IT for firms whose product is privilege.
Solicitor-client privilege is one breach away from a Law Society complaint. We build the IT layer that protects it — encryption, access control, audit-grade logging.
A leaked client matter is a regulatory event. We treat your matter management like the privileged data it is.
4UIT supports Ottawa law firms — sole practitioners through 40-lawyer practices — on stacks including PCLaw, Clio, ProLaw, Soluno, Cosmolex, NetDocuments and Worldox. Our default posture is encryption-first: data encrypted in transit, at rest, and on devices, with key management handled in a way that survives a stolen laptop and a Law Society audit equally.
What firms actually need
Document management that doesn't leak. Whether you're on NetDocs, iManage Cloud, Worldox or M365 + SharePoint, we configure permissions by matter, audit logs that retain the full access history, and DLP rules so sensitive client documents can't be emailed outside the firm without a deliberate action.
Time-and-billing without breakage. PCLaw, Clio, Soluno — all of them want particular SQL configurations, particular network paths, particular backup windows. We've seen most of the failure modes; we configure to avoid them, and we patch on a schedule that doesn't collide with month-end billing.
Email that survives social engineering. Wire-fraud impersonation targeting trust accounts is a documented Law Society risk. Our email gateway plus DMARC enforcement, plus mandatory MFA, plus user training on the wire-confirmation protocol, materially reduces it.
Discovery-grade backups. When a discovery request lands, your backup retention has to be defensible. We document retention policies the way litigation counsel would want them documented: in writing, dated, with chain-of-custody on each restore.
LSO & privilege
Our security stack is designed to satisfy the Law Society of Ontario's technology-competence expectations under Rule 3.1-2 and the Bencher decisions on cloud-storage of client data. Backups stay in Canadian-region cloud storage by default; documents stored offshore only with explicit firm consent and matter-level scoping.
The Ottawa specifics
Same-day on-site across downtown, the Glebe, ByWard, Kanata North, and Gatineau Hull. We have lawyers who use us; we know the rhythm of court days and filing deadlines. We don't schedule emergency maintenance for the day after a hearing.
Common questions.
Are you familiar with PCLaw or Clio specifically?
Yes — both are in active deployments across our customer base. PCLaw's SQL-Express edition has its quirks at scale; Clio's cloud model has its own. We're happy to walk through the firm-specific configuration on a brief.
What about cloud storage of client data — is that allowed?
The LSO permits cloud storage of client documents subject to professional judgement on confidentiality and (typically) Canadian residency. Our default is Canadian-region storage; offshore only with deliberate firm-level consent.
How do you handle wire-fraud risk on the trust account?
Layered: email gateway with impersonation detection, DMARC enforcement, MFA on all email accounts, banking access on a hardened workstation with separate credentials, and a documented call-back protocol on any wire instruction received by email. We help you write the protocol, train staff, and deploy the technical controls.
Can you support our existing IT person?
Often yes — we co-manage with internal IT for larger firms, taking the security and infrastructure layers while internal owns desktop and user-support. Quote depends on scope split.
What's discovery-grade backup retention?
Backup data retained for the period required by your firm's data-retention policy, with documented immutability, chain-of-custody on each restore, and the ability to produce a defensible point-in-time recovery on demand. We help you write the policy if you don't have one.
Ready to make your IT boring?
20-minute call. No deck, no pressure. We listen, then propose.
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