--- title: "Software for law firms ยท Elchi Studios" description: "Share documents instead of emailing them: a client portal, email and a website for law firms, with answers on legal privilege, data location and BEKJ." url: https://elchi.dev/en/loesungen/branchen/kanzleien language: en --- Law firms # Share documents instead of emailing them. A law firm loses time where files travel back and forth between client, opposing party and court. We build portals, email and websites for this, and we set out what the Swiss Bar Association's guidance asks of you and what we can show for it. ## Where the time goes ### Files travel as ordinary attachments Contracts, drafts and evidence go to the client by email and back again, often in several versions. Meanwhile, professional secrecy applies without time limit and towards everyone, and the lawyer must also ensure that auxiliaries keep it (Art. 13 Lawyers Act). ### Electronic legal communication is being rebuilt Parliament passed the Federal Act on Platforms for Electronic Communication in the Judiciary (BEKJ) on 20 December 2024. It makes electronic communication in civil and criminal proceedings mandatory for the legal profession, through the justitia.swiss platform. According to the Justitia 4.0 factsheet, the remaining provisions are due to come into force on 1 July 2027; the cantons then set their own date within five years. Until then, submissions go on paper or through the recognised delivery platforms. ### New mandates start with follow-up questions An enquiry comes in by phone or email, and before the firm can reply it needs the names of opposing parties, deadlines and documents. They are often asked for more than once and typed in by hand. ## What we build instead ### A client portal. As a mandate: one place where clients upload and collect documents instead of emailing them. Sign-in runs through EAuth, with a passkey or a password, and the portal can require a second factor for everyone. A passkey only works on the genuine sign-in page; a copied page cannot use it. ### Email with sealed mailboxes. EMX (Beta) stores messages encrypted in Geneva. A sealed mailbox stores messages, subject, sender and recipients included, so that only the person's key opens them; we cannot read them either. CHF 4 per mailbox and month. ### A website for new mandates. A form that asks for what you need for a first check and lands in the admin area and in your inbox. CHF 6,000 fixed price, then CHF 300 a month. We do not replace justitia.swiss, and we do not connect anything to it today. ## What you can expect from us The Swiss Bar Association's guidance on IT outsourcing and cloud computing asks, among other things, for a written contract, named subcontractors, clarity about where data is stored, a confidentiality undertaking by the provider as an auxiliary, control rights and an orderly return of data. What we can put on the table today: **Contract.** A data processing agreement under Art. 9 FADP and Art. 28 GDPR that names every sub-processor with its location, allows you audits with 14 days' notice, and covers return or deletion of data after the contract ends. An explicit undertaking to observe professional secrecy under Art. 321 of the Criminal Code is something we settle with you in writing before signing. **Data location.** Stored data sits on our own servers at European providers in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and France. The named exceptions: Resend in the USA sends notification mails, Cloudflare only holds our DNS zones, and Stripe handles payment for EMX Team. **Being able to leave.** You export accounts, mailboxes and data at any time without asking us, and an EMX mailbox for 30 days after cancelling. **What is missing.** No ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certification, no independent security audit, no committed availability for EMX and no telephone support for EMX. ## Questions we hear ### Does the US CLOUD Act reach your servers? The CLOUD Act obliges providers subject to US law to hand over data they possess or control, even when it is stored in Europe. That is why we store data only with European providers. Resend, as a US service, sees the notification mails that pass through it. ### Can your staff read our email? Not in a sealed mailbox. In an ordinary mailbox, messages are stored encrypted and the keys are not held by the storage provider. As the operator we could technically access them, which is why we advise law firms to use sealed mailboxes wherever they are available. ### Can EMX serve as a file archive? No. EMX is not an audit-proof archive. You still meet your duty to keep files after a mandate ends with your own archive. ### What happens if Elchi Studios drops out? More than one person knows every system, every installation is described as code and kept in version control, and you can export your data yourself at any time. The SAV guidance asks for provisions for this case; which of them go into the contract, we settle before signing. ## Tell us where files get stuck A short message is enough. Within two working days someone from the team that would build it replies. Write to us at [elchi.dev/en/kontakt](https://elchi.dev/en/kontakt) or call +41 58 513 63 11, weekdays from 8 to 18. [Talk to us](https://elchi.dev/en/kontakt) [+41 58 513 63 11](tel:+41585136311) [contact@elchi.dev](mailto:contact@elchi.dev) ## Sources 1. [Lawyers Act (BGFA), Art. 13](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2002/153/de) 2. [Swiss Criminal Code, Art. 321](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/54/757_781_799/de) 3. [Federal Act on Data Protection, Art. 9](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2022/491/de) 4. [Justitia 4.0, factsheet on the entry into force of BEKJ, May 2026](https://www.justitia40.ch/downloads/merkblaetter/de/j40_merkblatt_inkrafttreten-bekj_de.pdf) 5. [Swiss Bar Association (SAV), guidance on IT outsourcing and cloud computing](https://www.sav-fsa.ch/documents/1060627/1169162/20221111_cloud+guidelines_D.pdf/20669277-0dc0-4f60-1e69-3d9386f469f8?t=1676907814384) 6. [law.ch, return of files and the lawyer's duty of retention](https://law.ch/lawinfo/auftrag/einfacher-auftrag/beauftragten-pflichten/aktenherausgabe/) 7. Elchi Studios: [elchi.dev/de/eauth](https://elchi.dev/de/eauth), [elchi.dev/de/emx](https://elchi.dev/de/emx), [emxmail.ch/de/sicherheit](https://emxmail.ch/de/sicherheit), [elchi.dev/de/loesungen/e-mail](https://elchi.dev/de/loesungen/e-mail), [websites.elchi.dev/de/preis](https://websites.elchi.dev/de/preis), [elchi.dev/de/engineering](https://elchi.dev/de/engineering), [elchi.dev/de/vertrauen](https://elchi.dev/de/vertrauen), [elchi.dev/de/ueber-uns](https://elchi.dev/de/ueber-uns), [legal.elchi.dev/de/avv](https://legal.elchi.dev/de/avv), [elchi.dev/en/kontakt](https://elchi.dev/en/kontakt) [See all industries](https://elchi.dev/en/loesungen/branchen)