Nearly a third (28 per cent) of the UK's legal firms are risking catastrophe by backing up their data onsite rather than using an external archive.

More than half the country's law firms are reliant on their employees to manually store important information. In the event of a disaster, this could leave them extremely vulnerable to data loss.

These dangerous habits are more prevalent in the north of the country, where 40 per cent of firms use onsite backup. In the south of the UK, 60 per cent of firms use automated, external systems to protect their data.

The information was revealed in a survey conducted by researchers Survey Shop, on behalf of telecoms company Kingston Communications.

The study, which targeted 200 law firms around the country, found that 80 per cent of companies are using electronic communications more than they used to. Two thirds of lawyers now use a PDA as part of their everyday work.