We have to stick up for our own kind today and take exception to the article “Five IT Blind Spots That Shut Lawyers Out.” It regurgitates all the worst stereotypes of IT workers to give the impression that IT departments have gone rogue and care nothing for the lawyers and staff they serve. Even worse, the article suggests that IT is off in its own sandbox, using the partners’ well earned money to play with its shiny toys.

No one, in whatever profession, is the sum of their stereotypes. The “assumption” here is that this is the modus operandi of your average IT worker. Sure, we have seen instances of parochial thinking, poor service, and insensitivity, but this is more often the exception rather than the rule. The article makes a number of good points, but by compiling a laundry list of IT faults, it makes an incorrect impression that stigmatizes the industry and law firm’s own employees.

We work with IT staff in many law firms and know their commitment to the firm and their users. Everyday we see the IT staff that work hard to explain difficult technical concepts to laymen; who know the business goals and work hard to align IT to them; who make the added effort to create simple interfaces to complex systems; and who refuse to buy non-essential software or upgrade to non-compelling versions. Maybe the default assumption lawyers and staff should have is that IT is here to help, not to make your life miserable.