MSP Integris Launches Empower Legal Practice Focused On Law Firms

‘We have dedicated VCIOs that have the experience and expertise of working with law firms, knowing different lines of businesses that they may need or may not need, providing them the business acumen as well as the IT experience on what they could do to grow their business,’ says Greg Cooke, vice president of sales for Integris’ legal business.

MSP Integris Tuesday unveiled the launch of a new practice focused specifically on helping law firm customers.

Integris’ new Empower Legal services practice is dedicated to law firms, which make up a large part of the MSP’s clientele, said Greg Cooke, vice president of sales for the legal business of the Cranbury, N.J.-based company.

“We have expertise in the realm of working with law firms, keeping them secure, providing them with the IT and services that they need on a daily basis,” Cooke told CRN. “When I joined Integris, that was the intention. We wanted to continue to grow our law firm client practice. We really enjoy working with them. They’re professionals.”

The Empower Legal practice is similar to Integris’ Financial Institution Division practice, which is focused on community banks and credit unions, Cooke said.

“We’re mimicking that in this niche environment for law firms,” he said. “This means we have a dedicated team, an escalation pod or team, and dedicated VCIOs [virtual chief information officers] that are specifically handling our law firm clients and future law firm clients that we’re servicing going forward.”

Integris was formed in 2021 via the merger of four smaller MSPs.

“We have dedicated VCIOs that have the experience and expertise of working with law firms, knowing different lines of businesses that they may need or may not need, providing them the business acumen as well as the IT experience on what they could do to grow their business,” he said.

Integris, ranked No. 232 on the CRN 2024 Solution Provider 500 and an honoree on the CRN 2024 Managed Service Provider 500, uses its nationwide help desk to handle basic computer needs or services, Cooke said.

“But when it gets a little bit deeper and involved, specifically to a law firm that let’s say is using iManage or NetDocuments for managing documents, or which just got off the phone with a client using Qualia, a real estate settlement software, we have the expertise,” he said. “If they’re having issues with that, that’ll go to our legal pod. And those individuals have the expertise to handle that escalation because we want to minimize downtime for that law firm. Time is of the essence, especially with law firms working with clients and billable hours.”

Previously, a law firm client who called for support might talk with a general support person who didn’t understand the business, Cooke said.

“We’re eliminating all of that,” he said. “That’s what our team is built on. We were kind of already doing that with our law firm clientele, but now we’ve really structured it more in depth and created a product offering specifically to it.”

As part of its Empower Legal practice, Integris adds to its VCIO capabilities with the addition of VCISO, or virtual chief information security officer, capabilities, Cooke said.

“Not every law firm has compliance needs,” he said. “The law firms that really require more on the compliance side are ones that are usually working with banks, which have a lot of compliance requirements. So depending on their needs, we’ll provide them with that additional VCISO offering.”

Cooke said he joined Integris in July after spending years in the insurance industry working with law firms on their professional liability and cyber insurance.

Integris currently has a team of about 20 people dedicated to Empower Legal, in addition to the company’s help desk operations, which handle initial contacts, Cooke said. They work with clients who typically have 20 to 70 employees.

“That’s actually our target market that kind of fits the needs of what a law firm that size is looking for,” he said. “Because anything bigger, they may have an internal IT team handling their needs. And anything smaller, their needs are different. Not that we won’t work with small firms, we will. It’s just that they’re a little bit different in their thought process in working with an IT provider for their managed services.”

Integris performs the full range of managed services for a majority of those clients and offers co-managed services for others, Cooke said.

Integris tries to differentiate itself by being a white-glove MSP, Cooke said.

“To alleviate any concerns, question marks, uncomfortableness that a law firm may experience around IT, we’re trying to eliminate that,” he said. “And we’re eliminating that by our expertise, our professionalism and our transparency. And we’re able to do that by providing a VCIO and dedicated legal pod for escalation. I think that is really what is separating us from the rest of the industry. Some MSPs specialize in this area, some specialize in that area. We don’t pretend to be any of that. We're focused on the law firm industry.”