by Traverse Legal, reviewed by Enrico Schaefer - October 5, 2006 - High-Tech Law Firms
About four months ago, I finally bit the bullet and jumped head first into the file synchronization issue, which had been hanging over my head since I started my law firm a year and a half ago. Since the beginning of my firm, I struggled with the issue of file synchronization between my server and my laptop. Typically, I would copy an entire case file onto my laptop when I went on the road. If I did work from the road, I would create a synch file on my laptop with the newest versions. However, actually moving those files back onto the server was hit and miss at best. I knew file synchronization was a piece of the puzzle I had to solve. Looking back, it is unfortunate that it did not leap up to the top of my priority list sooner.
So what do you do if you are an attorney with a laptop on the go? You need to be able to work from the road and make sure those files end up back on the server. We have a VPN in our office, which allows us to reach our server if we are out of the office and have an Internet connection. However, that does not really solve the synchronization problem. Anyone who has worked over a VPN knows that you are a slave to the bandwidth where you happen to be sitting at the time. More often than not, you do not work off of the server version of the file. You copy it onto your laptop and work on it from your hard drive. Of course, you then are right back to where you started. You have the problem of remembering to move that file, which is now the most recent version, back onto the server.
We did a little bit of research and stumbled across a company called Mobiliti at Mobiliti.com. They offer for sale software called continuity at work. Continuity at work provides for seamless and quick file synchronization between your laptop version and the server. It automatically knows which is the most recent version and overwrites the prior version. Of course, you can customize these options for synchronization if you wish. If there is an updated server version and an updated client version, it will apprise you of this conflict and give you several options for resolving the conflict. This includes creating two versions of the document in case two people where working on it at the same time. There are lots of bells and whistles to this software. I have found it to be extremely helpful. A single user license for continuity at work is $60.00.
Because we have over 25 gigabytes of files on our server, we do not synchronize all files. For most laptop users working remotely, you typically will not synchronize the entire server with your laptop. However, I have found that synchronizing the select files, which are active for me during any period, is no problem at all. I would highly recommend this synchronization product and would be interested if any one else is using other products which our readers should be aware of.
Are you using a file synchronization program which works well for you? Let us know…
As a founding partner of Traverse Legal, PLC, he has more than thirty years of experience as an attorney for both established companies and emerging start-ups. His extensive experience includes navigating technology law matters and complex litigation throughout the United States.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by attorney Enrico Schaefer, who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a practicing Business, IP, and Technology Law litigation attorney.
