7 things every lawyer needs to know about backups

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No. 1:
Forward-thinking lawyers back up.

OK, the pun is lame — but the idea is indispensable.

“So much of your important information is now on your computer,” says attorney Jeff Krause, of Krause Practice Management in Watertown. “You need to be able to recover things quickly and easily.”

No. 2:
The best backup method is…
whatever works for you.

Tape is the traditional method and is still used by many firms, says Krause. But tapes wear out and need to be replaced, and tape drives have many moving parts that can also break down.

Portable USB-connected hard drives work very well, he continues. If there are any drawbacks, the first is that the drives can be bulky, and second, portable drives sometimes don’t play well with backup software.

The best in-house system, in Krause’s opinion, is one of cartridge drives. These are small hard drives not much bigger than a tape that fit in a tape-size unit. They’re more compact than bulky portable drives, and are more reliable than tape. The Dell RD1000 is his preferred example, available for $249 at Dell.com.

He continues, if you’re going to go this route, invest in the right backup software. A product like Symantec’s Backup Exec manages the backup process, does a system backup, and backs up open files — while a simple copy to a portable drive will not — and can back up specific systems like an important database. Most backup software included with a portable drive won’t do these things.

Finally, there’s the Internet backup option. Sarit Singhal, president of Superior Support Resources Inc. in Brookfield, says remote backup services have come of age for the legal profession, as a simple and secure way to protect your data.

“Tapes and cartridges are a fine option at the mid-market level,” says Singhal. “The problem we’ve seen with them occasionally isn’t the hardware or software, but the people running it. Protocols aren’t always followed — for example, when the firm administrator goes on vacation and no one takes care of the backup in his or her absence.”

The cost of online services varies, depending upon the vendor and firm size, among other factors. At Superior, for medium-sized firms with their own servers, backups generally cost $1/gigabyte. The average small firm pays about $100/month for such services, while a solo pays about $50/month.

No. 3:
You need to test the system.

Whatever method you choose, the bare minimum should be a monthly restoration test, says Singhal. Restorations can be done at any time using an online system. The frequency of such test runs should be part of any vendor agreement, he adds.

No. 4:
Tapes, cartridges must be rotated.

One backup is not enough. You need a system that maintains backups for a period of time. Ideally, a rotation has at least a dozen backups: One for every workday of the past two weeks; one for the end of last month; and one for the end of the last year. This gives you multiple restore points. Krause explains that many times, a full-system restore is not necessary, because the problem is that a single critical document has been deleted. If an important document was deleted several days ago, it would still be deleted or overwritten on last night’s backup.

Having a number of older restore points gives you options. Also, you should make multiple copies — one to remain onsite, and one to be stored offsite — so if one copy is destroyed, you have another.

No. 5:
Perform a variety of backup types.

A “file backup” is made when you manually or automatically, using backup software, copy your data, such as Word documents and other computer files. File backups don’t produce working copies of your operating system and installed software programs, however.

Creating a file backup of your documents and databases is an admirable start, says Krause, but you need to think about backing up your entire system — otherwise known as “disk imaging” — in a way that can be quickly restored. If you only backup your documents, you can get them back, but you’d have to reinstall your server software and your entire network first. It’s preferable, obviously, to be able to restore both very quickly.

Another option is an “incremental backup,” which only copies new or changed files. This may be a wise idea for routine backups, in combination with capturing your entire computing environment occasionally. Be advised: A full backup takes longer.

No. 6:
You need to backup local files
and specific applications, too.

Most applications reside on a workstation, while the data resides on the server, says Krause. Sometimes, there’s also essential data on your workstation — or your assistant’s, or your law partner’s. For example, all of your e-mail and other data related to Outlook may reside in a PST file, or “Personal Storage Table,” on your local drive. Manually back up that file periodically and save to the server, so it’s on your daily backup and can be restored if your workstation fails.

In addition, many law-office applications allow you to do backups of the data in that application. This includes billing and case-management applications. Periodically, do a manual backup of that data as well. It’s sometimes easier to restore this file than it is to restore from your main backup, and often an application like this is open overnight, causing it to be missed in your main backup.

No. 7:
Weigh the risks and rewards of
traditional versus online backups.

Krause says he’s not completely sold on online backups, but is warming up to the idea and believes it’s the future of backups. For now, he does like its convenience; there’s nothing the lawyer has to do each day. Cost-wise, it’s a plus to have someone else make the hardware and software investment.

A minus, however, is you have to be OK with the notion that your confidential client data is traveling through cyberspace and being stored on someone else’s server, which might be unacceptable to the extremely risk-averse. It’s critical to engage in due diligence before you do this, cautions Krause. Review the security policies and procedures of the vendor, and do your research.

Singhal says his company has created a number of ways to safeguard the integrity and security of the data it backs up. They create encrypted tunnels for every client, and use a dual-password system, so that even if an intruder were to get access to Superior’s master backup, without a client’s unique password, he or she still could not see that client’s profile. Moreover, they use a dual-backup system, so that data is backed up at both the company office and a secure co-location, which is an ideal environment for computers because it is humidity-controlled, fireproof, etc.

For his part, attorney ethics expert Dean Dietrich, of Ruder Ware LLSC in Wausau, says there’s no Wisconsin authority that’s directly on point about the advisability of online backup.

As a general rule, however, SCR 20:5.3 states that lawyers have an obligation to ensure that the conduct of any nonlawyers associated with
them is compatible with the professional obligations of the lawyer. Thus, he sees no ethical issues with attorneys using these services, as long as there’s a confidentiality clause in the vendor agreement.
Dietrich notes he might have some concerns about outsourcing to the third-world. But, there are a number of reputable, local or at least U.S.-based providers from which to choose. And, if the choice boils down to using them, versus not backing up at all, he much prefers the former, from both an ethical and malpractice-avoidance standpoint.