Are any or all these items among your law firm’s primary business objectives for the months ahead? Increasing your turnover; enhancing your brand; improving your efficiency; and future proofing your firm. If your online presence isn’t directly contributing to your law firm’s success, then you are missing out on an opportunity that your competitors will be readying themselves to take advantage of. During this time of unprecedented change in the legal sector, you need to be more visible, instantly appealing, and shouting from the roof tops about how you offer a different, better, service than your competition.

Law firms hold a wealth of sensitive information, all of which will be subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will apply in the UK from 25 May 2018. Specifically, article 5 of the GDPR requires that personal data shall be “processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures”. This blog highlights five risk areas for law firms when it comes to ensuring that IT systems are secure enough to meet your firm’s obligations under article 5.

The past year of the uncertain and unknown has led to a property market that is flat-lining. The Prime Minister’s pitch to the electorate is “strong and stable” leadership during a period of Brexit negotiations. But the present reality is a stagnant but stable market. And the election, at least in the short term, is adding to the uncertainty. Could the result mean a time of opportunity and growth is just around the corner? Or just another bump in the long-term trend? What could the election mean for the property market?

Increasingly, we find ourselves speaking with law firms that have an in-house marketing resource, albeit in many cases that in-house resource is limited to one or two individuals. Coming from an in-house law firm marketing background myself, I find it heartening that law firms are recognising the value of having in-house marketing support during these times of unprecedented change in the profession. However, not every firm has the budget to hire half a dozen or more marketers, each with niche expertise in a particular area, to cover every need and eventuality. Many law firms will try and get around this issue by hiring a general ‘all-rounder’.

On average, 4,000 ransomware attacks occurred per day in 2016, according to a report from the FBI. Diving deeper, ransomware attacks on businesses have become more frequent as well. Between January and September 2016, ransomware attacks on business increased from once every two minutes to once every 40 seconds, according to Kaspersky. Over the last 12 months, the levels of cyber activity continue to increase month on month, as have the sophistication of attacks, but in just the four days after the WannaCry attack, the volumes of malicious activity increased 400% over the previous month.