Business Continuity Planning

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is an essential part of every law firm’s forward planning and sets out how the firm will operate in the event that an incident and how it will return to ‘business as usual’ as quickly as possible afterwards. Indeed, having a BCP is seen as one of the key requirements of the SRA Code of Conduct in the managing of risk.

Business continuity planning is not simply about firms anticipating major events such as terrorist attacks, fire or flooding – it is also about those smaller incidents that can occur such as computer outages, long-term staff absences, loss of data and thefts. In the case of sole practitioners it is also about how the firm will continue to function, and clients continue to be protected, in the event that the sole practitioner is unable to work due to ill-health, personal problems, holidays and so forth.

As the provider of a legal service, your clients should be able to expect that you will be available when you are needed. They are entitled to rely upon the fact that your practice will be up and running effectively no matter what; that if you have a deadline to meet, a transaction to complete or a court hearing to attend, that you will be there to attend to their interests. Business continuity planning is about planning for the unexpected and taking all steps possible to minimise the impact of unexpected events upon your practice, mitigate the losses which you incur and, most importantly, ensuring that your clients are able to rely upon the service which you have said that you will provide.

In the words, “The strategic and tactical capability of the organization to plan for and respond to incidents and business disruptions in order to continue business operations at an acceptable predefined level.”

The Lawyers Defence Group can assist you in producing and implementing a BCP. We can help you to consider the factors that are likely to impact upon your practice, the steps you need to take to ameliorate that impact and the processes by which you and your firm will deal with the unexpected when it happens.

Contact Us

For more information, contact the Lawyers Defence Group by:

• telephoning during office hours – 0333 888 4070,
• requesting a call-back using the call-back request form to the right,
• telephoning our out of hours number (but please only in an emergency – for example when someone has been arrested or you believe that your firm might be about to be intervened in) 07952 861 868,
• emailing us at help@lawyersdefencegroup.org.uk, or
• writing to us at one of the addresses at the bottom of this web page.