In a recent bulletin Marsh UK warned British law firms that they should be addressing their business continuity management (BCM) responsibilities before the implementation of rules contained in a new “Solicitors’ Code of Conduct” that are scheduled to take effect July 1, 2007.
Marsh said the new rules would “increase the emphasis placed on business continuity requirements, encouraging law firms to keep the risk of disrupting client business to a minimum.” The Code has mandatory sections, which require anyone in a leading position in the country’s law firms to “make arrangements for the effective management of the firm as whole, and in particular provide for…the continuation of the practice of the firm in the event of absences and emergencies, with the minimum interruption to clients’ business; and the management of risk.”
Martin Caddick, Head of UK Business Continuity Management at Marsh called the new code a “strong regulatory drive for the legal sector to make business continuity an intrinsic part of their management culture.” He noted that, while larger firms mostly have such plans in place, “37 percent of all firms have made only basic arrangements, and more than a quarter do not have a business continuity plan at all.”
Caddick indicated that such firms now run both the risk of being non-compliant and “putting their business at risk by failing to act on a key number of risk issues that are fundamental to law firms of all sizes, such as reputational risk, continuation of operation, and protection of information.”
He described “four key steps” to develop an effective and pragmatic BCM program, as follows:
— Understanding the business and the potential impact of disruption
— Developing the strategy to carry on key parts of the business
— Creating the necessary plans
— Conducting regular exercises to train staff and test the plans
Caddick added that such programs don’t “need to be complicated but some level of preparedness is a key part of prudent business risk management.” The initial steps may seem challenging, but “getting a few fundamental things right can make a real difference in responding to an incident and turn effective BCM into a competitive advantage.”
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