Law Firm Technology: What’s going on today? 

Today’s law firms are facing new and evolving technology challenges—but, this modern era of technology also offers endless potential to boost business strategies and achieve goals.  

In 2025, data breaches among law firms continue to soar, with hackers increasingly targeting small, medium, and large firms to poach client data for misuse, sale, or ransom. Phishing attempts account for a large portion of cyber incidents, with many reports attributing this attack type to 90% or more of successful breaches. But, ransomware remains on the rise as well—just 45 ransomware attacks compromised over 1.5 million records in 2023 alone, and hackers become even more sophisticated each year.  

However, the current state of technology is also an exciting new landscape for law firms to explore. New and evolving technologies like AI continue to break down boundaries and silos to help law firms grow their profitability and productivity, while cloud infrastructure and other tools for digital transformation allow for cost-effective, future-proofed advancements.  

Law firms are considering their next steps carefully—where to invest, how to manage risk, and what technology to explore today to secure a productive and profitable future. A vCIO helps poise law firms for success in these areas—keep reading to learn how.  

What is a vCIO? 

The Role of the CIO 

To understand the role of a vCIO, you should first know the function of a CIO, or Chief Information Officer. A Chief Information Officer oversees the law firm's entire technology ecosystem. They manage computers, servers, cloud services, applications, and security, serving as the primary strategist and decision-maker across the law firm's technology infrastructure.   
 
The CIO is responsible for making sure a law firm's technology is efficient, safe and secure, and cost-effective—and they use these and other key goals to lead strategic decisions that create a sustainable future for your law firm.  

CIOs also serve as leaders in tough times, helping steer the firm through technology crises and emergencies. They guide teams, vendors, and partners through management and remediation of issues like data breaches, outages, or other security and efficiency concerns.  

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What the vCIO does for your law firm

A vCIO is a remote, fractional CIO who performs those very same functions. As a contracted member of the C-suite, vCIOs dive deeply into your law firm's operations, goals, and vision in order to perform the same functions an in-house CIO would, but often at a lower cost and greater convenience to law firms that may not have a full IT team to lead in-house. vCIOs perform duties like: 

• Providing expert advice and guidance to power technology decision-making 

• Analyzing business information and goals to choose IT solutions that make sense for your law firm  

• Balancing the IT budget to aid in law firm profitability and ROI  

• Advocating for your law firm to vendors and partners  

• Helping negotiate vendor contacts, escalate issues, and ensure VIP treatment for your firm 

• Partnering with you to create an aligned and effective technology roadmap  

• Poising the business for a sustainable future with practical and useful IT solutions  

• Managing day-to-day IT functionality and long-term technology projects to keep your law firm safe and efficient  

• Serving as an expert consultant and technology “right hand” to decision-makers at your law firm  

• Taking IT management off of administrators and team members’ plates to give them their time and energy back 

 vCIOs work closely with, or are part of, technology partners like Managed Service Providers (MSPs). They team up with your IT partners to execute sustainable technology strategies, roadmap for the future of the business, and ensure that a law firm’s technology is working at its very best level. They prioritize your business goals and outcomes in their strategy, aligning safe, secure, and productive technology decisions with your future goals and immediate needs.  

In short: the vCIO does everything a CIO does from a remote position, aiding in both the day-to-day and long-term success of your law firm. From ensuring simple issues are solved to leading transformative technology projects, the vCIO keeps your law firm covered with expert guidance, management, and business strategy.  

How does a vCIO help law firms? 

Law firms tend to be hesitant when navigating technology change, and that’s understandable. Missteps or misguided decisions can lead to expensive downtime (and the loss of those billable hours), security incidents that can damage the business reputation or compliance status, and other unsatisfactory results.  

Law firms require technology change and maintenance to be as fast, efficient, and unintrusive as possible. On the other hand, law firms actually need to keep up with technology changes in order to stay safe, profitable, competitive, and productive. 

 This includes equipment upgrades (new phones or computers, for example), system updates, introducing new solutions like AI tools, and even small things, like fixing printers. They need to do so with value in mind, making sure that they stay within an IT budget and achieve a return on technology investment—all without interrupting the important work they do each day.  

This can be a difficult balancing act for a small or mid-sized firm that doesn’t usually have in-house IT teams or resources. It can be even more difficult when it falls on the shoulders of busy administrators, small-group IT support staff, or unsatisfactory technology partners who aren’t invested in the future of the law firm.  

A vCIO allows law firms to outsource IT leadership to an experienced and motivated expert. This partnership keeps the law firm running on a daily basis and helps chart the path for a profitable future driven by smart, tailored technology decisions. It also reduces risk, ensuring that proper preparation, vetting, and safety measures are intact throughout the lifecycle of your technology.  

Partnering with a vCIO gives law firms the fractional access they need to an IT expert without the burden of paying a C-Suite IT salary. This ensures that that the success of the firm business stays top of mind while IT issues are directed to an expert with a stake in the results. It’s a convenient solution that gives law firms the expert guidance and effort that they need without overwhelming their in-house resources.  

Does my law firm need a vCIO? 

vCIO services are attractive to law firms for many reasons—but do you really need this partnership? Here are some signs it may be time to bring a vCIO on board: 

• Your law firm is interested in using new and exciting tools, like AI, and wants this investment to be safe and sensible. 

• You’ve been putting off upgrading devices or systems, like Windows, due to anxiety or inconvenience... but you know you’ll have to start soon. 

• You feel overwhelmed by technology decisions and it’s difficult to plan out the future of your business technology.  

• Your admin team spends too much time “putting out fires,” and fielding IT concerns between team members and helpdesk reps.  

• You don’t have an in-house IT expert, and you have questions about technology that go unanswered.  

• You find your current technology partners do a “fine,” or “okay” job, but they don’t seem invested in your law firm’s future or success.  

• You need help achieving your vision for your firm’s future—and your current technology arrangements just can’t get you there.  
  
  

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vCIO and Managed Services: A Winning Pair  

vCIOs typically work with in-house IT teams or outsourced IT providers, like MSPs. A vCIO helps design and strategize your technology infrastructure, while an MSP handles the procurement, installation, maintenance, and billing of the IT solutions that make that infrastructure up.  

vCIOs are often part of the in-house team at an MSP, making it easier for them to enact your technology roadmap with their trusted colleagues. You can leverage the strategy and vision of your vCIO alongside the technical expertise and manpower of your MSP team in one simple, streamlined relationship.  

The rapport and understanding between vCIOs and the MSPs they work with is powerful, allowing your team to receive seamless support and maintenance of technology that truly suits your short-term and long-term vision.  

vCIO Advisory Services from STS  

Strategic Technology Solutions provides expert vCIO services to help law firms traverse technology challenges, maintenance, and changes with trust and confidence.  

We’ll help you strategically plan for your current and future technology needs with steps like:  

• Discover and understand your law firm’s business needs and goals 

• Continually perform an in-depth IT assessment to identify gaps and vulnerabilities 

• Make IT recommendations and set priorities via a technology roadmap 

• Align IT initiatives with overall business strategy to provide predictive budgeting to leadership 

• Ongoing vendor management to streamline IT operations and increase operational efficiencies and health 
  
  
• Provide regular reports on network health, systems, usage, support statistics, and other IT performance metrics in easy-to-understand terms. 

Questions about your specific law firm IT situation?  Connect with an expert today. Get in touch here!