Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Plan Template for Law Firms (Word)

Stop hoping your firm never needs a plan — build the one it'll actually use.

This is a complete, 20-section Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Plan built specifically for law firms — not a generic office BCP with "law firm" swapped into the title. Every section maps to what actually keeps a practice running through a disruption: court deadlines, client files, trust accounting, and the people who hold it all together.

Editable in Microsoft Word. Fill in the bracketed placeholders with your firm's details and it's ready to use.

What's inside

• Purpose, scope & objectives
• Assumptions & plan activation triggers
• Roles & responsibilities (with a ready-to-fill contact table)
• Business Impact Analysis with RTO/RPO benchmarks
• Risk assessment / threat register
• Prevention & mitigation measures
• Incident response procedures by scenario (ransomware, office loss, key-attorney absence)
• Communication plan & internal call tree
• IT disaster recovery & data backup
• Client matter & deadline continuity
• Trust / IOLTA account continuity
• Records & file access / remote work
• Key-person & succession planning
• Alternate site / relocation
• Vendor & third-party dependency tracking
• Training & testing schedule
• Plan maintenance & version control
• Insurance coverage tracker
• Law-firm-specific compliance & ethics notes
• Full appendices: activation checklist, incident log, emergency contact list

Who it's for

Solo practitioners, small and mid-size law firms, and firm administrators who need a continuity plan that speaks to actual legal-practice obligations — not a repurposed corporate template.

Format

• 1 Word document (.docx), fully editable
• 1 PDF reference copy
• US Letter, ready to print or distribute digitally