharing

 You’ve likely heard of file-sharing options such as Box, Google Docs, OneDrive or Dropbox. Free cloud storage options like these allow users to access documents from any device and to share files by creating custom URLs. They’re convenient, and — when used properly — can be a secure way to share information.

A problem arises when users take shortcuts or don’t take advantage of all of the security features available in cloud storage and sharing systems. That’s what happened with Harleysville Insurance Co. v. Holding Funeral Home. Harleysville’s counsel shared privileged information via Box, using its feature that creates direct links — and they didn’t password-protect the links. That meant that anyone who had access to the link could see the files. As a result, the defendant’s counsel was able to access this information.

A Virginia magistrate recently ruled that the plaintiff’s law firm’s actions “were the cyber-world equivalent of leaving its claims files on a bench in the public square and telling its counsel where they could find it.” In other words, its failure to password-protect and otherwise secure those files waived privilege.

Use the cloud safely

 This ruling doesn’t mean that law firms should discontinue cloud usage. Rather, it emphasizes the importance of putting security measures in place to block access and uphold attorney-client privilege.

Here are some ways to keep your data in the cloud secure:

1. Require log-ins (on both sides of the fence—attorneys and clients) to gain access to shared information.

2. Keep access contained. Only permit a select few team leads to share information with additional parties.

3. Some programs have a “notify when accessed” feature. Using this feature tells the content owners how and when the information has been accessed — so if there is unauthorized access, you’ll know about it right away.

4. Put an expiration date on the shared information. It’s better to re-share the information than to let it dwell on the internet in perpetuity.

Legal Workspace recommends that law firms use document management and file-sharing programs created specifically for law firms such as iManage, NetDocs, Citrix Sharefile and Egnyte. That way, you know the technology was created with attorney-client privilege in mind.

Legal Workspace provides a base package with its cloud environment service and encourages clients to customize their environments to incorporate legal applications to formalize their processes and take extra steps toward protecting attorney-client privilege.

The cloud can be a safe place. Document sharing over the cloud can be secure. Law firms simply need to understand how breaches can occur and take precautions to protect all parties using the cloud.

If you have any questions about safe cloud sharing, feel free to reach out to our legal app experts here.

 

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