Solo Practice

Building an Extranet

By Garrett Worley

Making a productive use of downtime has always been a challenge. Laptops, wireless internet and the Blackberry (to name a few) have improved the situation a bit, but if you’re unable to access important files while you’re away from the office, your hands are tied. A secure extranet allows attorneys to access files from anywhere there is an internet connection. Once feared, extranets now offer more security than paper files. (Banks use secure extranets to provide account information to their customers and corporations routinely use secure extranets to share sensitive information with business partners.)

The use of secure extranets isn’t new to the legal community. Holland & Hart built its extranet in 1998 at the urging of John C. Tredennick, Jr. A decade later, using an extranet in legal practice is far from a radical idea–it is widely viewed as offering the practitioner a significant competitive advantage. While the technology was initially used to manage complex litigation that required cooperation between numerous parties, extranets are increasingly being used by solo and small firm practitioners to leverage their practices.

Aside from providing access to files when an attorney is away from the office, secure extranets are also an excellent way to communicate with clients. Clients can simply log on and monitor the progress on their matter in real time. This potentially saves the attorney the trouble having to return numerous phone calls to provide updates and answer routine questions. It also increases client satisfaction because the client doesn’t feel kept in the dark.

While an extranet itself is not an end-all solution, it goes a long way towards streamlining your practice. For more information on extranets for law practices, visit Catalyst Repository Systems, the company founded by John C. Tredennick, Jr.

Full post as published by Garrett Worley's Blawg on January 20, 2008 (boomark / email).