Our regular hours are Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm MT. For emergencies we are 24/7 on the same number, and it is always answered by a person. Call (604) 813-7881 and ask Tony for your free 30-minute insurer readiness review. No pressure, no jargon.
Law firm downtime: when the system is down before a deadline
The afternoon before a filing deadline, the server stops responding
A missed limitation date is not an IT ticket. It is a claim. We cannot promise nothing will ever fail, but we can help you decide, in advance, how long is too long.
Ask Tony for a free 30-minute insurer readiness review.
What you can count on
- Under 2 hrsto restore a failed server from local backups
- 30 days lockedbackups no one can delete early, not even us
- 24/7a person answers (604) 813-7881
What happens
Illustrative, not a client story. This is a made-up sketch, built from public notices and guidance. It is not about a Benson Hunt client.
It is the afternoon before a filing deadline. The server that holds the matter database and the calendar stops responding. The internet is fine and email is fine, but the calendar, the documents and the draft all live on the one machine.
Someone wonders whether last night’s backup has the latest draft. Someone else asks who has the password for the server. The person who usually looks after the IT is away.
Most of the stress comes from questions nobody has asked yet: how long can we be down, how much work can we lose, and who does what first?
The public sources behind this sketch
- The Law Society of BC’s December 2020 notice describes a firm locked out of its computers, client lists, email and accounting files. Read the notice
- ALIA lists business interruption among the things its universal cyber program does not cover, which is worth knowing when you think about what a day of downtime would cost. ALIA cyber program
- The Law Society of Alberta’s software considerations mention calendar and limitation tracking, and reaching the calendar from a phone, as things to think about when choosing practice software. Software considerations
Where your dates live
Calendar, matter file and documents, often on one machine.
What they depend on
Internet, server and software. Any one can stop the day.
A plan on paper
Who to call, what to open first, and what can wait.
Why it happens
In plain words, and with nobody to blame.
One of everything
One server, one internet line, one copy of the calendar, one person who knows the passwords. Any one of them can stop the day.
Nobody wrote down how long is too long
Email, the calendar, documents and trust accounting do not all matter equally. Without a target for each, recovery has no order.
A backup is not a plan
A backup is a copy. A plan says who restores what, in which order, and how the firm works in the meantime.
What fixes it
We cannot promise zero downtime, and anyone who does is guessing. What we can do is build a setup with more ways back, and help you answer the questions that matter before something fails.
- Hyper-V with at least 2 virtual servers. Servers are files, so they can be backed up as a whole and restored onto other hardware, which gives you more options than rebuilding a physical server. One domain controller is our usual setup for firms that can handle a few hours of downtime, backed by tested restores. If you cannot afford any downtime, we offer a second one. Your call, and we explain the trade-off up front. Hyper-V for law firms
- RAID, but not as a backup. RAID keeps a server running when a drive fails. RAID 10 for virtual machine storage is standard in our builds, set up with standard ITIL change and configuration practice. How RAID 10 works
- 3-2-1 backups with an offsite copy. Three copies, two kinds of storage, one offsite, held in Canada, in Vancouver, BC. We do spot checks on multiple copies of the backups and a yearly disaster recovery test. Restores run as fast as the backup storage allows. A backup is only real once a test restore has proven it works.
- Layer 3 PoE switches and VLANs. We recommend them, and we can set them up. A problem on a printer or a guest phone stays in its lane instead of reaching the matter database.
- Patching, and Huntress Managed EDR on every computer we manage. We recommend a weekly patching schedule. Fewer surprise days. Alerts go by email and SMS to our team, 24/7.
- A person on the phone. Our emergency line, (604) 813-7881, is answered by a person 24/7.
If something fails: questions we ask you
We help you answer these now, in writing, so that nobody is working it out on the day.
How long can the firm be down?
This is your recovery time. Email, the calendar, documents and trust accounting may each have a different answer, and we ask about each one.
How much work can you lose?
This is your recovery point. If you had to go back to last night’s copy, what would be lost, and could it be redone?
What can fail, and what happens
- The server. Your matter, document and calendar systems run on it. A restore onto other hardware takes time, and we want you to know roughly how much before you need it.
- The internet. Cloud tools, email and banking stop. We can include a second internet link with the build for firms whose work depends on it, where the building allows. Ask us what fits.
- The power. We can include a UPS (battery backup) with the build. It gives the server time to shut down cleanly and rides through short dips.
- The calendar. Where are your limitation dates kept, and is there a second copy you can read if the system is down, such as on a phone?
- The people. Who knows the passwords, who calls us, and who tells the people who need to know?
Why it matters, in plain words
The tech behind this page, and why it’s there. See all the plain guides.
Hyper-V
Why one dead server shouldn’t stop the firm
On Hyper-V, the server is a set of files that can come back on other hardware. Restores from local storage have taken less than 2 hours.
RAID 10
Why two healthy drives still aren’t a backup
RAID 10 keeps the server running when a drive dies. It also copies a mistake or ransomware to every drive instantly.
Immutable backups
Why ransomware goes after the firm’s backups first
Without backups, the firm has to pay or rebuild. Our copies are locked for 30 days, and no one, not even us, can delete them early.
Downtime questions we hear
Can you promise we will never be down?
No. Hardware fails and some work still needs a planned window. We can shorten recovery and make it more predictable, and we explain the trade-offs up front.
Do we need a second domain controller?
Not always. One is our usual setup for firms that can handle a few hours of downtime, backed by tested restores. If you cannot afford any downtime, we offer a second one. Your call.
Do you offer a UPS and a second internet link?
Yes, we can include both with the build, and we recommend them for firms whose work stops without them. What fits depends on your firm and your building, so ask us what makes sense for yours.
What should we do first when the system goes down?
Call us on (604) 813-7881. A person answers 24/7 for emergencies. Then let the lawyers know which deadlines are close, so they can decide what to protect first.