Global Sites Ltd ·
From digitising to being resilient
For most Kenyan firms the first step, moving files and accounts onto computers, is done. The question now is different: can the firm keep working, and keep client information safe, when something goes wrong? A lost laptop, a ransomware email or a failed server tests a firm's systems and its reputation at the same moment.
That ability to keep operating and keep data safe is what we mean by digital resilience.
Why it matters more now
The Data Protection Act, 2019 puts clear duties on organisations that hold personal data, and law firms hold a great deal of it. Clients, particularly corporate and institutional clients, increasingly ask how their information is protected before they instruct a firm.
A firm that can answer that question clearly, and show the controls behind the answer, starts the relationship with an advantage.
Where firms are most exposed
In our experience the same weak points come up again and again:
- Client money reconciled by hand, so errors are found late
- Court dates and deadlines held in personal diaries
- Documents shared by email attachment and stored on individual laptops
- Shared passwords and accounts that stay active after staff leave
- Backups that have never been tested by actually restoring them
What a resilient practice looks like
It reconciles trust accounts as routine, not as a month-end scramble. It tracks every matter and deadline in one system rather than in people's heads. It shares documents with clients through a secure portal instead of email. It controls access by role and keeps a record of who did what. And it knows it can recover, because it has practised.
Global Wakili, our legal operations platform, is built around these practices: three-way trust reconciliation with overdraw prevention, a court hearing registry with deadline alerts, a secure client portal and document vault, role-based access and a tamper-evident audit trail.
Where to start
Pick the weakest point on the list above and fix that first. For most firms it is either trust reconciliation or document sharing. Small, finished improvements build more resilience than an ambitious plan that stalls.
- Legal Technology
- Data Protection
- Trust Accounting