When it comes to your legal practice, maybe you like to live on the edge. Maybe you get an adrenaline rush from putting your livelihood at risk every day by keeping your data on vulnerable in-house servers.

But if you want to make legal work less painful for you and your clients, save money, and mitigate threats by storing your data in the most secure location possible, then it’s time for you to migrate your law firm to the cloud.

Here’s a closer look at two of the key benefits you’ll experience when you take advantage of the power of cloud computing technology: portability and security.

The cloud makes case information and documents more portable

Lawyers and clients alike expect 24/7 access to their data, and their case files are no exception. But if your law firm’s files are stored on a server, you’ll need to set up a virtual private network (VPN) for secure access, which can be inefficient and painful. You could also email documents to yourself, but that creates extra work and does not ensure that you’ll be looking at the latest and most accurate version of your documents.

With the cloud, attorneys can review case-related documents, exhibits, and client information regardless of where they are — in their office, at home, in the courtroom, or on a beach halfway around the world — and from any device. Given that clients expect to be kept up-to-date on case developments as they happen, it’s important that lawyers have the anywhere, anytime access to information that the cloud provides.

Similarly, clients expect that information will be at their fingertips at all times. Given the ubiquity of cloud-based services like Gmail, Dropbox, Facebook, and Evernote, they’ll be surprised if their lawyers can't offer them fast, real-time updates on the status of their case.

The cloud offers better security for your law firm’s data

Though maintaining the security of clients’ data is a paramount concern and ethical responsibility for most law firms, cybersecurity is rarely a core competency for them. So, unless you have unlimited resources to invest in dedicated 24/7 IT services, it’s probably a better idea to look to the cloud than to internal solutions to meet your security needs.

But keep in mind that not all cloud solutions are created equal. Here are some things to look for when you’re choosing a cloud-based platform:

Multiple layers of round-the-clock security. Make sure the facility has physical barriers to entry, such as biometric scanning and video surveillance, as well as network intrusion protection systems.

Data backup and recovery. Your provider should have a backup and recovery plan in the event of a disaster, cyberattack, or other emergency. Check the provider’s certifications, guaranteed uptime statistics, and redundancy plans. Ensure that your data will be stored in multiple locations, protected by battery backup, and fire detection and suppression systems, among other things.

Cybersecurity certifications. Ensure that the cloud provider satisfies industry standards, such as ISO/IEC 27001, SAS-70 Type II, or SOC 2, as well as any standards applicable to your industry. For example, you should look for compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Two-factor authentication: To protect against unauthorized access, no matter where employees and clients are logging into the system, you need more than a basic login that asks for username and password. Additional measures, such as an SMS password, physical token, or digital certificate should be required to gain access. Learn more about multi-factor authentication.

Rights management. The platform should grant permissions to different types of content by user role: lawyer, staff, contractor, and client.

Logs and audit trails. The cloud provider should be able to track every system login and the user’s path throughout the system.

Data encryption. Make sure that the provider encrypts data in transit and in storage to further protect it from security risks.