Suhre & Associates

Background

Suhre & Associates is a criminal defense law firm headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, with additional offices in Lexington, Louisville, Indianapolis, and Dayton. Founded in 1999 by Joe Suhre, who served in law enforcement earlier in his career before attending law school, the firm has grown by delivering a tech-forward approach to legal practice. Over the last two decades, Suhre & Associates has evolved from piecemeal IT solutions and cloud subscriptions to a cohesive, self-hosted network that helps keep multiple locations connected and productive.

Operating five active offices spread across Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, they rely on stable, high-speed connectivity to serve clients effectively. As founder and managing partner, Joe Suhre also manages the firm’s IT. Needing something easy enough to handle alongside legal duties, he settled on UniFi for its license-free model, reliable SD-WAN, and intuitive design—allowing him to self-manage day-to-day operations with minimal outside assistance.

Business Requirements & Goals

1. Simple Administration Joe Suhre, functioning as the firm’s IT director, needed a platform he could configure and maintain himself. Occasional help from a Florida-based firm, Unified IT, got initial deployments set up, but day-to-day tasks would remain in-house.

2. Secure, Multi-Site Connectivity With offices in three states, Suhre & Associates demanded always-on, encrypted links for shared files, real-time collaboration, and daily data backups. Previously, they considered MPLS circuits, which proved far too expensive—UniFi’s free SD-WAN alternative was more practical.

3. Cost-Effective Growth Law firms watch expenses closely. By choosing UniFi, the firm avoided licensing fees and found a straightforward path to expand to additional sites, whether full offices or smaller co-working spaces.

4. Apple-Focused Ecosystem The entire staff uses macOS or iOS devices. The network had to accommodate features like AirPrint and AirPlay while securely segregating guest VLANs and IoT devices. A unified system of Dream Machine gateways and access points provides stable Wi-Fi coverage, essential for MacBooks and iPads.

Why UniFi?

Intuitive for a Non-IT Professional

Joe learned UniFi’s interface quickly. With initial setup assistance from Unified IT, he now self-manages all five sites—changing Wi-Fi passwords, troubleshooting VLANs, or adding new access points.

License-Free Model Avoiding recurring software fees was critical. Once the UniFi hardware is purchased, Suhre & Associates can run it indefinitely without monthly costs.

SD-WAN for Multiple Offices SiteMagic SD-WAN connects each office—even one in a shared co-working space behind another firewall—into a secure, hub-and-spoke VPN. It uses WireGuard for the site-to-site connections, ensuring all traffic is fully end-to-end encrypted and does not pass through the Ubiquity Cloud. Only the firm’s gateways store the encryption keys, guaranteeing total data privacy. Previously, Joe considered MPLS circuits costing thousands of dollars monthly, but UniFi’s SD-WAN is included at no extra charge and can easily expand to new locations. Joe also uses WireGuard on his personal device for remote access, making secure offsite work straightforward.

Supports Apple-Focused Workflow From iMacs to MacBooks, the team relies on Apple hardware. UniFi Dream Machines and APs offer stable roaming, VLAN options for printing and AirPlay, and quick device provisioning for staff.

Deployment Highlights

Dream Machines & UDR Three larger offices use UniFi Dream Machine models (Pro or SE) for higher throughput and integrated PoE. Smaller offices, including a co-working space location, deploy UniFi Dream Routers (UDR). Even when one UDR was initially behind the co-working space’s NAT firewall, it still joined the SD-WAN without needing specialized VPN credentials—seamlessly extending the firm’s secure network to that remote site.

Site Manager for Central Oversight Joe uses Site Manager to check latency, traffic volume, and potential device issues. He logs in weekly from anywhere:

• Monitors each site’s status in one dashboard
• Updates firmware or adds VLANs without traveling onsite
• Verifies ISP performance to address any speed or downtime concerns

Synology & SD-WAN By dropping third-party cloud storage, Suhre & Associates installed Synology NAS devices for secure file sharing. Offices synchronize with a main NAS in Cincinnati. With WireGuard-based SD-WAN handling the connections, daily backups and real-time file access are seamless—and the traffic is encrypted end to end at no extra charge.

VLANs & Guest Access

The firm segregates network traffic to keep operations smooth and secure:

• Staff VLAN for attorneys’ MacBooks and VoIP
• IoT VLAN for printers, personal assistants, or Wi-Fi cameras
• Guest VLAN for visitors or temporary staff

Staff see a consistent environment at every office, while visitors access a limited network that can’t compromise internal resources.

Results

Fully Self-Managed Joe rarely needs outside help. He can handle expansions, fix outages, and adopt new devices through UniFi’s user-friendly dashboard.

Rock-Solid SD-WAN The law firm connects offices across Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana without pricey MPLS lines. WireGuard ensures traffic is end-to-end encrypted, and only the firm’s gateways hold the keys.

No Licensing Costs Purchasing hardware upfront fit the firm’s cost model. Monthly bills don’t balloon with user seats or software subscriptions.

Apple-Centric Productivity AirPrint, AirPlay, and quick Wi-Fi roaming keep attorneys productive—crucial in time-sensitive legal work.

Looking Ahead

Protect & Access for New Headquarters Suhre & Associates plans to buy a new building in Cincinnati. Once secured, the goal is to deploy UniFi Protect for surveillance and UniFi Access for modern keycard entry. Rolling these features into the existing UniFi environment promises a seamless upgrade.

LTE Failover While outages have been minimal, Joe wants UniFi LTE as a backup for critical services such as VoIP and real-time file syncing. If primary fiber ever goes down, attorneys can stay connected throughout the outage.

Ongoing SD-WAN Expansion Should additional offices or staff come online, they’ll simply adopt new Dream Machines or UDRs into the WireGuard-based SD-WAN.

From VLAN segregation to multi-state SD-WAN, Suhre & Associates has a future-proof network that matches its modern, Mac-based operation—ready to scale wherever the firm goes next.