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If your firm has six or more employees who have their own workstations, it might be in the best interest of security and convenience for you to purchase a company server.

A server gives you a central repository for important documents and programs that are used by everyone in the firm. For lawyers and their staff, that could include codes of conduct, calendars, non-confidential case or client information and contact information.

A recent American Bar Association telephone seminar hosted by James Johnson (solo practitioner and chairman of the Mobile, Ala. Bar Association Law), Britt Lorish Knuttgen (the president of Automated Horizons, Inc., a legal technology consulting firm in Roanoke, Va.)  and Nerino Petro (practice management advisor for the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Law Practice Management Assistance Program) touched on the crucial issues to consider in making this costly but useful purchase:

• Be sure to add a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) card or RAID array to your server. This acts as a backup – it consists of several hard drives that duplicate and protect server data in the event one of the drives fails.

• To ensure the best performance, make sure the server and workstations are connected to the 10/100 switch (like an ethernet hub), or whatever the fastest switch is that your infrastructure can support. Confirm that all of the network cards in your workstations are compatible with the switch.

• If your workstations consist mainly of wireless computers, such as laptops, invest in a secure and powerful router. Always use passwords to protect the Internet connection and access to the server. For safety reasons, it might be best to physically unplug any wireless routers that are not being used.

• Before doing anything, consult with an IT professional to ensure that all the devices related to the server are hooked up properly and safely.

Click here to read a related article, “How to save thousands on technology for your firm.”

Questions or comments can be directed to the writer at: justin.rebello@lawyersusaonline.com

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