IT handover checklist for law firms changing provider

1. Before you give notice

• Read the current agreement for the notice period, any exit fee and what the provider must hand over.
• List any hardware, software or licences rented through the provider, and whether they need to be bought out or replaced.
• Pick a changeover window clear of court dates, settlements and month-end billing (see section 7).
• Name one person at the firm who owns the handover and approves every access change.

2. Credentials and admin access

• Microsoft 365 global administrator accounts, and who holds each one.
• At least one emergency administrator account held by the firm itself, stored securely and tested.
• Domain registrar and DNS logins, and the contact email address on the domain.
• Firewall, router, Wi-Fi and network switch admin access.
• Backup console access, plus any encryption keys or passwords the backups need.
• Device management, security and remote-access tool consoles.
• Microsoft licensing: who the licences are bought through, and when they renew.
• The password vault entries the provider kept for your firm, exported or transferred.
• Device encryption recovery keys.

3. Practice and document system vendors

• Each vendor's name, account number and support contract level.
• Who the vendor accepts support requests from. Add the new provider and remove the old one at changeover.
• Licence counts, renewal dates and who receives the invoices.
• Integration or service accounts the system uses, and who knows their passwords.
• For hosted systems: where the data is held, and the vendor's backup and restore arrangements.
• For systems on an office server: who installs updates, and where the database backups go.

4. Where matter data lives

• The practice or document management system.
• SharePoint sites, Teams and OneDrive.
• Any file server or network drive, including old ones still switched on.
• Scan folders and the destinations set on each scanner.
• Email archives and old mail files saved on laptops or shared drives.
• Documents saved on individual laptops, such as desktops and download folders.
• Any personal or consumer storage accounts staff have used for work.

5. Backups

• What is backed up, where, how often, and how long copies are kept.
• When the last restore test ran, and whether it worked.
• Who pays for the backup service, and whether it stops when the old contract ends.
• Keep the old backup running until the new one has completed and passed a restore test.
• Backup arrangements for any system the vendor hosts.

6. Devices, network and phones

• A list of every laptop, desktop, phone and tablet, with its user and age.
• Which devices are enrolled in device management, and how they will move to the new provider.
• Spare or loan laptops, and where they are kept.
• Printers and scanners, including scan-to-email settings.
• Internet service account details and how faults are reported.
• Phone system account details, and who can change call routing.

7. Timing around court and settlement commitments

• Ask each team for hearings, filing deadlines and settlements in the four weeks around changeover.
• Don't change sign-in, email or devices for anyone with a hearing or settlement in the next two business days.
• Schedule firm-wide changes, such as email or sign-in, for a quiet afternoon early in the week, with support on hand the next morning.
• Make sure everyone knows how to reach the new help desk before the old one stops.
• Keep the old provider's access until the new provider has confirmed its admin access works, then remove it the same day.
• Tell staff in one short note what changes for them, and when.

8. After the handover

• Change every password and secret the old provider knew.
• Remove the old provider's admin accounts, remote-access tools and vendor authorisations.
• Confirm backups, monitoring and device management now report to the new provider.
• Run the ten-minute test from the practice systems guide.
• File this checklist with dates and the names of who did what.

9. Where we fit

When a firm moves to us, the changeover takes about three weeks and doesn't depend on the current provider's cooperation; getting started explains the steps. If a firm later leaves us, every credential, document and configuration record we hold is handed over, with a month's notice and no exit fee.

Whichever provider you choose, keep this checklist with the firm's records. It is just as useful the next time.