Direct Answer
Disaster recovery is the plan and technology used to restore a law firm’s data and technology systems after a disaster such as a fire, flood, or data deletion.
Having backups is an important part of disaster recovery, but a backup by itself is not a recovery plan.
A law firm also needs to know:
- What systems and data must be recovered
- Which systems need to be restored first
- How quickly they need to be available
- Where the firm will recover them from
- Who is responsible for the recovery
- Whether the recovery process has been tested
The goal is to get the firm operating again.
Why This Matters
A law firm’s technology can become unavailable because of ransomware, hardware failure, fire, flooding, accidental deletion, data corruption, or another serious disruption.
When that happens, attorneys and employees may lose access to client files, email, calendars, billing systems, and other technology they depend on.
A disaster recovery plan establishes how those systems and data will be restored and which systems should be recovered first.
Editor’s Insight
If our systems went down today, what would it take to get the firm working again?
What Should a Law Firm Include in a Disaster Recovery Plan?
1. Identify the Technology the Firm Cannot Operate Without
Start by identifying the systems and information the firm depends on.
Depending on the firm, these may include:
- Client files and documents
- Practice management software
- Document management systems
- Servers
- Microsoft 365 or other cloud services
- Accounting and billing systems
- Other applications essential to daily operations
Not every system has the same priority. The firm should know which systems need to be restored first.
2. Make Sure Critical Data Is Properly Backed Up
Backups are an essential part of disaster recovery.
The firm should know what is being backed up, how frequently backups occur, where they are stored, and whether the backup could be affected by the same incident that damages the original data.
Cloud-based systems should also be evaluated to determine what data needs additional backup protection.
Backup provides another copy of the data. Disaster recovery provides a plan for getting the firm’s data and systems back into operation.
3. Determine How Quickly Critical Systems Need to Be Restored
Some systems may need to be restored quickly, while others can wait.
The firm should determine how long it can operate without each critical system and how much recent data it could afford to lose.
IT professionals refer to these as:
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO): How quickly a system needs to be restored.
- Recovery Point Objective (RPO): The point in time the firm can afford to roll back to after a disaster, or the maximum acceptable data loss.
These decisions help determine the backup and recovery technology the firm needs.
4. Know How the Firm Will Recover if Its Equipment or Office Is Unavailable
A disaster may affect more than the firm’s data.
A server can fail. Computers can be damaged. A ransomware attack may require systems to be rebuilt. A fire or flood could make the office inaccessible.
The disaster recovery plan should address how employees will regain access to the technology and information they need if the normal equipment or location cannot be used.
5. Test the Recovery Process Before There Is a Disaster
A successful backup does not prove that the firm can recover from it.
Recovery testing can determine:
- Whether the data can actually be restored
- Whether the restored data is usable
- Whether the recovery process works as expected
- How long recovery takes
Testing can identify problems while there is still time to correct them.
Two Questions We Hear
If we have cloud backups, do we still need a disaster recovery plan?
Yes.
A backup protects the firm’s data, but the firm still needs to know how that data will be restored, what technology will be required to access it, which systems should be restored first, and how long recovery may take.
Is disaster recovery the same as business continuity?
No.
Disaster recovery focuses on restoring the firm’s technology and data after a disruption. Business continuity addresses how the firm will continue operating while its normal systems, office, or other resources are unavailable.
A law firm needs both.
How Avenue M Helps
Avenue M Computers has provided IT and cybersecurity services to law firms in New York since 2010.
We help law firms identify critical systems and data, implement backup and recovery solutions, monitor backups, test recovery, and prepare for technology failures before they become emergencies.
Three Key Takeaways
- Having a backup is not the same as having a disaster recovery plan.
- A law firm should know what technology must be restored, what gets restored first, and how quickly critical systems need to be available.
- Recovery procedures should be tested before the firm has to depend on them during an actual emergency.
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- What Should Every Law Firm Include in an Incident Response Plan?
- What Are the Biggest IT Mistakes Law Firms Make That Can Lead to Ransomware?
- What Happens During a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment?
- What Technology Does a Law Firm Need to Support Remote and Hybrid Work?
Technology should help your law firm practice law more securely, efficiently, and confidently, not become another distraction.
