Law firms are especially susceptible to data leaks and hack attacks. One of the most notorious examples from 2020 has 193 legal companies being affected by an advanced breach.
The information exposed during the breach included law firm staff details and additional sensitive information. This occurrence shows once again why legal companies are often criticized for their lackadaisical approach towards document management and data security.
Effective law firm document management is about several things. It should focus on safety and compliance, as well as on ease of access and proper structuring of the archive.
To accomplish all these goals, law firms can prioritize several document management essential practices that are bound to deliver optimal results.
Move to Cloud-Based Law Firm Document Management
Making the switch to cloud-based document management can enable the completion of a digital transformation in 2021 and beyond.
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced many professionals to adopt a more flexible approach towards work. Law firm reps rank among those who can perform their duties from various locations. For the purpose, however, a move to the cloud will have to occur.
Not only does cloud-based document management offer more flexibility, it’s also effective and scalable. Integration is fairly effortless and most systems offer possibilities for scaling up or down upon necessity. Additional features and workflows can be activated, turning the system into a highly personalized solution.
Choosing the right cloud document management system for your legal firm will take some time. Do your best to compare several platforms side by side before making up your mind. Accessing demo versions will also give you a good idea about the capabilities and suitability of each system.
Also, make sure that you have selected a reliable litigation copying and digitization service in advance. By opting for such a solution, you can populate your brand new document management system quickly. You can also make sure that full compliance has been achieved.
Consider Effective Email Management, As Well
Law firm document management has to be an all-encompassing strategy.
Legal professionals handle many kinds of sensitive information (in various formats) that clients share. Quite often, important exchanges occur via email. A good document management strategy has to account for such transactions and the potential complications that could stem from them.
Email systems are usually separate from the rest of the document management (being enabled by the email software that the law firm utilizes). This means that the content of mails and the attachments that clients send over are being protected and classified by the email software alone.
The email information is not centralized. If it gets entered in the law firm document management system, that has to be a separate process completed manually by one of the employees.
Some law form document management systems offer email integration capabilities. While such features are excellent and needed for most service providers, they’re vital for companies operating in the legal field. Setting the right workflows and automating email data entry/protection will reduce the risk of sensitive data being leaked or key files being misplaced. This isn’t a practical extra, it’s a must-have feature for effective data classification and utilization.
Organization-Wide Indexing and Data Retrieval Policies
When dealing with large volumes of information, it’s very easy to misplace important files.
Your law firm document management strategy should have clearly defined indexing and data retrieval policies.
Indexing refers to the meta data you enter whenever a document becomes a part of the digital archive. This information could pertain to relevant keywords, client information, the case that the data refers to, the legal professionals involved, etc.
Everyone within the organization should be trained on indexing and meta data creation. There will usually be templates and specific entry fields that the document management system gives access to. Still, legal professionals should all be on the same page when it comes to keyword entry, formatting, abbreviations and other methods of entering essential tidbits pertaining to the specific document.
While law firm document management systems usually enable full text search for effortless retrieval, it’s still a good idea to have universal standards when it comes to data entry and classification.
Remote Access Practices and Guidelines in Place
Legal professionals often work on cases away from the office.
This means that the law firm document management system will be accessed remotely numerous times throughout the day (and night).
To make such remote data requests safe, you have to introduce the right system usage guidelines.
Remote access should be limited. Document management systems allow you to assign permission levels or restrict the visibility of highly sensitive information. While creating such structure and hierarchy takes time, it reduces the risk of very important data being leaked due to human error.
Yes, human error still accounts for a major percentage of data leaks today. Hence, legal professionals should only have remote access to the data required to do their job.
It’s also a good idea to choose a system that maintain detailed logs about who has accessed what and when. These logs create an audit trail you can go through in the event of an issue or an error. Knowing who’s responsible for a data leak or a breach can assist with faster law firm recovery in the future.