WebComputing -- I want to Believe but...

Guest post from Chistopher McKinney. Christopher McKinney practices employment discrimination and personal injury law from his offices in San Antonio, Texas. He maintains two legal blogs: The San Antonio Injury Law Blog and The HR Lawyer's Blog.

Chris' story is a prime example of how a professional service provider, such as a lawyer, can provide quality service to their clients and not even be in a brick and mortar office. Two providers of excellent law office specific web based applications are Rocket Matter and VLOtech. Both provide very distinct options which allow you to operate your office online and virtually.

Guest post by Chris McKinney:

I often get questions from lawyers who know that I am a long-time user of a web-based case management system. This is sometimes referred to as Software as a Service ("SaaS") or "Cloud Computer" b/c your data does not primarily reside on a local drive but is up in the clouds as it were b/c it is stored on the internet.

Recently, I responded to a message board inquiry regarding a new entry into this area called Rocket Matter. Rocket Matter ("RM") is a web-based application designed to be utilized for case management by attorneys. My response did not deal with RM specifically b/c I have not yet had an opportunity to look at that product. Instead I addressed some of the issues involved with using a web-based case management system more generally.

RE: WebComputing - I Want to Believe but . . .

I have not tried Rocket Matter but I have been using a web-based planning and collaboration tool called Basecamp for a couple of years now with great success. RM is (from what I can tell) similar in concept to Basecamp [however Basecamp is] not specifically designed for law practices. I have been following RM with great interest but will probably wait until there is a larger critical mass of users and opinions regarding the service before I consider moving my data over. I think that all of the concerns voiced in this thread about web-basedapplications are important but addressable.

Data Security and Ethical Concerns Regarding Storing Client Data Off-Site

Several of you have raised concerns regarding whether it is safe to store client data "in the cloud" and have also raised the additional concern that it may be a violation of bar ethics rules to do so.

I am not aware of any specific bar rules in the jurisdictions I practice in forbidding off-site data storage. I think the touchstone has to be taking all reasonable steps to ensure the security of client data regardless of where it is stored. My client data is all encrypted and stored on my own server space that I maintain through a server provider. While the Base-camp web application manipulates my data, all client documents are stored on server space that I own. Thus, should Basecamp go out of business overnight, my client's data will still all be accessible and secure. I think this largely addresses the security and ethical issues at issue.

As for data loss risk, using the Basecamp SaaS actually acts as another form of data back up for my firm. We upload all important documents into Basecamp so that our clients have access to them. This is our primary form of document delivery to clients. We also use the system for scheduling and messaging. The calendar system spins off an iCal feed, which can be loaded into iCal, Google Calendar, or any other number of local calendar programs. The message board spins off emails that are sent to local email boxes and essentially archived in that manner. All documents were of course originally on our local hard drives before they were uploaded to Basecamp. As an additional back up, we leave those copies on our internal server. This server is then backed up hourly in-house and backed up regularly to a third offsite hard drive). Thus all of our data resides both locally and in at least two off-site locations. We feel this is as secure as we reasonably can be from a data standpoint.

Resistance to "Cloud Computing"

Many of you also expressed a general feeling that so-called cloud computing is somehow less efficient or not as sophisticated as using a dedicated application on your personal computer. I think this is largely just resistance to something new. I truly believe that the keeping of data "in the cloud" is the future of computing. But like anything, it is a paradigm shift that will take time for some to get used to.

Having made the shift myself, I now believe that it is a better way of doing things both from an efficiency and a data security standpoint. I now think that being tied to any particular computer b/c it has all of my software and data stored on its C drive would be far riskier than having your data securely stored in multiple "cloud" locations. Carrying your data around in a laptop that can be stolen is, to my way of thinking, a much greater risk.

I travel with a laptop but it does not contain any client data. When I am ready to work, I log into my systems from whatever computer I happen to be near and my law office becomes available to me. At this moment I am in a coffee shop in Austin (I office in San Antonio) following a meeting with a client. I just finished logging in and discovering that I needed to immediately file a motion in another case with the federal court in San Antonio. So downloaded the files I needed, pasted together a .pdf and e-filed the document. When I log out, all the data will be left up "in the cloud" and my laptop will no longer contain any client data at risk of being stolen. My staff in San Antonio already has access to what I did and the client has received notice and a link to download the .pdf of the filing. All of this happened automatically within our Basecamp system. I don't have to worry about getting this particular hard drive back to my office to sync it up or anything like that.

So long story short (I know, too late) my opinion is that the concerns people have regarding web-based software can be addressed adequately and the benefits to such a system are very real. I look forward to getting a look at RM sometime in the future.

Comments

[Christopher McKinney]

The server space is not through Basecamp. It is through MediaTemple. They also host some of my websites. You have the option of hosting your files on your own site or on Basecamp's servers.

[Mark Doty]

Basecamp question. You state " While the Base-camp web application manipulates my data, all client documents are stored on server space that I own. " Can you explain the mechanics of a little more? Is the server space through Basecamp or someone else? Sounds very interesting and I know this will be an issue I have to overcome to get my partner on board.