Disaster Planning and Insurance Recovery Seminar for Legal Administrators
Most business owners, including law firms, believe they are prepared for a loss, but lack adequate insurance or a well laid business continuity plan to ensure that they can get back to business. Even for those business owners that have invested time and money into developing and publishing a business continuity plan, most lack the actual resources or know-how to properly respond to a disaster. Then again, disasters come in all shapes and sizes, and the word disaster it doesn’t always mean hurricane, earthquake or some other act of God. Today’s world is far more complicated.
For most modern day business owners the real threat and eventual disaster is a digital data breach or physical attempts to destroy their interface. Most business owners have a false sense of security believing that moving to the cloud will somehow protect them. But, then again, what is the cloud? What insurance or assurance do you really have that will protect you and your business, and ensure that there is a tomorrow? Business owners must adopt a new digital commandment: Protect thy company, by protecting thy data. But, what does that mean in today’s digital world?
Daniel Odess, President of GlobalPro Recovery, was honored to speak on this topic at the South Florida Chapter for Association of Legal Administrators’ April luncheon on April 14 in Broward at the Tower Club of Ft. Lauderdale and April 15 in Miami at the Hyatt Regency Miami.
The Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) was formed in 1971 to provide support to professionals involved in the management of law firms, corporate legal departments and government legal agencies. On June 1, 1972, the South Florida Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators was the second chapter to become a member of the National Association of Legal Administrators. The Chapter now has nearly 200 members.
During the luncheon, Mr. Odess discussed various topics that impact the planning and recovery for a law firm. His seminar highlighted the following: The GlobalPro Difference, general background & important insurance terminology, cyber policies, what it really means to be prepared, and two real-life case studies. The audience learned that with proper representation mistakes can be avoided and the firm can obtain a substantially larger settlement. Also, Mr. Odess touched on the evolution of cyber policies and the growing digital threat. The Insurance Journal reported in Cyber Liability: Where to Find Cyber Coverage that, “most lawyers’ professional liability insurance policies don’t contemplate, within the historical context of the insurance provided, coverage for “unauthorized access,” “failure of IT security,” or coverage provided on an “enterprise-wide” basis.” More concerning was that according to Bloomberg.com in the recent article Cyber Attacks Upend Attorney-Client Privilege, “at least 80 of the 100 biggest firms in the [United States], by revenue, have been hacked since 2011.”
The goal was to dispel common misconceptions regarding insurance coverage, increase awareness, and to demonstrate the importance of understanding fundamental insurance concepts and the necessary steps that Legal Administrators need to take in order to adequately protect their firm.
