The Cloud and the Small Law Firm: Business, Ethics and Privilege Considerations
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REPORT
The Cloud and the Small Law Firm: Business, Ethics and Privilege Considerations
A Report of the Small Law Firm Committee of the New York City Bar Association
Introduction
Not so long ago, maintaining the information and research materials of a law firm required lots of space and, therefore, a great deal of cash. That function demanded endless shelf space, which was a seemingly insatiable demand as the practice grew. Client letters, case documents, memoranda and case notes multiplied faster than a colony of rabbits. The library usually needed its own room. Business development, too, required printing and publication of promotional materials. And – all this paper had to be mailed, shipped, couriered or hand delivered, adding more investment in staff and outside service costs. Further, organization of all that paper was its own nightmare, giving lawyers many sleepless nights concerned that a critical client document was misfiled or lost.
Then, in what seemed to be an answer to prayer, came the Internet Age. Suddenly, it seemed a relief to just store and transmit documents electronically. Tools like email, dedicated servers hosting multiple workstations, ECF (electronic case filing) and VPN (virtual private networking) made lawyers and their staffs capable of communicating with clients, courts and their offices from just about anywhere. Files were accessible from a person’s desk, rather than down the hall in huge file rooms. Legal research through Westlaw™, Lexis™, or Fastcase™ became feasible, reducing the need for huge onsite libraries. It seemed great – but it came with the cost of new hardware-intensive technologies and steep learning curves. The expense of space was replaced with the costs of hardware and software training; IT departments replaced librarians and file clerks. For small firms, particularly, these costs were astronomical, if not utterly prohibitive. There had to be a better way, but where?
And then, this new prayer seemed to be answered; THE ‘CLOUD’ BURST FORTH! Even more suddenly than the explosion of Internet use, Cloud services providers appeared, eager to store all that information remotely, in the Cloud, and give lawyers (and others) the ability to access their and their clients’ data from anywhere, just like before, but without the lawyers investing in IT staff, huge data storage rooms, or private networks. Providers also began offering document management, office organization and other Internet-based software platforms that purport to solve the organizational issues with applications that are intuitive and easy for the lawyer to set up and manage.
