Direct Answer
A law firm should use a documented onboarding and offboarding process every time an employee joins, changes roles, or leaves the firm.
Before a new employee starts, the firm should prepare the computer, email account, multi-factor authentication, applications, and only the permissions required for that employee’s job. When an employee leaves, access to email, files, cloud applications, remote access, and firm devices should be removed promptly and the firm’s data preserved.
Why This Matters
Employees accumulate access to email, client files, practice-management software, cloud applications, and other firm systems.
Without a consistent process, a new employee may receive too much access, while a departing employee may retain access after leaving.
Onboarding and offboarding are both IT and security processes.
Editor’s Insight
Access should follow the employee’s role, not the employee. The IT company must be kept in the loop on all personnel changes.
How Should a Law Firm Onboard and Offboard Employees?
1. Give Each Employee the Right Access
For a new employee:
- Create an individual user account
- Configure multi-factor authentication
- Set up email
- Prepare and secure the computer
- Grant only the files and applications required for the employee’s job
- Avoid shared accounts wherever possible
For a departing employee:
- Disable the employee’s account
- Remove remote access
- Revoke active sessions
- Recover firm-owned computers, phones, and other devices
- Remove access to cloud applications and other systems
Main point: The IT provider must be involved in any personnel changes.
2. Protect Client and Firm Information
The onboarding process should establish who is authorized to access confidential information.
The offboarding process should verify that:
- Former employees no longer have access to client information
- Firm data remains under the firm’s control
- Devices containing firm information are returned
- Permissions are changed when an employee changes roles
Main point: Give employees only the access they need for their role, and remove that access when their role changes or employment ends.
3. Have Everything Ready Before the Employee Starts
Prepare the employee’s technology before the first day:
- Computer
- Applications
- Phone access
- Printers
- File permissions
- Practice-management software
- Remote access, when needed
The employee should not spend the first day waiting for accounts, passwords, or equipment.
For departures, IT should know in advance when access needs to end so account shutdown is coordinated with management.
Main point: Onboarding should be planned in advance so the employee can begin working without last-minute scrambling or avoidable delays.
4. Preserve the Firm’s Information
When an employee leaves, disabling access is only part of the job.
The firm should determine what happens to:
- Documents
- Client files
- Contacts
- Calendar information
- Locally stored data
- Firm-owned devices
Necessary business information should be preserved and transferred to the appropriate person before accounts or devices are deleted or repurposed.
Main point: Offboarding must protect the firm’s data as well as remove the former employee’s access.
5. Use a Repeatable Process
As a law firm grows, informal onboarding becomes harder to manage.
A written checklist should identify:
- Who notifies IT about a new hire or departure
- What information IT needs
- Which systems need to be added or removed
- Who approves access
- When access should begin or end
- Who confirms that the process was completed
The same process should be used when an employee changes roles.
Main point: A repeatable process helps the firm add employees without missing steps and causing unnecessary delays.
A Real-World Example
In a real incident involving an insurance company, an accountant was terminated without the IT company being informed.
The former accountant later logged in remotely and deleted the QuickBooks file containing the work he had previously done for the company.
The incident shows why offboarding cannot be treated as an administrative formality. The IT company must know about a termination in time to remove access before the employee leaves.
Two Questions We Hear
How soon should IT be notified when an employee is leaving?
IT should know before the employee’s final day so that access can be terminated, firm information preserved, and firm equipment recovered.
For an involuntary termination, management and IT need to coordinate the timing so access is removed at the appropriate moment.
What should happen when an employee changes roles but stays with the firm?
The employee’s access should be reviewed just as it would be for a new hire.
New permissions may need to be added, but access that is no longer required should also be removed. Otherwise, employees can gradually accumulate access that no longer corresponds to their responsibilities.
How Avenue M Helps
Avenue M helps law firms create a documented repeatable process for onboarding, offboarding, and employee role changes.
That can include:
- Preparing computers and user accounts before employees start
- Configuring email, MFA, security, and required applications
- Applying approved access permissions
- Coordinating account shutdowns and device recovery
- Preserving or transferring firm data when employees leave
- Maintaining a repeatable onboarding and offboarding process
The goal is to make personnel changes predictable for the firm while reducing the risk of missed access, equipment, or security steps.
Three Key Takeaways
- The IT provider must be informed before employees are onboarded or offboarded. Offboarding is especially critical because former employees may retain access if IT is not notified.
- Offboarding should remove access promptly while preserving the firm’s email, files, and other business information.
- A documented process helps prevent missed steps when employees join, leave, or change roles.
Related Articles
- Why Is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Essential for Law Firms?
- Why Should Law Firms Use a Password Manager?
- How Often Should Law Firms Conduct Cybersecurity Awareness Training?
- What Technology Does a Law Firm Need to Support Remote and Hybrid Work?
- How Can a Law Firm Protect Client Confidentiality and Comply With ABA Cybersecurity Obligations?
Technology should help your law firm practice law more securely, efficiently, and confidently, not become another distraction.
