Industry: Law Firms
Apopka, Florida & Orlando, Florida
"We Have to Protect Our Clients' Information."
How ProtectiCloud Became Forest Lake Law’s Technology Partner for Security, Flexibility, and Growth
The Business
Carlos Martin has run Forest Lake Law for around 10 years. Over that time the practice has changed shape more than once — growing to three offices, settling back to two, staffing up to 12, and running lean at six — while ProtectiCloud grew alongside it the whole way.
Choosing ProtectiCloud was one of the best decisions I ever made. From day one, they helped me build a secure, reliable technology foundation. And as we grew, they grew with us.
Today, most client meetings happen virtually. Carlos serves as of counsel handling wills for a large firm, with clients across the state — Central Florida, South Florida, Tampa — and never needs to be in the room with them. The technology behind that flexibility, from email and e-signature workflows to shared folders and equipment, is something he doesn’t have to think about. It just works.
Why Security Isn't Optional in the Legal Profession
Law firms hold some of the most sensitive information a client will ever share. For Forest Lake Law, that responsibility isn’t abstract — it’s already been tested.
A few years ago, someone attempted to breach their systems. ProtectiCloud caught it before it became a problem.
We actually had, a few years ago, somebody that tried to hijack our system. And thankfully, before it even got to that point, everything was protected. He told me about it, he informed me of what happened — and nothing was happening. Especially in the law profession, we need to have security. We have to protect our clients’ information.
Server-to-Cloud Migration for Business Continuity
Support That Doesn't Depend on One Person Being Available
Carlos has a direct line to his ProtectiCloud contact, Ricardo — but the practice isn’t relying on any single person to keep it running.
I hate to say this, because I have a direct line to him, but when he’s not available I’m like, let’s call the next one in line — and as soon as we call, it gets resolved. Even if he’s not around, he has a fabulous team that takes care of everything.
That depth of coverage is why, in Carlos’s words, the team has never once failed to meet the practice’s needs:
I have never felt, in the entire time, that they have not been able to meet my necessities, my needs. It’s always been accomplished.
Forward-Thinking Technology, Not Just Fixes
Before COVID made remote work a necessity, Forest Lake Law already had the infrastructure to support it — because ProtectiCloud had moved them off a physical server and into the cloud years earlier, specifically to protect the business from the risk of losing everything to a single point of failure.
He’s like, ‘Carlos, servers could be broken into. If you lose it, you lose everything. We need to move into the cloud.’ And he’s been ahead the whole time.
That decision paid off in ways Carlos didn’t fully appreciate until he needed it:
Pre-COVID we had the ability to do virtual really strongly. It was already implemented. I didn’t even know that he had it already, until the moment I sat with him.
It's also paid off in smaller, everyday ways. When an employee's car broke down and she couldn't get to the office, the disruption never touched the client:
She had her phone lines, she had her computer, she was connected to the server, everything. And she was able to work as effectively from home as she did from the office.
A Partnership, Not a Vendor Relationship
Carlos and Ricardo have known each other since Ricardo was a child — and that history shows up in how the practice thinks about its technology partner.
Ricardo’s family to me. It’s amazing how both of us have grown. We both started pretty much at the same time. He never stopped working, which is great. It has made our connections even stronger.
If Carlos had to describe Ricardo's role in the practice, he doesn't reach for "vendor":
If I were to use him as an employee analogy, he was my first employee, because he’s the one that set up my phones. He’s the one that set up my computer. He’s the one that set up my server.
And the growth that’s followed hasn’t been growth for its own sake:
I wouldn’t be where I am right now if I didn’t have that partnership next to me — if I didn’t have ProtectiCloud with me, helping me grow, helping me expand. And not expansion for expansion — expansion with a purpose.
Wondering Whether Your Firm's Data Is as Protected as You Think It Is?
For a law practice, a security gap isn’t just downtime — it’s client trust and confidential records on the line. ProtectiCloud isn’t a vendor relationship for Forest Lake Law; it’s a partnership built on security, availability, and thinking ahead before problems happen.
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