As first reported in the Orange Rag out on Friday, after many years of watching the legal sector dance around a move to the cloud, Microsoft has launched a Microsoft 365 and Teams Deployment for Legal initiative that includes a four-phase plan to help law firms overcome privacy barriers and a dedicated team to support and accelerate law firms’ 365 journey.
The initiative, which is being led by Microsoft senior modern work solution specialist Jon Kefaloukos, has been put in place to enable law firms to get around enduring concerns over putting client-matter data in the Microsoft Cloud, given that – in rare and extreme cases – Microsoft can be subpoenaed by the US government to provide customer data without reverting to a customer first.
While this new initiative is not a legal vertical, Microsoft is introducing a dedicated four-phase deployment plan that can include turning off OneDrive and SharePoint and connecting to a document management system, in order to get Teams off the ground.
A series of Microsoft briefings are to be hosted by ILTA led by CEO Joy Heath Rush. The first is on 17 February at 11am ET and will include a technical demonstration of how the Microsoft 365 Legal Vision works.
Subject matter experts from across Teams, Office 365/SharePoint/OneDrive, Security, Compliance, and Windows 10, will present this proposed vision.
The core Microsoft for Legal team are:
· Jon Kefaloukos – M365 Deployment for Legal V-Team Lead (Sr. Solution Specialist supporting law firms in Chicago)
· Iris Childress – Corporate Escalation Manager for M365 Deployment for Legal
· Michelle Gilbert – M365 Deployment for Legal Office 365 Collaboration Lead, Sr. Teams Technical Specialist (former SharePoint and Office Admin at Minneapolis law firm and heavily involved in MSP SharePoint Community & ILTA fan)
· Rahul Varrier – Sr. Teams Engineer for M365 Deployment for Legal
· Corey Buzzell – M365 Deployment for Legal MTC Co-Leads, Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) Sr. Architects – Corey has built the legal environment
. Paul Edlund – Sr. Architect at the Chicago Microsoft Technology Center
Speaking to Legal IT Insider, ILTA’s CEO Joy Heath Rush said: “Two reasons we are particularly excited about this Legal Deployment Initiative are that law firms can configure – rather than customize – their Microsoft products to address some of their specific concerns and that Microsoft is embracing the legal technology ecosystem of both products and services in which they operate.”