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Want to Assure Your Firm's Future? Plan for Disaster

By Ed Poll
January 30, 2008

Planning for a disaster is one of the most specialized, most overlooked, and most vital business-strategy endeavors. 'Disaster' can come in many forms, any of which can mean the demise of a law firm. The goal of disaster planning is making a recovery that ensures the survival of the firm. If, as a lawyer or a law firm, you think planning for disaster recovery is a luxury you can ill afford in a time of increasing cost and profitability pressure, think again. Considerable research suggests that you are actually jeopardizing your future through unpreparedness. The U.S. Department of Labor, for example, says most companies that experience a major disaster are out of business within five years, because only 25% of companies have a disaster plan.

There are two types of law firms: those that have experienced a disaster, and those that will. 'Disaster' for a law firm is not a question of 'if,' but rather of 'when.' The only unknowns are what type of disaster, when it will occur, and how devastating it will be. A catastrophic storm or disease epidemic are disasters, but so, too, are burst water pipes that destroy vital property or files, or a computer system meltdown to the unprepared.

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