ABA-Ready IT.BEC-Proof. 477R-Aligned.
Veteran-owned managed IT built for Oregon law firms. ABA Formal Opinion 477R alignment, Oregon RPC 1.6 confidentiality controls, encrypted email for sensitive matters, and the BEC procedures that prevent the wire-fraud event during a real-estate or settlement transaction.
No commitment. No upsell. Month-to-month if we work together.
Aligned with the frameworks your industry expects
In Plain English
The rules of professional responsibility ask lawyers to take reasonable steps to protect client information. Cyber-insurance carriers ask for the same thing in different words. Both come down to a handful of practical decisions about email, file storage, identity, backup, and what happens if a paralegal gets a convincing phishing email at exactly the wrong moment.
We have built that operational baseline for law firms before. We know the practice-management platforms, the encryption tools, and the wire-fraud pattern that hits real-estate closings and settlement transfers. We bring a 60-minute call, a one-page report on where you stand against your obligations, and a recommendation that names the next three things to fix in priority order. There is no obligation after the call.
The point of working with us is that you stop having to think about this. You hire one team to handle the IT, the security posture, the cyber-insurance renewal questionnaire, and the procedures that prevent the wire-fraud loss during a closing. You spend your time on the matter. We handle the rest.
What We Cover for Solo, Small, and Mid-Size Firms
The vertical-specific work, included by default, not as upsells.
ABA Formal Opinion 477R
The competence-and-confidentiality baseline for lawyer cybersecurity. We map your environment to it: phishing-resistant MFA, encryption, vendor due diligence, training, incident response.
Oregon RPC 1.6 Confidentiality
Reasonable measures to prevent inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of client information. We document the controls, the access reviews, and the matter-folder permissions inheritance.
BEC Defense for Transactions
The wire-fraud-during-real-estate pattern is the dominant breach vector for small firms. Out-of-band verification of every wire instruction change, banner injection on external mail, and impersonation-protection tuned for legal-domain spoofing.
Encrypted Email and Secure Channels
S/MIME, Microsoft Purview Message Encryption, or Egress/Virtru for sensitive client communication. A documented policy for what gets encrypted and when.
Practice-Management Integration
Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther, Smokeball, NetDocuments, iManage. SSO configuration, matter-centric folder provisioning, LawPay integration, data-flow review across cloud services.
Cyber-Liability Attestation
We complete the carrier questionnaire because we run the controls. Cleaner renewals, fewer surprises, lower premium escalation at every cycle.
Common Questions
What does ABA Formal Opinion 477R require for cybersecurity?
ABA Formal Opinion 477R, issued in 2017 and reaffirmed in subsequent opinions, holds that lawyers have a duty under Rules 1.1 (competence) and 1.6 (confidentiality) to use reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized access to client information. The opinion does not mandate specific tools but requires lawyers to make a reasonable evaluation of the technology they use, consider the sensitivity of the information at hand, and put appropriate safeguards in place. In practice that means encryption, access controls, vendor due diligence, and incident response planning at a level proportionate to the matter.
Are law firms required to use encrypted email?
There is no flat federal mandate, but the combination of ABA 477R, state bar opinions in most jurisdictions, client engagement letters, and cyber-insurance policy conditions effectively makes encryption the standard of care for sensitive communications in 2026. Routine non-sensitive email may not require encryption; client communications involving privileged matters, financial information, health information, or settlement terms generally should.
What is the most common cybersecurity incident affecting law firms?
Business email compromise (BEC) and phishing-driven account takeover. The 2024 ABA TechReport found that the leading cause of confirmed firm-side breaches was a compromised user account, typically obtained via phishing, often used to redirect wire-transfer funds during a real-estate or settlement transaction. Ransomware is the second most disruptive but BEC happens far more often.
What practice management software do most small firms use?
For small US firms in 2026 the dominant practice-management options are Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther, and Smokeball. Document management at the small-firm level often runs on top of Microsoft 365 / SharePoint with structured folder taxonomies, with NetDocuments and iManage common at mid-size and larger firms. The right choice depends on practice area, integration needs (LawPay, Outlook, document automation), and how much courtroom and intake automation the firm needs.
How does cyber insurance affect a law firm IT decision?
Significantly. Cyber-liability carriers underwriting law firms in 2026 require attestations on MFA enforcement, endpoint detection, backup separation, email filtering, and incident response procedures. A firm that cannot truthfully answer "yes" to those questions either cannot get coverage or pays substantially more. A managed IT provider familiar with legal-vertical underwriting can build the technical posture that makes the renewal go cleanly.
Ready for a 60-Minute Assessment?
Bring your current setup, your concerns, and your renewal timeline. We will return a one-page gap analysis. No commitment, no upsell.
Get a 477R Gap Analysis