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Virtual data rooms in Iowa

Virtual data rooms for Iowa firms

Iowa has 1,195 real estate offices, 1,135 accounting and tax firms, 1,212 law offices and 1,235 securities and investment firms with paid employees. Our read of its breach notice rule covers personal information, the expeditious timing rule and the 500-resident trigger. ShareAndGo is a virtual data room for the documents these firms share during deals, audits and legal matters.

The firms that share confidential documents in Iowa

County Business Patterns counted 83,321 employer establishments in Iowa in 2023. On a per-person count across the 50 states and DC, Iowa sits 18th for securities and investment firms, at 38.4 per 100,000, 33rd for offices of real estate agents and brokers, at 37.1, and 37th for accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll firms, at 35.3. Its 1,212 law offices, 37.7 per 100,000, rank 44th.

These are mostly small businesses. 855 of the state's law offices and 1,046 of its securities and investment firms have fewer than five employees.

  • Offices of lawyers: 1,212
  • Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services: 1,135
  • Securities and investment firms: 1,235
  • Corporate and regional managing offices: 395
  • Offices of real estate agents and brokers: 1,195

Where those firms are

By county, Polk County leads with 312 law offices, ahead of Linn County (76), Scott County (68) and Woodbury County (51). Those four hold 42 percent of the state's total.

Our Des Moines page goes through its figures in detail.

What sets Des Moines apart

Against the national mix, Des Moines runs heaviest in securities and investment firms: 395 establishments, 1.5 times the share you would see across the country; insurance (599, 1.5 times) and utilities (68, 1.5 times) come next.

How Iowa compares

The Census Bureau estimated Iowa's population at 3,241,488 in July 2024, up 1.6 percent from the April 2020 base of 3,190,546.

On law offices per 100,000 residents, Iowa sits next to New Hampshire at 37.8 and Michigan at 37.2, against 37.7 here. Across the 50 states and DC the combined rate is 49.1.

Small offices make up 71 percent of the state's law offices, against 72 percent across the 50 states and DC.

Iowa's breach notice rule

Iowa's breach notice duty sits in Iowa Code section 715C.2, with its definitions in section 715C.1.

Iowa asks for consumer notification in the most expeditious manner possible and without unreasonable delay. There is no fixed count of days for consumers.

A second clock runs for the state. When a breach requires notice to more than five hundred Iowa residents, written notice goes to the director of the consumer protection division of the office of the attorney general within five business days after notice is given to any consumer.

Note the trigger: the five business days start from the first consumer notice, not from discovery.

Encryption and the no-harm exception

Data is in scope when it is not encrypted, redacted, or otherwise altered so that it is unreadable, or when it was protected but the keys to read it were obtained through the breach.

Notification is not required if, after an appropriate investigation or after consultation with law enforcement agencies, the business determined that no reasonable likelihood of financial harm to the affected consumers has resulted or will result. That determination has to be put in writing and kept for five years.

Our Iowa breach notification page sets out the data elements and the rule in full, and says which text we checked. This is general information, not legal advice.

What a ShareAndGo room gives an Iowa team

After an incident in a data room, a clean timeline is what lets you size the problem.

For documents you share through ShareAndGo, the activity log records every view and download, and watermarked view-only pages carry the reader's email address and the date.

The watermark is on by default and can be set room by room. Every entry in the chained log also covers uploads, invitations and changes, and the whole trail exports as CSV. Recipients prove their address with a six-digit code and need no account, while groups only ever see their own folders, which keeps the set of possible readers for any file easy to state.

The courts and regulators behind Iowa paperwork

Federal cases from Des Moines are heard in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. CPAs practicing in Iowa are licensed by the Iowa Accountancy Examining Board.

At state level, securities offerings and investment advisers in Iowa come under the Iowa Insurance Division.

Iowa FAQ

How many law offices are there in Iowa?
County Business Patterns 2023 counted 1,212 offices of lawyers with paid employees in Iowa, 855 of them with fewer than five employees. Polk County has the most, 312.
Who in Iowa government receives the notice?
The director of the consumer protection division of the office of the attorney general, when more than five hundred Iowa residents are notified.
How long is the window for that notice?
Five business days after notice is given to any consumer.
Do people I share documents with need an account?
No. Readers confirm their email with a six-digit code, with no account to create.

Iowa metros

Des Moines, IA

Data rooms for Des Moines's 364 law offices and 305 accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll firms, with audit trails and view-only access.

Related

Iowa data breach notification law

About the figures on our location pages