Client opportunity
From disconnected offices and email-based document sharing to a unified network supporting firmwide collaboration.
For a California civil litigation firm operating across four offices, collaborating on cases had become unnecessarily complicated. Each location operated on its own network, leaving attorneys and staff without direct access to shared resources across the firm.
When employees needed case documents from another office, they relied on email to exchange files. This allowed information to move between locations, but it did not provide a centralized environment where teams could access the same resources.
To address these challenges, Allnext Legal implemented a Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solution connecting all four offices and the firm's Microsoft Azure environment.
The result was a unified network supporting cross-office collaboration, centralized document access, and connectivity between physical locations and cloud infrastructure.
The challenge
Disconnected offices were limiting how the firm worked
Civil litigation requires coordination between attorneys, paralegals, and support staff. Case documents must be accessible to professionals working on a matter, even when they are located in different offices.
For this firm, the lack of connectivity between its four locations created barriers to everyday legal work. Each office maintained an independent network, and teams depended on manual file exchanges rather than direct access to shared systems.
01. Four offices operating independently
Without a wide area network connecting its locations, the firm's offices functioned as separate technology environments. Attorneys and staff could not directly access resources maintained at other offices.
02. Email as the primary way to share case documents
Every document exchanged between offices was sent through email. When an attorney needed a file maintained elsewhere, a colleague had to locate and forward it. This added administrative work and created the potential for multiple copies to circulate.
03. No centralized access to shared case resources
The firm lacked a common document location accessible across all four offices. Teams working on related matters could not simply retrieve the information they needed from shared resources.
04. Microsoft Azure needed to be connected
The firm's Azure environment also needed to be incorporated into the network. Connecting only the physical offices would not fully address the requirement to reach shared cloud resources.
The goal was to connect the offices and Azure so the firm could work across locations as one organization.
The solution
Building one connected network across four offices and Microsoft Azure
Allnext Legal implemented SD-WAN to connect the firm's four physical offices and its Microsoft Azure environment through a unified wide area network.
SD-WAN enables geographically separated locations to communicate through a managed wide area network. Here, it supplied the missing connectivity between office networks and the firm's cloud environment.
01. Establishing connectivity between all four offices
Allnext Legal connected the office networks through SD-WAN, enabling employees in different locations to reach shared resources. The offices no longer needed to function as isolated network environments.
02. Enabling centralized document access
Connecting the offices established the network connectivity needed for centralized document access. Authorized employees could retrieve shared case documents through the firm's systems rather than depending on colleagues to email copies from another office.
SD-WAN provided the network connection; document systems and user permissions continued to determine how files were stored and who could access them.
03. Integrating Microsoft Azure
Allnext Legal connected the firm's Microsoft Azure environment to the SD-WAN network. This extended connectivity beyond the four physical offices and included the cloud resources supporting the firm's operations.
The results
Four connected offices. A more collaborative litigation practice.
Previously, each office operated independently, and employees relied on email to exchange case documents. With SD-WAN in place, the firm gained a connected environment supporting shared access and more coordinated case work.
01. Collaboration across office locations
Attorneys, paralegals, and support staff gained the connectivity needed to reach shared resources across the firm's locations.
02. Access to shared case documents
Employees could access centralized document resources available to them, reducing the need to distribute every file manually by email.
03. Connected office and cloud resources
Integrating Microsoft Azure into the WAN linked the firm's physical locations with its cloud environment, supporting access to shared cloud resources.
04. A unified network foundation
The firm moved from four independent office networks to a connected wide area network supporting collaboration and shared resource access.
The business impact
Technology that brings the firm together
For this California civil litigation firm, the value of SD-WAN extended beyond connecting office networks. It addressed a practical obstacle to sharing information and collaborating on litigation matters.
By connecting the firm's four offices and Microsoft Azure, Allnext Legal established the network infrastructure needed to make shared resources accessible across locations.
Attorneys and staff no longer had to rely on email as the primary method of exchanging every document between offices. Instead, the connected network supported direct access to centralized resources and more coordinated collaboration.
The outcome was a more connected law firm, with attorneys and staff able to work across four offices using shared resources supporting their cases.
