The problem no one planned for
IT support for remote fee earners is one of those challenges that crept up on conveyancing firms quietly and then became very loud, very fast. Most practices adapted during the pandemic out of necessity, not design. A few years on, flexible working has stuck — but the IT arrangements that were cobbled together in 2020 often haven’t kept pace.
The result is a familiar picture: fee earners working from home on a mix of personal and firm-issued devices, VPN connections that drop at inconvenient moments, and a practice manager fielding IT calls that were never part of their job description.
This article looks at how other small and mid-sized conveyancing firms in the Home Counties have moved past that position — and what they actually put in place instead.
Why conveyancing makes remote IT harder than most
Not all remote working is equal. A conveyancing practice has specific pressures that make unreliable IT genuinely costly, not just inconvenient.
Fee earners rely on specialist platforms — Osprey, LEAP, Videss and others — that need to behave consistently whether someone is sitting in the office or at their kitchen table. When those connections drop mid-transaction, or a device runs slowly because no one has managed it properly, work stops. On a completion day, that matters enormously.
On top of that, conveyancing firms handle highly sensitive financial and personal data. Every remote connection is a potential vulnerability. The National Cyber Security Centre has consistently flagged law firms as high-value targets for cyber fraud — and the risk doesn’t reduce just because your team is working from home. In some ways, it increases.
What ‘winging it’ actually costs
Most firms in this position aren’t doing nothing. They usually have something — a freelance technician on a call-out basis, an IT contact from years ago, or a partner who’s good with computers and has quietly absorbed the role.
The issue isn’t that these arrangements are negligent. It’s that they’re reactive. Nobody is watching for problems before they surface. Nobody is making sure remote devices are patched, encrypted, and accessing the network securely. And when something does go wrong — often at the worst possible moment — there’s no guaranteed response time.
For a firm billing at fee-earner rates, even a couple of hours of downtime per week adds up quickly. And the cost of a security incident — regulatory, financial, reputational — is in a different category altogether. It’s worth reading our piece on why conveyancing firms in Surrey and the Home Counties are being targeted by cyber criminals for a clearer sense of what that exposure looks like.
What a managed approach actually looks like in practice
When firms move to a managed IT service, the change isn’t just about having someone to call when things break. The day-to-day reality is different in a few specific ways.
Device management becomes systematic. Every laptop or desktop — whether in the office or at home — is enrolled in a management platform. Updates happen automatically. Security configurations are applied consistently. If a device is lost or stolen, it can be remotely wiped. Nobody has to remember to do any of this; it just happens.
Remote access is set up properly. Rather than staff connecting through whatever VPN was configured in a hurry three years ago, access to firm systems and Microsoft 365 is secured with multi-factor authentication and conditional access policies. The right people get in; the wrong ones don’t.
Support is available when fee earners actually need it. A managed service provider operates to agreed response times. When someone working from home can’t access a client file at 8:45 on a Friday morning, there’s a number to call and a commitment to fix it — not a voicemail and a wait until Monday.
The Microsoft 365 piece most firms are missing
Most conveyancing practices are already paying for Microsoft 365. What many don’t realise is how much of its security capability sits switched off by default — or configured in ways that made sense at setup but haven’t been reviewed since.
Managed IT support for remote fee earners should include a regular review of the Microsoft 365 environment: who has access to what, whether admin accounts are properly protected, and whether the email security settings are doing what they’re supposed to do.
Email is still the primary attack vector for conveyancing fraud. Phishing emails, business email compromise, and impersonation attacks are all designed to look legitimate. A properly configured Microsoft 365 environment — with the right anti-phishing policies, mailbox auditing, and alert rules — catches most of them before they reach a fee earner’s inbox. The Information Commissioner’s Office also expects firms to have appropriate technical controls in place around personal data; Microsoft 365 security configuration is a significant part of meeting that expectation.
How other local firms have simplified this
The firms that have made this work well tend to share a few things in common.
First, they made the decision when the pain was obvious — usually after an incident, or after a practice manager spent one too many evenings troubleshooting a home Wi-Fi issue for a senior solicitor. The trigger varies, but the motivation is usually the same: this arrangement isn’t sustainable.
Second, they chose a provider who understood the conveyancing context. Generic IT support can be slow to appreciate why a particular platform matters, or why a completion day is different from a normal working day. Sector-aware support providers pick this up faster and prioritise accordingly.
Third, they treated it as a known monthly cost rather than an unpredictable one. Managed IT support is priced per user, per month. For a firm of 20-40 people, that’s a fixed line in the budget — predictable, and comparable to what they were spending on reactive support anyway, often for a worse outcome.
What good IT support for remote fee earners should include
If you’re evaluating your current arrangements, here’s a straightforward list of what a managed service should cover for a conveyancing firm with remote or hybrid staff:
- Managed detection and response for all devices, including those used at home
- Multi-factor authentication enforced across Microsoft 365 and any remote access
- Automated patching and update management, regardless of where a device is located
- Microsoft 365 security configuration review and ongoing management
- Defined response times for support requests — not best efforts
- Regular reporting so a practice manager can see what’s happening without needing to ask
- Business continuity planning, so that if something does go wrong, recovery is fast and documented
None of this requires an in-house IT team. It requires the right external partner and a clear agreement about what they’re responsible for.
A note on SRA compliance
The SRA Standards and Regulations require firms to have appropriate arrangements for data security and business continuity. For a firm with remote staff, that means being able to demonstrate that devices are managed, access is controlled, and there’s a plan for when things go wrong.
Many smaller conveyancing firms find themselves in a position where they believe they’re compliant but haven’t been able to verify it — because no one has the time or the technical knowledge to check. A managed IT provider with legal sector experience can help a practice manager walk into an audit with evidence, not assumptions.
A straightforward next step
Our process starts with understanding your current setup — what you’re running, what’s working, and where the gaps are. We’ve worked with conveyancing firms across Surrey and the Home Counties, and we know the platforms, the pressures, and what good looks like for a practice of your size.
If you’re curious whether what you currently have in place is doing the job — for your remote staff and your wider firm — we’re happy to take a look and give you an honest view. No obligation, no pitch, just a clear picture of where you stand.
Get in touch with us at Computer Care and we can arrange a straightforward conversation at a time that suits you.