Business Succession Planning for Attorneys: Disaster Plan

Disaster planning is a very important element to consider when you’re dealing with a business as delicate as being a divorce lawyer. In San Diego, special emphasis is made on including a disaster plan while devising an attorney succession plan. Accidents are never predicted, and anything can happen to anyone without warning. It is an excellent practice for attorney business succession plans to include a disaster plan because human life is unpredictable, and there should be a backup in case an attorney dies or falls disable. Some important considerations about a disaster plan comprise of the information present in a disaster manual, a few important questions regarding the attorneys, and some other tactics. The Law Office of Doppelt and Forney, APLC encourages all law firms to have a disaster plan.

It is highly recommended that a disaster plan is reviewed yearly by a professional, and any such changes should be made to it, which are deemed as important by that professional. The information that must be included in a disaster plan is discussed here. The location and whereabouts of certain types of financial information, such as check books, must be included in the disaster plan as such type of information is highly crucial. Another piece of information that is crucial to be on a disaster plan is all the passwords for all the accounts and devices. Moreover, the authority to decide who will make the decisions regarding client and business matters must also be mentioned in a disaster plan. The location of all the important legal documents such as wills, trusts, and trust for appointment and nomination, and list of such attorneys who are considered to be the probable successors also must be included in a disaster plan. Some other few things that must be included in a disaster plan may include the mention of important people like business managers and people alike who must be called and informed in case of a disaster.

Here are further discussed some tactics that must be considered while including a disaster plan in the attorney business succession plan:

• The list of those vendors whom you can call at all the times to get assistance with connection to the necessary colleagues and clients must be there in the disaster plan.
• One important thing that must be considered while devising a disaster plan is what will happen in the case of a power outage or if all of a sudden, the internet/phone connectivity goes down. Such things must be considered, and backup must be kept ready at all times.
• Other contingency planning and tactics might include the availability of another location or facility from where the operation can be resumed. As said, accidents are never predicted, and due to any natural disaster like an eruption of fire, earthquake, or storm, the existing facility might get damaged or become entirely unusable.
• Certain points of contact for technology must also be established to resume the operations and communication from an alternate location.

Some considerations regarding the disaster plan might include the coverage of a possible disastrous event in the death policies or the disability policy or the business policy or professional liability. The uncertainties related to the passing away of any personnel or inability to continue the operations for durations as long as weeks or months even must be addressed. What would be your stance in a situation like the complete destruction of your facility due to any natural disaster, or the facility becoming unhabitable for an office for weeks, months, or even years? How do you plan to cope up with a complicated situation such as a loss of revenue in case of death or disability of personnel or disaster and damage to your facility? Under such circumstances, how will you be able to connect and coordinate with your employees and clients? What’s the backup status of your system data, and how would you access your data, in case you couldn’t reach your office? Who’s is in charge of maintaining your computer system and data? And many other such events.

The Law Office of Doppelt and Forney, APLC is a divorce family law office and offers virtual consultations up to thirty minutes at no charge. You can calendar your consultation, which is also confidential, by calling 800-769-4748. In legal separation and divorce cases in San Diego, many cases involve a business and the value of the business is dependent on many factors including the continuation of the firm in the event of disaster. Given COVID 19, it is even more important in these time.