IT support for small law firms
Confidentiality is not a feature you add later. I look after the networks, devices and backups of small firms across New York City and Long Island, so client data stays where it belongs.
Call or text
(929) 779-3188Same-day response on business days. Existing clients get an emergency number for evenings and weekends.
Where small firms are exposed
- Email compromise leading to wire fraud — an intercepted closing email with altered account details remains one of the most damaging attacks on small firms.
- Client files sitting in personal cloud storage or on unencrypted laptops that travel to court and home.
- Document management and time-and-billing systems with no tested restore, so a failure means reconstructing billable work from memory.
- Former associates and temps whose accounts are still active months after they left.
- A cyber insurance application answered optimistically, which can leave a claim contested at the worst possible moment.
What is put in place
- Multi-factor authentication on email, document management and remote access — the single most effective control against firm email compromise.
- Email rules and banners that flag outside senders and detect look-alike domains, plus a documented verbal-verification procedure before any wire instruction is acted on.
- Full-disk encryption on every laptop, with the ability to wipe a lost device remotely.
- Secure client file sharing that replaces emailed attachments, with access logs you can produce if a client asks.
- Encrypted, versioned backup of document management, email and accounting systems, with restores tested on a schedule.
- A joiner-and-leaver process so access is granted and revoked on the day, not eventually.
- Support for the systems small firms run — Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther, NetDocuments, Worldox and Microsoft 365.
Questions
What do the New York rules require us to do about technology?
Rule 1.6(c) of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct requires lawyers to make reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorised access to or disclosure of client information, and the duty of competence is widely understood to include understanding the technology you use. What counts as reasonable depends on the sensitivity of the information and the cost of safeguards. The practical translation is access control, encryption, training and a tested backup. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice — your ethics counsel decides what your firm needs.
Can you help us answer a client security questionnaire?
Yes. Corporate clients increasingly send outside-counsel security requirements, and firms often lose work by answering badly rather than by being insecure. I help you answer accurately and fix the gaps the questionnaire exposes.
Do we need to move everything to the cloud?
Not necessarily. Cloud practice management suits most small firms, but if your document system works and is properly backed up, migrating for its own sake is expense without benefit. The assessment tells you which of your systems genuinely warrant moving.
How do you handle our data confidentiality?
A confidentiality agreement is signed before any access is granted, access is limited to the systems needed for the work, and administrative actions are logged. You hold your own administrator credentials — I never become the only party who can get into your systems.
Request a free IT assessment
About an hour, on-site or remote. You get a written summary of what I found and what I would fix first — whether or not you hire me.