Share and Share Alike: How Modern Document Storage Systems Increase Law Firm Security

Email is good for email; but, when law firms start to try to expand the uses of email into broader technology functions – that’s where they run into trouble. 

 

Like when attorneys try to convert their productivity software into case management software.  (In case you haven’t tried it, that doesn’t work because productivity software is decidedly not a relational database.) 

 


Emailing sensitive documents can be a problem, too.  When you email something, it passes through a number of different servers before it reaches its final destination.  Some of those servers are likely to be unencrypted, which means that, to ensure document security, you’ll need to encrypt the file itself, or your email system.  That’s a whole other step, and maybe an entirely new software to buy.  It’s also largely avoidable. 

 

With modern document repositories (like Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive) and law practice management softwares (like Clio and MyCase), those systems offer the ability for users to invite customers, clients and colleagues to access documents within those systems, by creating a password or passcode.  Thus, the person invited to access a document is doing so on the user’s system, meaning that that document does not go anywhere = the data doesn’t travel, but remains in the encrypted container at which the user stores it.  This is a crucial differentiation from the email method.  In this case, the user continuously controls the location of the document, and the document remains encrypted. 

 

This is yet another reason to move to a paperless office environment, and yet another reason to move in the direction of cloud-based software. 

 

. . .

Not sure your law firm’s data is secure?  We can help. 

Through a unique partnership between the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar and Jared Correia’s Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, Maine attorneys have access to experienced law practice management consultants at a special discounted rate. 

To get started, visit Red Cave’s landing page for Maine attorneys, and start running your law practice like a business. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pay It Forward: How to Incentivize Attorneys and Staff Beyond Salary

Image
Many law firm owners are comfortable just paying out a salary .  And, that can work, for sure .  But, if you want to drive revenue within your law firm, it makes sense to look at bonusing attorneys and staff in ways that will incentivize your employees to generate or close more cases for the firm, which will lead to additional revenue. Obviously, this is a bit easier for attorney staff, since lawyers can share fees with each other, which makes it easier to create a direct incentive plan .  But, for staff , you can bonus them without sharing fees, including for converting clients from leads, for example, by doing things like offering a $50 bonus for each lead closed, potentially in a certain time frame .   This is the same method that lead generation services use to get paid by law firms, without sharing fees.     But, the place that law firm owners can really make money here is by using origination fees to bonus their attorney staff .  Law firms ...
Read more

Perfect Timing: New Calendaring Tools Make It Easy to Connect with Leads and Clients

Image
Lawyers tend to be inefficient, and have difficulty engaging both leads and clients.  These hurdles are apparent when it comes to the scheduling process.  Attorneys and staff onboard leads for meetings, and schedule appointments with existing clients, via strings of emails -- and, delayed response s only extend the conversation, and the time frame.  And, while this is detrimental for client s (who demand speed and convenience), it’s even worse for leads, who may never convert, if they’re not onboarded simply, and easily.   The good news is that modern technology tools allow for scheduling without the intervention of humans, including you and your staff.  That means that you can say goodbye to all those extra emails, and wasted time.  Programs like Calendly and Acuity allow clients to book appointments directly onto a law firm or lawyer’s calendar, and include buffers and controls, so users aren’t overwhelmed.  LawTap offers a similar tool focu...
Read more

Close Sesame: Three Things You Can Do To Improve Your System Security Right Know

Image
It’s 202 4 , and everybody is still kind of bad with passwords.  Many passwords, in fact, still contain the word . . . password .  That can’t be good.     However, there are three simple moves that you can make to ensure that your passwords are more impressive, and difficult to hack .  That will, in turn, better secure the systems that you are using passwords to protect – which, at this juncture , are pretty much all your systems.   Step one, is to generate stronger passwords .  You can try passphrases .  You can use a password management tool, that will generate more secure passwords for you, so you don’t have to .  And, you can ensure that you’re not using the same password across multiple programs, which is dangerous, because if one gets hacked – they all get hacked.     Step two, is to lean into password managers .  Not only can those systems generate strong passwords for you, you can also use these tools to mana...
Read more