A look at IT support for law firms in Washington DC and its effect on the legal profession
IT support for law firms in Washington DC is not part of the legal requirements for attorneys to set up law firms. However, business acumen of any partner in a law firm should show that it is high time the legal profession assuaged itself from the lingering doubts of whether or not IT will one day replace lawyers. Law firms around Washington DC need to recalibrate their view on IT and embrace it as a matter of urgency. There are a number of reasons as to why IT support for law firms in Washington DC is a plus to the legal profession at large.
First, IT support for law firms in Washington DC provides lawyers with the means to safeguard the important duty of confidentiality. This is the case for law firms that have an online presence already. IT support ensures that a good firewall is created around the law firm’s website so that information that is available on the site is not easily compromised. Law firms by nature hold very sensitive information and if the site is breached a lot of what should not be in the public domain may come out. This is what happened in the Panama files incident where the website of the law firm of Mossack Fonseca was breached and the financial records totaling to millions in numbers were posted online. An updated IT support for law firms should help reduce such incidents
Secondly, IT support for law firms in Washington DC enables lawyers to cultivate fresh opportunities for their business right from their offices. By possessing the most relevant software applications for lawyers, attorneys can exploit opportunities that get advertised through different online mediums to find clients and win contracts. This may include bidding for tenders or simply availing services to organizations that may be in need of legal services. Any law firm in Washington which lacks IT support may find it difficult to hunt for these kinds of opportunities and its service clients may be limited thus preventing any possibility of expansions.
Further, IT support for law firms in Washington DC enables the law firms to keep pace with the changing nature of the law. Previously, it was easy to simply move into a law library and assume that information in there was what was final and accurate regarding a particular subject or precedent. But right now the number of online publications has outstripped the number of books produced for libraries. Legal citations can now be used from online sources which was not the case in previous years. Precedents are first posted in the Washington DC Court judiciary website before they are availed in libraries. Therefore, it becomes much beneficial if a law firm has the relevant IT support.
Finally, IT support for law firms in Washington DC comes in handy for those law firms with an interest in undertaking international law. Note that the legal regime is now constituted in such a way that international courts can live stream their proceedings for the benefit of all. As such, law firms engaged in international arbitration need IT services to effect service of documents upon the opposing counsel or even file documents. This is allowed as long as proper paper work in form of affidavit of service is availed. It reduces operation cost on the law firm and client and this in turn makes the legal service fee affordable.