Enter Embroker.

Embroker represents a new way for law firms to apply for and re-up on their professional liability insurance policies. Even as modern software invades the legal industry, insurance companies have been slow to react to the advantages offered by the cloud and the internet-based software it facilitates. Embroker offers a cloud-based platform for lawyers and law firms to apply for and to renew insurance policies. This approach eliminates the need for a traditional, paper-based application. Enter your information once, and update it on a yearly basis, to ensure that your policy remains in force. The whole process is rendered paperless; access all of your policy information and documents, at any time, through your Embroker account.

Embroker also allows you to better protect yourself by utilizing the data you provide to more easily locate gaps in your coverage — whether you need additional lines of insurance (umbrella, auto, home, etc.) or specialty coverage, like cyber insurance or a social engineering policy. Because Embroker collects data from law firms it insures across the country, it is able to benchmark your policies against policies maintained by similarly-situated law firms, so that you can be sure you’re getting the best rate. This level of transparency is a hallmark of Embroker’s operation.

Modern consumers expect control, cost savings and efficiency derived from technology; that triumvirate of advantages has now arrived for law firms buying professional liability insurance.

Read more about Embroker’s process, and visit their website. Embroker is commitment-free; try it out the next time you need to renew your professional liability insurance, and see what Embroker can do for you.

No, I’m not holding up a sign, and talking about the end times.  I am, however, addressing software versions.  Even now, I regularly run across law firms that operate different versions of local applications.  So, maybe three different vintages of Adobe Acrobat, with different settings and different costs, all ostensibly meant to do the same thing: manage PDFs.  Now, you might be thinking to yourself, ‘Hey, I have, like, seven different versions of Adobe Acrobat – it’s all good in the hood!’ However, running that many different versions of a software can be problematic, for a variety of reasons.

For one, thing it’s more difficult to train/update employees and troubleshoot existing issues.  Internally, someone trying to a question about how to use a program may be flummoxed by the fact that their process (built in one version) may not work for the questioner (who may be using another version).  That issue can also be exacerbated when clients deal with multiple staffpersons, who themselves are attached to different systems.  From a budget management perspective, your replacement table may be all over the board (meaning you won’t effectuate it — because it’s harder to do), and the different payment requirements for different versions means that it will be impossible for you to flatten your cost allocations.  Law firms are also historically bad at updating local software applications.  Not only does that mean that your systems won’t be working as effectively as they could be, it could also leave you exposed to viruses and nefarious data hacks.

Neither is this problem localized to non-cloud-based technology infrastructures.  There are plenty of law firms running different desktop versions of cloud-based software that they also utilize.  For example, there are a lot of law firms that use Office 365, along with other version of Office, all the way down to Office on XP — which is a dangerous thing to do.

This is all so much easier with cloud-based software.  Let the developers worry about the versions.  All you need to know is that, since the software is cloud-based, your version is always the latest version.  Everyone is working with the same tools, in the same way.  Clients are exposed to the same features.  Your payment schedule is synchronized and predictable.

Now, that’s a version of events you can stick to.

. . .

Liner Notes

The Eagles are alright; but, if you’re really talking about the evolution of the pop country sound, Poco is where it’s at.  They’re one of the most underrated bands of all-time, led by one of the most underrated band leaders of all-time: Richie Furay, who is less than famous.

Here’s a smattering:

‘Good Feelin’ To Know’

‘Just for You and Me’

‘Pickin’ Up the Pieces’

‘Grand Junction’

‘You Better Think Twice’

Man, that is SO good.

Know that I do celebrate Poco’s entire catalogue, and could go on — even though I won’t.

If you’ve watched Amazon’s excellent ‘The Man in the High Castle’ (or read the book it’s based on), you’ll know that an examination of alternatives will not always yield a palatable option.  The fact is, cloud security is relative.  Take the time to analyze it against the operations of a traditional law office, and accessing a remote server suddenly seems a whole heck of a lot safer.

Think about some of the obvious ways that law firms compromise their own data security.  Files are left out on desks.  Staff and clients and others walk around, with scant monitoring, while sensitive data is visible, and susceptible to theft.  There is no formal tracking system for files.  Strings of passwords are written on sticky notes, in plain view.  Devices with sensitive information saved to them can be lost, or stolen.  Dozens of emails are sent, across multitudes of servers to various parties, in order to capture revisions to one document.  Devices and drives are unencrypted.  I could go on; but, I tire of this game.

The truth of the matter is that a traditional law office operating in the modern world is far more prone to data breach than a virtual law practice, or something close to it.  An effective cloud array serves to eliminate paper, could reduce your passwords to a memorable few, removes software and files from the devices you use, promotes collaborative document management and offers feasible encryption options.

At this point, just about every one of the United States has on its books a data protection law.  The way those laws are written, the use of cloud-based technology that features encryption and security updates will pass muster, assuming a documented vetting process has taken place.  Managing a system, or systems, in the cloud is a far more practical way to secure data than attempting to close various, gaping loopholes present in traditional paper-based or hybrid paper file/electronic file office settings.

So, as it turns out, managing a cloud-based technology platform makes law firms more efficient and more secure.

Who knew?  (Well, I did; but, that’s beside the point.)

. . .

Liner Notes

I usually try to throw down some back catalogue gems here; but, I have to say, there is much love in the Red Cave for a mainstream jam every now and then.

‘Kind and Generous’ by Natalie Merchant

I’ve been listening to a lot of Natalie Merchant lately.  So, sue me.

10,000 Maniacs had a lot of hits you remember, okay.

When you return, to the smoking carcass of the device you had relied upon for so very long, it’s easy to feel like all is lost.  But, it isn’t — as long as you’ve backed up your data.

Many law firms still run on traditional, physical servers, housed in-firm.  When those devices break down, those firms are left with a basic decision to make: Get another one, or find another option.  When those firm managers begin to explore the costs of replacing a server, it is then that they start thinking about cloud-based options.  Replacing a server is expensive; and, in addition to acquiring the hardware itself, there are related costs in play: like allocation of storage space and fans using electricity to make sure the whole operation is cool.  In both the short- and long-term, it is more cost-effective to rent space on a sever that someone else maintains — and, that’s really all that the cloud is: a server rental.

When lawyers start talking about replacing servers, that’s when they start getting serious about the cloud.  Of course, the relationship status between most lawyers and the cloud is: ‘It’s complicated’.  The initial excitement related to the additional mobility and flexibility that cloud services offer can wilt in the face of lawyerly questions, like: ‘Is it ethical?’  ‘Is it safe?’

At this point, more than half of American jurisdictions have passed judgment on the ethics question, and all have come to the same conclusion: Reasonable use of cloud services is permissible.  And, really, what else could they have said?  Attorneys are going to use it anyway; and, the application of a general reasonableness standard seems like a fair approach.  As to the related question of security, consider, first, the traditional law office: files left out, passwords written on post-it notes, shared log-ins for local applications.  Paperless law firms operating in the cloud are inherently more secure than their paper-based, server-based counterparts.  The remaining security questions relate to a combination of vendor features and user hacks.  Most reputable vendors will feature high-level encryption, as well as access controls — including for log-in (e.g–dual factor authentication) and for screening (conflicted attorneys, non-participating attorneys and staff) users from particular matters.  There are also methods individual users can apply to increase the security of law firm data stored in the cloud, including the selection of strong passwords and the use of pre-encryption techniques.  Reaching a reasonably secure use of cloud products, then, is a matter of thoroughly vetting potential providers and effecting additional, personal security measures, as appropriate.

Good, I’m glad we cleared that up.

Once a law firm has appropriately mourned its deceased server, and after said law firm begins to feel comfortable about making the jump to the cloud, the real fun begins.  Now, a decision must be made about which products to buy.  Most law firms (rightly, I think) will start (and end) with a cloud-based case management program, which could serve as a holistic solution for the running of the majority of law firm tasks and as a retention center for all law firm data.  A productivity software would sync with a case management system, across a number of functions.  Some case management products feature document automation and management tools; but, law firms could opt to utilize standalone programs in each regard.  As I recently wrote about at Attorney at Work, there are a lot of choices for building out a law firm technology platform — and, law firms can choose to try to utilize a complete system, or select a collection of constituent parts that will play well together.  No matter what array the law firm ultimately chooses, there is a cloud-based product, or products, that will suit the need.

See, now that wasn’t so bad, was it?

Your server dying was not an end, but a beginning.

(Of course, if your law firm does retain a server, you don’t have to wait for it to die, before you make the switch to the cloud.  Just sayin’.)

Liner Notes

‘The End’ by The Beatles

But, not really.