More Ideas in Disaster Recovery For Law Firms

Admin — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:00:08 GMT

Last week I wrote a post on planning for business continuity during unexpected interruptions in operations. Ari Kaplan of Ari Kaplin Advisors wrote an article on Law.com that also addresses disaster recovery. He tells of a miserable experience trying to recover data from a cracked hard drive when his child pulled his laptop to the ground when tugging on the power cord (an experience I have narrowly escaped many times with my children).

He shares some tips he received from Jeffrey Brandt on protecting yourself from what he terms "data armageddon":

Centralize Contacts - Keep all critical contacts on your person (ie, on a mobile device).
Remote Data Housing - Host your data remotely. ** I personally don't think this is required so long as you have good, reliable backups that are kept offsite. However, for business continuity, having your data accessible from anywhere has its merits. **
Duplicate Or Near Duplicate Systems - create redundancy in your servers. Replicate them so that if one goes down, another comes online.
Secure Your Backups - keep backups offsite at a secure location. Preferably in a fire-proof vault.
Map and identify your information - this is good advice to corporate clients as well - "in every subsequent litigation [it will have to explain] what happened and why it could not produce data for that specific date range".
Test Regularly - this is one that will bite if not followed. Test your backups regularly to make sure your backup software is working properly.

There are several technologies that take advantage of "universal access" capabilities. For example, LexisNexis has a product called NetDocuments® that hosts and manages email and documents offsite that allows access even from a mobile device.

Kaplan has an answer to those who balk at spending such time and money to protect their data: "Although planning and preparing is not cheap, contact someone who has lived through disaster recovery and he or she will convince you that it is priceless."

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Recommended Blogs for Those Involved in Law Firm Management

Admin — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:00:51 GMT

Tom Collins hasn't exactly taken to the "retire" part of retirement. Working on his second book, he took time to send a list of blogs he recommends for law firm managers:

I’m in the process of preparing my handout materials for a presentation I will be making at the 2008 ALA Annual educational Conference in Seattle. The session title is The Business of Law—Best Financial Practices for Partners and is scheduled for Wednesday May 7 at 10:45 am. One of things I will leave with attendees is my recommended list of blogs for anyone involved in the management of a law firm. There are others in addition to those I have listed below, but the sites I have listed are those that I follow most closely. It is worth making a comment or two about a few of the blogs I have listed:

Adam Smith, Esq. stands apart from all the rest. It is unique in that it is written from the eye of an economist. It provides a more studied view of the business of law that contributes an otherwise missing sophistication in the teachings of firm leadership and management.

Cotterman on Compensation is unique in that it fights the ongoing battle to convince partners that “leaving money in the law firm” is essential to its good health and for the protection of the partner’s future income. He does so with the eye of an expert on the subject of law firm capital structures.

What can you say about Dennis Kennedy.blog other that it is a must read. Dennis is always on the cutting edge of law firm technology essential for the competent and competitive practice of law. Dennis is about the techno lawyer.

Larry Bodine's Law Marketing Blog is top on the list for a practical guide to marketing and business development in the law firm.

Rees Morrison's Law Department Management lets you listen and look over the shoulder of corporate clients as they contemplate and deal with the issue of reducing the size of your bill and the uncertainty of outside legal cost.

Passion, People and Principles is the site of the law firm management guru who gave us the Law Firm Business Model. David Maister's blog is a clear expression of his belief that the metrics, the numbers in that model, do not drive performance. It is the behavior of the people in the law firm that drive the numbers. The numbers only measure behavior. The best law firms have passionate people who believe in and practice sound principles.

The globetrotting host of the blog What About Clients? sets an uncompromising standard of excellence with an understanding that excellence can only be earned through the eyes of your clients. It’s not your standards that count; it is your client’s.

All of the other sites listed below have their own particular strengths that make them worthy of being on your regular read list. Those above are in a class all their own.

Adam Smith, Esq.	http://www.bmacewen.com/blog
Adventure of Strategy	http://www.robmillard.com/
Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices	http://www.gerryriskin.com/
Creating Blue Oceans	http://blueoceanstrategy.typepad.com/creatingblueoceans/
Cotterman on Compensation	http://blog.altmanweil.com/
DennisKennedy.blog	http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/
Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips Blog	http://jimcalloway.typepad.com/lawpracticetips/
Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog	http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs
Law Department Management	http://lawdepartmentmanagement.typepad.com/
Law Practice Management	http://www.pa-lawpracticemanagement.com/
Legal Ease Blog	http://legalease.blogs.com/
Legal Marketing Blog	http://www.legalmarketingblog.com/
MorePartnerIncome	http://www.morepartnerincome.net/
the legal thing... by Mike Dillon	http://blogs.sun.com/dillon/
The Marcus Perspective	http://themarcusperspective.typepad.com/
Thoughtful Legal Management	http://www.thoughtfullaw.com/
Passion, People and Principles	http://davidmaister.com/blog
Strategic Legal Technology	http://www.prismlegal.com/wordpress/
Stark County Law Library Blog	http://temp.starklawlibrary.org/blog/
What About Clients?	http://www.whataboutclients.com/

Make More Rain : forecasting, disaster recovery

More Ideas in Disaster Recovery For Law Firms

Recommended Blogs for Those Involved in Law Firm Management