Industries · Legal
IT for law firms, where the file is the practice.
Managed IT and cybersecurity for firms in Greater Victoria and across British Columbia. Built around confidentiality, retention and being able to find the right document years after anyone remembers filing it.
The afternoon this prevents
A former client calls about a matter that closed four years ago.
You know the file exists. Whether anyone can produce it this afternoon depends on decisions made years ago by somebody who has since left: where it was saved, what it was named, whether the naming convention survived the last server move, and whether the backup from that era still restores.
None of that is a technology problem on the day it happens. It is a technology problem years earlier, which is the only time it can be solved.
What we hear from firms
The things that come up in the first conversation.
- Documents live in three places and the authoritative copy is a matter of opinion
- Staff email client documents because it is faster than the proper route
- Nobody is certain how long files actually need to be kept, or where the clock starts
- Conflicts checking depends on somebody remembering
- Practice management, accounting and document storage do not talk to each other
- Remote and hybrid work happened quickly and nobody revisited the access
- A departing lawyer’s matters take weeks to reassign
- Cyber insurance renewal now asks questions nobody can answer
What we do about it
Built for how a firm actually works.
Documents you can find
- One authoritative location, searchable by matter and by content
- Naming and structure that survives staff turnover
- Version history, so the current draft is never in doubt
Retention that runs itself
- Retention periods applied automatically rather than by memory
- Nothing deleted early, nothing kept forever by accident
- A record of what was kept and what was destroyed, and when
Confidentiality by default
- Access granted by matter and role, not to everything by default
- Encrypted email for the correspondence that needs it
- An audit trail of who opened what
Your data, in Canada
- Storage located in Canada where the matter calls for it
- Documented, so you can answer the question when a client asks
- No guessing about where a file physically sits
Joiners and leavers
- A new lawyer working properly on day one
- A departing one closed out the same day, cleanly
- Matters reassigned without anything becoming unreachable
Evidence for the insurer
- Straight answers to the cyber insurance questionnaire
- The controls in place, written down and demonstrable
- Gaps identified and closed before renewal, not during
Why the pod matters here more than most
Your technicians should not be strangers to your client list.
Every firm handles information that should not be widely seen. A support model that sends whoever is free means a rotating cast of people with access to systems holding privileged material, and no continuity in who has been where.
A pod is a small, consistent group who work with your firm, know your structure, and understand why a file that looks ordinary might not be. Fewer people, known people, and a support history that does not restart every call. How the pod model works.
- The same small group, every time
- Fewer people with access, not more
- They know your matters structure
- Continuity across years, not calls
Questions from firms
What lawyers ask us first.
Can we keep client files in the cloud?
Generally yes, and most firms already do. What matters is where the data physically sits, who can reach it, how it is encrypted, and whether you can demonstrate all three. We set it up so the answer to each is documented rather than assumed, which is the part that usually is not done.
Do you work with our practice management software?
Yes. Clio, PCLaw, Amicus and the rest are all systems we support around. We do not sell practice management and we have no preference to push, which means our advice about it is genuinely neutral.
How long do we have to keep files?
That is your professional obligation to determine rather than ours to assert, and it varies by matter type. What we do is build the retention you specify into the system so it applies automatically, and keep a record of what was retained and destroyed so you can demonstrate it.
Our cyber insurance renewal is asking hard questions.
Very common, and the questions are getting harder every year. We go through the questionnaire with you, tell you honestly which answers are currently no, and close those gaps before renewal rather than explaining them afterwards.
What happens if a laptop is lost with client material on it?
If it has been set up properly, very little. The disk is encrypted, the device can be wiped remotely, and access can be revoked in minutes. If it has not been set up properly, that is a different afternoon entirely, which is why this is one of the first things we look at.
We are a three person firm. Are we too small?
No. Small firms carry the same confidentiality obligations as large ones with none of the internal support, which is exactly the gap this is for.
Where to start
What matters most for a firm.
Other industries
We work the same way everywhere else.
The obligations change, the approach does not. If your sector is not listed, it is almost certainly still a fit.
Let’s look at how your files are actually held.
Half an hour, no charge, no salesperson. You will speak to someone who can answer.
Would rather write?
Send this and we will reply, usually the same business day. No call unless you want one.
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