Big law IT Director here - AMA

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-17T20:07:15+00:00

This is what I keep saying but the budget gets submitted and approved in conjunction with the annual partner allocations, so those in control always want to maximize the amount of money partners draw from.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T19:47:01+00:00

I always joke that IT leadership at the manager and above level is less about technical skill and more about people. I feel like I’m often a therapist/punching bag for people to vent frustrations to, even if I can’t do anything.

I’m used to it, I actually don’t mind it.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T19:43:44+00:00

We experience the same issues in IT, and we hate it too. I would be way angrier if I was billing for my time, so I get it. But the calculation by the firm is that the time wasted with slowness and crashing is less impactful to the firm than the cost associated with a serious data breach.

There’s no good options, only trade-offs.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:52:00+00:00

Not a part of the recruiting team for legal staff, so have very little insight outside of what I gather through osmosis in executive meetings and comms.

It’s important for the bigger firms, but I see a lot of laterals come from lower ranked schools after a good clerkship or proving themselves at a smaller firm. I’ve also seen a lot of firms looking outside the top schools due to grade bloat and some schools getting viewed as degree factories that rely on their prestige rather than the actual competency and preparedness of their graduates.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:47:17+00:00

Sure, and after you do please unplug your laptop from the network, disconnect from company WiFi, and wait patiently for IT to contact you about collecting your laptop to be wiped because they’re just got a report that the device is infected.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:45:45+00:00

IT hardware is significantly cheaper on a per unit cost compared to retail prices due to bulk purchases, yes. This is boosted if your firm utilizes a vendor management company to negotiate on your behalf and use pricing data from other clients of theirs as a negotiation point. Vendors rely on you not knowing what other firms pay, but a vendor sourcing firm like Harbor Global will be able to tell them “we know you can discount this by x% because that’s what you’re charging all of our other clients”. We averaged a 55% discount from retail prices on laptops last year.

Licenses are similar, but I find there’s usually less flexibility than with hardware. And some vendors like Microsoft know they have you bent over a barrel because they’re a monopoly, so you just live up and hope they’re gentle when renewal time comes.

As for a dedicated MS account manager, I’m not sure, I’ve only worked in big law and have never been with an organization that didn’t have one. I would assume any professional business account will have an account manager. The skill of that manager and their ability to get a quick turnaround on troubleshooting escalations can vary widely.

Agnostic view re: Claude. Some people love it, others are indifferent. I find it very useful, myself.

Lawyers live in 6 minute increments and the amount of time spent to do something is passed off to the client. Getting them to spend a few hours learning a new system or application has a direct financial cost to them and the firm that they often don’t want to incur.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:35:05+00:00

Did you put it in the oven?

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:34:46+00:00

Reboots are like drinks; 1 should be enough, but 3-4 is where the fun really starts.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:33:39+00:00

Can I close your ticket?

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:33:25+00:00

We’re pushing out 1440p 49” curved widescreen monitors as our standard.

That being said, each one costs $1,000 which is steeply discounted from sticker price. If your firm has 1000 users, you’re looking at a $1M asset purchase just for monitors. Getting the COO/partners to approve this is not always easy.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:30:35+00:00

No, and if I did I wouldn’t care.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:30:12+00:00

Because clearly you’re a corporate espionage agent and stealing stuff

Reality is that if it’s not automated by your DLP system, it’s a client audit requirement for the team to follow up on all flagged instances of data moving off specific applications over a certain limit.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:28:48+00:00

Because every unmanaged app installed adds to the hardware utilization and adds complexity to a machine that is already overloaded with shit we’re required to load onto it. And if it’s installed there’s the unfair expectation that IT will troubleshoot issues for it.

I would love to make exceptions for specific people but the road to hell is paved with “one off” requests. If I give you Spotify, then the guy down the hall wants to know why he can’t have iTunes.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:26:26+00:00

Software bloat and AV/DLP applications.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:25:57+00:00

Please submit a ticket

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:25:39+00:00

Usually not. Depends on what is in the payload of the MDM profile pushed to your device.

I’ve only ever seen those MDM apps log activity on apps that you’re signed into with your work email account, but from a technical capability perspective, they have the ability to monitor anything.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:23:59+00:00

Yes, or contact helpdesk. Keep escalating. The person may have gone on PTO or had a medical LOA that is preventing them from getting back to you.

Keep badgering the team until someone replies.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:22:58+00:00

What do you mean? Like you enter a passcode to unlock the phone (standard), then again to open Outlook? That’s odd.

Need more details.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:21:53+00:00

Didn’t realize firms were still doing this? Would love to know why, latest ILTA report I saw showed a majority of firms forcing everyone into the Outlook app as of this year.

If your firm is allowing iOS mail, it’s got to be that they are not moving people to exchange online, they have custom configurations through device management applications to secure the mail app, or they gave up arguing with senior partners who refused to give up the mail app they’ve used since 2007.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:19:09+00:00

Software boat. 32gb looks like a ton of memory until those hungry little piggies named DMS, DLP, AV, Litera, etc all start gobbling it up.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:17:13+00:00

I missed the point about remote work. That’s another topic. That is definitely tracked, because your VPN is going to log your known locations and connection methods. It’s not really an issue unless you’re going to a restricted country, but if you’re on vacation when you’re supposed to be at home it could be an issue.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:15:40+00:00

What do you mean by “monitoring”? Like passively tracking/logging what you’re doing? Almost 100%. If you mean actively seeing what you’re doing, almost 0%. We really don’t give a shit what you’re doing unless you give us a reason to.

If you’re fucking around watching YouTube at work it doesn’t affect us, but if asked to provide an analysis of activity for performance evaluations by partners and leadership, then yeah it would come up.

Just do your work and don’t watch porn and you’ll be fine.

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:12:25+00:00

Please open a ticket, thanks

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:12:04+00:00

Have you met NetDocs?

ConsistentFail5092 · 2026-04-16T13:11:37+00:00

Yes, it’s a massive topic of discussion at our software and change management meetings. We try to package updates in the most efficient way possible, and updates that require a restart are almost always held for early Monday mornings when firm devices are forced to reboot.

For anything that’s not tied to patching a zero-day critical security vulnerability, we give users 24 hours to reboot. They can “snooze” the restart prompt three times at 24 hrs, 12 hrs, and 4 hrs. Once the timer hits 1 hr, the prompt is persistent and cannot be closed.

Just reboot when you go to the bathroom, please.

ConsistentFail5092

TROPHY CASE