Azure Migration for a Top 10 UK Law Firm

A Top 10 UK law firm partnered with Shaping Cloud as part of its wider journey to modernise its technology estate and adopt cloud-first ways of working. Having previously worked with Shaping Cloud to establish an enterprise-scale Azure Landing Zone, the firm was well positioned to accelerate its move into Microsoft Azure.

When a firm deadline emerged to exit a rented data centre, the organisation saw an opportunity to use the Azure platform it had already established to migrate key workloads securely and efficiently.

Fully governed cloud foundations

Planned, predictable migration

Modernised remote working

The Challenge

The firm faced a non-negotiable deadline to vacate its existing data centre. Failure to meet the timeline would have resulted in financial penalties and operational risk.

Although the workloads involved were primarily non-production environments (eg Disaster Recovery (DR), User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and Test) they were still business-critical systems that required the same level of security, governance and resilience as production workloads.

The migration also involved replacing an existing Citrix estate, which supported remote working across the firm. Ensuring continuity of service for legal professionals working across multiple locations made the transition particularly sensitive.

The firm needed a partner that could deliver:

 A secure, governed Azure migration

 Predictable execution against a fixed deadline

 Minimal disruption to users

 Opportunities to modernise and optimise workloads during the transition

The Solution

Shaping Cloud delivered a structured Azure migration programme, building on the Azure Landing Zone previously implemented for the firm.

Using a five-stage migration approach, the project combined proven data centre exit methodology with Shaping Cloud’s detailed understanding of the firm’s technology estate and governance requirements.

Key elements included:

 Migration of on-premises workloads to Microsoft Azure, consolidating onto a single virtualisation platform

 Modernisation of remote working through a Citrix replacement programme

 Application of Azure best practice security and governance controls across all environments

 Optimisation of SQL Server architecture to improve performance for high-demand workloads

Non-production workloads were treated with the same rigour as production environments, ensuring consistent security, compliance, and operational standards.

The entire migration programme was delivered in 40 weeks, enabling the firm to meet its data centre exit deadline without disruption.

Deadline met, no compromise

The Outcome

The project successfully enabled the firm to exit its data centre on time while accelerating its broader cloud adoption strategy.

Key benefits included:

 Seamless data centre exit with no operational disruption

 Reduced infrastructure costs through the removal of large on-premises compute and storage estates

 Improved performance and efficiency for SQL-based workloads, including the firm’s Elite 3E practice management system

 Additional licensing savings, including £12.5k through optimised NetApp licensing

 Lower carbon emissions through the retirement of power-intensive infrastructure

By migrating to Azure and modernising key platforms, the firm now benefits from a more scalable, resilient and future-ready cloud foundation.

Contact Us
White outline of a piggy bank with a dollar sign above it

Lower costs, improved performance

Future-ready platform