September 6, 2005
Disaster Planning for Law Firms
One of the reasons so few firms have a disaster plan is that we tend to make them too complicated. A simple plan is more workable and you are far more likely to develop and follow such a plan. Complex disaster plans are likely to be destroyed right along with paper documents in a real disaster.
In 2002, the Juris® Users International Group held a panel discussion on disaster planning and out of that discussion came elements of an effective and simple plan—three steps that every law firm can implement.
Here are the steps as set forth by the panel:
1. The first priority is personal safety—always protect lives first. Establish evacuation and reassemble procedures. Make sure everyone understands that no one is to risk or endanger their life or the life of others for paper, media, or any other material or firm property.
2. Second, maintain current employee contact information (including an alternate contact outside of the area for use as an intermediary) and get the contact information in the right hands and in various forms, including a printed document. Establish calling "trees" so that by contacting a few people, information can be disseminated quickly to everyone.
3. The next priority is to protect the survivability of the firm by making sure that critical information is safe before the occurrence of a disaster. Online backup services were not economically available in 2002. They are available today. They are far superior to in-house backup procedures and methods. In-house backups often prove unreadable when required and as the New Orleans situation demonstrates—locally maintained off-site backups face the same risk as the law firm itself. Juris, Inc. has partnered with LiveVault to provide secure continuous backup service to Juris law firms. On-line backups are always current, always secure and are available even if you are operating from a different location. You may want to reconsider imaging to protect your paper documents. Imaging is the only technology that facilitates the protection of documents using traditional computer backups. And you gain all the other advantages of digitized information and images.The above three steps are the essentials and if implemented will materially increase the ability of the firm to survive in a crisis. There are three other steps that take your plan to a higher level. How thoroughly you should pursue the added three items depends on the risk faced by your present location. Are you at high risk from water, earthquake, fire, or terrorist attack, for example? The three additional items involve Facilities, Equipment and Insurance.
1. Address the issue of where the firm can set up a temporary operation. This may be as simple as identifying the homes of certain partners preparing a list of options, including branch offices or client locations. It is a good idea to identify and establish contact with a commercial real estate organization that you can call on a moment’s notice. Your plan could be as elaborate as contracting for backup space. This depends on the degree of risk faced at your present location. Generally, the space issue can be resolved after the fact, provided steps 1-3 have been carried out.
2. Address the equipment and phone issues. This can be as simple as identifying portable equipment and cell phones owned by the law firm but assigned to individuals that can be called in for firm use in a crisis. It can be as elaborate as contracting with an offsite disaster recovery facility or maintaining a server, network and minimum equipment at an offsite facility for emergency use. This issue can usually be resolved in a reasonable time period after the fact, provided steps 1-3 are in place.
3. Provide additional insurance to finance payroll and operations during the period of business interruption.
To summarize, the three essential disaster preparatory steps your firm should have in place include:
1. A communicated policy for putting personal safety first;
2. Maintain personnel contact information in the hands of the right people;
3. Use a online backup service like LiveVault to protect critical data.
Juris clients can learn more about LiveVault services available through Juris, Inc. by calling 877/377-3740 or by e-mailing info@juris.com. Law firms can also contact LiveVault directly by going to www.livevault.com.
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Filed under Disaster Recovery, Planning, Policies/ Procedures, Risk managment by Tom Collins