5 Signs Your Law Firm Has Outgrown Its IT Support

Yes. ABA Formal Opinion 477R establishes that lawyers have an ethical duty to use reasonable cybersecurity measures commensurate with the sensitivity of client information. California Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.6 requires reasonable measures to prevent unauthorized disclosure of confidential client information. These are not aspirational guidelines — they are professional responsibility obligations with enforcement consequences.

The most widely used legal DMS platforms are iManage Work, NetDocuments, and Clio (for smaller practices). Each provides matter-centric organization, version control, access auditing, and integration with practice management software. The right choice depends on firm size, practice areas, and integration requirements. Generic storage solutions like Dropbox or Google Drive do not provide the access audit trails and matter-based security that professional responsibility rules require.

Per ABA Formal Opinion 483, a law firm incident response plan should define how the firm detects potential breaches, who is responsible for response, how affected clients are notified (and in what timeframe), how evidence is preserved, and how the firm returns to normal operations. It should address California's breach notification statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.82) and the relevant bar jurisdiction's notification requirements. Plans should be tested at least annually.

Many law firms have one person handling IT who is strong on end-user support but needs depth in security, compliance, and specialized legal systems. <a href="/solutions/managed-it-services/co-managed-it-services">Co-managed IT</a> lets that person remain the internal point of contact while an MSP provides 24/7 monitoring, security management, and specialized expertise. The firm retains institutional knowledge while gaining professional-grade coverage.

In a well-managed law firm IT environment, a new attorney should be fully operational — laptop configured, email live, DMS access granted, MFA enrolled, all practice systems accessible — within one business day. Multi-day or multi-week onboarding processes indicate absent standardization and automation, and represent real lost billable capacity.

Business email compromise (BEC) consistently ranks as the highest-impact attack against law firms, particularly those handling real estate transactions or trust account disbursements. Attackers who gain access to attorney email can redirect wire transfers, intercept privileged communications, and impersonate attorneys to clients. MFA on all email accounts is the single most effective control against this attack vector.