The Importance of ISO 27001 in Legal Practices: How Blue Car Technologies Enables Comprehensive Compliance.
- Christian Song
- Aug 13
- 6 min read
Introduction
Law firms and corporate legal teams face persistent challenges in protecting sensitive client information and maintaining regulatory compliance. With Cyberattacks targeting the legal sector being alarmingly high, affecting over 80 of the top 100 U.S. law firms since 2011, the implementation of robust information's security management systems has moved from optional to essential.
At the forefront of security imperatives lies ISO 27001, an internationally recognised gold standard for information security management that provides organisations with the comprehensive framework needed to protect data, maintain a competitive advantage, and meet escalating regulatory demands.
Understanding ISO 27001’s transformative impact on legal practice
As the definitive standard for data security and risk management, regardless of organisation, ISO 27001 provides a systematic methodology for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continuously improving Information Security Management Systems (ISMS). The standard’s risk-based approach ensures that law firms and corporate legal teams can identify, assess, and treat information security risks in a manner proportionate to their specific operational environment and client obligations. 1
The legal sector’s digital transformation has created an environment where traditional paper-based security measures prove inadequate, especially with Document Management Systems (DMS) being crucial for success in legal practice and seeing widespread adoption. Legal practices manage vast quantities of digitized confidential communications, financial information, intellectual property, and privileged client data across multiple platforms and locations. ISO 27001 provides the required approach necessary to secure these diverse information assets while maintaining the operational flexibility that legal professionals require. 2
Blue Car Technologies: Architecting ISO 27001 compliance through integrated solutions.
Blue Car Technologies stands uniquely positioned to support law firms in their ISO 27001 compliance journey, having achieved UKAS accredited ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification ourselves. Our comprehensive suite of solutions has been designed with compliance in mind, and directly supports ISO 27001 compliance, demonstrating a deep understanding of the requirements learnt from our process in achieving our certification; In particular, our DMS Archiver directly supports Annex A controls through seamless integration with existing legal infrastructure iManage work.
The approach to supporting ISO 27001 extends beyond a simple tool provision, the DMS Archiver offers a holistic ecosystem that embeds security controls into configurable workflows. Compliance therefore becomes an inherent aspect of the legal practice rather than an additional administrative burden. 20+ years of experience in the legal sector has provided us with intimate knowledge of the specific challenges law firms and corporate legal teams face when implementing security frameworks, with the DMS Archiver being designed to address these challenges.
Comprehensive annex A control support through DMS Archiver
Blue Car Technologies’ Solutions provides extensive support for the 37 organisational controls outlined in ISO 27001:2022 Annex A, addressing everything from information security policies to supplier relationship management. 3 4 5
Organizational controls: The foundation of secure legal operations
Control A.5.1 (policies for information security) the DMS Archiver enables organisations to build automated workflows that reflect their internal policies, guaranteeing the integrity of the internal processes as they are automatically followed.
Control A.5.9 (Inventory of Information and other associated assets) provides detailed tracking and inventory management of documents, communications, and other information assets within iManage environments. With the latest release of 2.7, this capability is pushed further with workspace extension logging and advanced search functionality. Organisations are able to maintain accurate records of their information, supporting both compliance requirements and operational efficiency.
Control A.5.15 (Access Control) represents a critical area in which the DMS Archiver excels through sophisticated user authentication management. Using both soft-delete and declare-as-record features, permission management within iManage is intuitive to enable consistent levels of access once set.
Control A.5.19 (Information Security in Supplier Relationships) and Control A.5.20 (Addressing Information Security Supplier Agreements) are supported through our certification and unique position in supplying a solution that is approved under LOCS:23. As an ISO 27001 certified organisation, clients are assured that their technology partner (us) meets the rigorous security standards required. Not only is the storage of data and security guaranteed, but our approach to supply chain management through many of our partners protects you from any security breach that may compromise your organisation from suppliers.
People Controls: Securing the human element in legal technology
The eight people controls in ISO 27001 address the critical human factors in information security, an area where Blue Car Technologies provides substantial support through documentation, and user management capabilities.
Control A.6.8 (Information Security Event Reporting) is facilitated through audit ready data which is accessible through the DMS Archiver. These detailed audit trails and event logging support incident detection and workspace lifecycle management reporting to ensure that security events can be promptly identified, reported, and addressed according to established procedures – mitigating risk as well as potential malicious intent.
Technological Controls: The heart of secure legal technology
Controls: A.8.1 (User Endpoint Devices), A.8.2 (Privileged Access Rights), A.8.3 (Information Access Restrictions) are all addressed as the DMS Archiver utilizes a web service, and therefore uses security standards for modern websites such as HTTPS and SSL certs /TLS 1.2+, as well as the use of windows Active Directory groups, domain, usernames and passwords.
Control A.8.9 (Configuration Management) is supported via the key core functionality of the DMS Archiver, this being modular and configurable workflows to suit an organisations process. Detailed audit trials also include complete traceability of a workspace through its lifecycle and all workflows it has entered.
Control A.8.16 (Monitoring Activities) ties directly into the audit trails and reporting abilities of the DMS Archiver, with version 2.7 expanding this to support email notifications for when a workspace fails in its workflow step – bolstering monitoring of all workflows to increase risk mitigation.
Controls A.5.33 (Protection of Records) is supported in two distinct ways, one being a feature of the DMS Archiver and the other its back-end function.
Azure archiving: With our feature, move to Azure which allows organisations to archive to blob storage, we have maintained file integrity through using meta data to store: file names, versions, ID’s, etc., to maintain integrity of workspaces and documents when archived.
ID protection: With reusing IDs being an avoidable challenge as there can be issues, the DMS Archiver has several steps that are taken to ensure that new IDs are only being used when completely necessary. Therefore, workspaces and all associated documents remain consistent throughout the entire lifecycle.
Storage of records: We do not store any confidential information in the SQL database, with the only identifies being matter IDs, client IDs, and email addresses for the email service.
Integration with Compliance Frameworks and Standards
When following the standards and best practices of ISO 27001 they pair well with LOCS:23, an ICO approved GDPR standard specifically for the legal sector. In our previous blog on the release of version 2.7, we outlined that these two mutually supportive standards are enabled by the DMS Archiver as an approved LOCS:23 solution.
Being able to support internal data retention policies due to a configurable design, organisations can align with ISO 27001 and legal sector-specific regulations.
Future-proofing legal practice through advanced archiving solutions
The Legal sector’s continued evolution toward more stringent security and compliance requirements makes investment into automated compliance and workspace management tools essential for long-term sustainability. DMS Archiver by Blue Car Technologies provides an adaptable platform to evolve and cope with shifts in regulatory requirements while maintaining security.
Maintaining support for multiple compliance frameworks guarantees that whatever their approach is to compliance, organisations can find themselves prepared for future governance developments with flexibility necessary to address chancing business operations.
Transform Your Compliance Posture with the DMS Archiver 2.7
Blue Car Technologies’ DMS Archiver for iManage Work offers more than advanced archiving capabilities; it provides a comprehensive platform achieving and maintaining compliance through the standards of ISO 27011, supporting the specific requirements of legal sector regulations such as LOCS:23.
The solution’s sophisticated approach to security controls, combined with its seamless integration with existing iManage environments, make it the ideal choice for law firms serious about their data and information security.
Ready to secure a compliance-first tool to assure your business processes and operations meet governance requirements? Get in contact with us today to schedule a demo of the DMS Archiver, and how our solution can fit seamlessly into your already existing workflows.
[1] Rebecca Harper, ‘5 Essential Cybersecuirty Practices for Law Firms’ (IO, 14th March 2023) 5 Essential Cybersecurity Practices for Law Firms- ISMS.online
[2] Orlagh Kelly, ‘GDPR For Law Firms’ (Law Firm Ambition, 23rd September 2024) GDPR for law firms | LawFirmAmbition
[3] Same Peters, ‘ISO 27001:2022 Annex A Explained’ (IO, 25th July 2025) ISO 27001:2022 Annex A Explained & Simplified - ISMS.online
[4] Evan Rowse, ‘Your Guide to the ISO 27001 Annex A Controls’ (Vanta, 2025) Message from Ross Small
[5] IT Governance, ‘ISO 27001:2022 Annex A Controls Explained’ (IT Governance, 13th March 2024) ISO 27001:2022 Annex A Controls - A Complete Guide
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