Where Law Firm Partners And IT Pros Differ On Cybersecurity

A recent survey conducted by Above the Law in partnership with iManage dug into how attorneys and law firm leadership think about and address potential cybersecurity concerns. 

Read on to discover more about what attorneys are saying about the state of cybersecurity in the legal industry, or click here to download the full report.

Partners and IT Staff May Differ

The responses gathered in this survey focus on what individuals working in law firms — including IT team members — deem most important to maintaining their firms’ cybersecurity. 

One interesting discontinuity appeared between the opinions of law firm partners and counsel and those of their IT teams regarding how important it is to monitor user activity to flag odd behavior.

While partners and counsel rated this measure a 4.0 on a scale from one to five, IT staff rated the measure a 3.0 and favored a focus on antivirus and malware protection and other less user observation-based measures.

Clients Are Focused on Security

With remote and hybrid working arrangements remaining popular among attorneys (and especially with associates), law firms have had to adjust their security practices to account for lawyers using their unsecured home networks.

Clients seem aware of the potential risks that come with the often sensitive work attorneys are engaged in. 

The survey also found that the respondents believe security-focused clients are likely to perceive bigger firms as having more robust security measures in place — a perception that nearly all survey respondents agree gives an advantage to large firms over midsize and small firms.

Firms Are Concerned With Costs 

Costs associated with improving security capabilities emerged as a clear leader in terms of what survey respondents felt was the greatest barrier to addressing security challenges, with 37% of respondents ranking it first out of five possible answers. 

Closely following cost-related concerns across all rankings were the process of transitioning away from legacy applications and issues related to implementing the right new system.

Fill out the form below to download the full survey.