nFlow, have announced that Ashfords has completed the roll out of
nFlow digital dictation to 350 users throughout its 6 offices in the South West.

The decision toselect nFlow was largely based on the software’s unique ability to use distributed audio stores
and localised caching in a thin client environment. This allowed Ashfords to run their DDS
solution entirely in a Terminal Services environment on link speeds that called in to question the
viability of competing solutions. The installation is believed to be biggest Terminal Services
installation of its kind and once again reinforces the unique strength nFlow have in enabling
digital dictation to work in a thin client environment without requiring upgrades or affecting user
experience.

Phase One of the project involved full roll out to 240 users with phase two then rolling out to a
further 110 users. Prior to reviewing nFlow Ashfords believed they would need to install a digital
dictation solution in their Tiverton office on the standard Windows desktop because of the
available bandwidth or incur more cost by upgrading the link. nFlow DD’s ability to have
distributed audio stores in the thin client environment gave the firm the option to run a rich
application in their Terminal Services environment without incurring link upgrade costs. It has also
demonstrated that the bandwidth availability, in the case of sudden peak loads on the link, does
not impact user experience by introducing latency or audio degradation.

Ashfords have also installed the telephony dictation interface (TDI) component of the nFlow
Mobile Suite for remote workers. This allows them to use any phone to call in and record
dictations that get routed immediately for typing as soon as complete.

Legal software solutions provider, Eclipse Legal Systems, has unveiled the latest addition to its ‘Proclaim®’ software suite (voted ‘Integrated System of the Year’ at the 2008 Legal Technology Awards).

This latest development sees Proclaim®’s Billing functionality undergo significant enhancement, further strengthening the software’s increasingly popular practice management features. Traditionally one of the market’s leading Case Management systems, recent years have seen Proclaim® offer a fully-integrated Practice Management platform, with its optional Accounts module now in use at over 120 law firms. The last year has seen practices choose Proclaim® Accounts over competitor offerings from vendors including Axxia, Iris and Linetime.

The Billing feature allows fee earners to select any disbursement to bill, and enables them to decide to bill work by percentage and across chosen dates. Bills are instantaneously forwarded to the practice’s accounting team, or nominated cashier, for approval and entry into the relevant nominal.

All bills are fully customisable, and can be itemised and created upon numerous criteria (for example, fixed fee, time / WIP based, by fee earner(s), by transaction(s), etc).

Howrey, LLP, a leading global law firm specializing in antitrust, intellectual property and complex commercial litigation and trial practice, and Guidance Software today announced a strategic alliance to provide a cutting-edge eDiscovery solution to Howrey’s clients worldwide. This innovative alliance combines Howrey’s expertise in eDiscovery and complex litigation – including legal and technical oversight of the client’s electronically stored information (ESI) preservation – with Guidance Software’s industry-leading EnCase® eDiscovery solution, which enables companies to search, identify, collect, and process ESI from servers, laptops and work stations across their global network from a central location.

Howrey’s decision to standardize EnCase eDiscovery represents a major departure from the traditional but expensive route practiced by most law firms of hiring third party service providers to perform costly eDiscovery collection and processing. This offering will address some of the significant issues associated with using outside vendors to provide eDiscovery.

Howrey will offer the firm’s clients the ability to conduct ESI collections of any size and scope using EnCase® technology across the company’s network, overseen by Howrey’s lawyers and eDiscovery project managers, ensuring defensible processes using the industry-standard technology. Additionally, Howrey’s clients will have the option to procure EnCase® eDiscovery permanently to establish a defensible and systematized in-house process, with Howrey’s eDiscovery attorneys implementing policies and procedures supporting the installation. Howrey will be the only law firm whose litigation support team has received EnCase® eDiscovery certification from Guidance Software, thus uniquely providing its clients with this important capability and expertise.

LexisNexishave announced today that Grindeys has awarded it a new contract for its Axxia dna* product to be used by all of Grindeys’ 240 fee-earners and support staff.

Martin Leak, Practice Director, Grindeys, said “Being a high volume conveyancing business and an IRIS AIM user, we were looking for a new practice management technology to help us gain a competitive edge. Customers want to exchange data electronically with their legal practitioner and we wanted a robust platform that gives us the flexibility to meet current and future client requirements. Furthermore, we needed a quick, easy-to-use, and integrated system that makes life easier for our staff. Following a review, we felt that Axxia dna* was the right product and from a supplier who has never ended the life of any of its products.”

nFlow have announced the launch of the nFlow Annual Conference hosted by Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP, London.

The conference is set to take place over the 4th & 5th June, with nFlow opening up the wide range of sessions and content to existing customers as well as law firms and those interested in understanding more about digital dictation, a unique stance for a software vendor. nFlow technology partners, independent industry consultants and journalists will also be participating in the event to ensure well rounded and unbiased content.

Central to the conference will be the launch of nFlow Version 5, the latest digital dictation offering from nFlow. Version 5, nFlow believe, is the future of digital dictation or  ‘DDS2’ a phrase they have coined. Designed and developed in conjunction with consultants from Microsoft, Version 5  is an entirely new service orientated architecture built from the ground up utilising the latest best practice for .net, Neil Cameron, keynote speaker at the conference commented, “I am delighted to be hosting a keynote session on the future of digital dictation and looking forward to facilitating some interesting panel sessions on dictation mobility and the role digital dictation plays in disaster recovery. nFlow are a key player in the digital dictation space and the conference promises to be an excellent event for both existing and potential customers.”

Eclipse have announced a range of new features for their popular case management system:

 New Probate module… Proclaim®’s Probate case management module has been re-engineered to provide a wide new range of fee earner tools.  In addition to extended reporting functionality, automated calculations and a ‘3-click’ navigation system, the new module provides automatic completion of the IHT200 and IHT205 forms.

 PCOL (Possession Claim Online)… Proclaim®’s repossession modules can now provide a direct online link to Her Majesty’s Courts Service’s online service for claimants and defendants.  Data can now be validated and uploaded from Proclaim® at a mouse-click, and will serve to further streamline processes for practices involved in volume claims.

 Graphical Workload Monitor… Proclaim®’s ‘Workload Monitor’ tool has been enhanced to provide ‘at-a-glance’ graphical reports.  Workload Monitor provides live fee earner performance statistics for supervisors, enabling analysis of trends, bottlenecks, under-utilised resources, etc.  The new development introduces a range of graphical tools, offering even faster and more user-friendly analysis.

 Dynamic Database… The Dynamic Database (DD) tool provides a ‘bridge’ between Proclaim® and complementary third-party software systems.  Using protocols such as ODBC, the DD enables export of user-defined data and tables from Proclaim®, to be imported into the external system.  Platform-independent, the DD enables this data to be utilised in toolkits such as, for example, Crystal Reports, or in cross-platform instances such as when utilising a Microsoft SQL system.  In addition to this data flexibility, the DD also provides a secure environment and negates the chance of corrupting any live information, making it an ideal toolkit for scenario testing and manipulation.

WinScribe have announced new enhancements now available for its application for BlackBerry Smartphones.

Users now have the ability to insert and over-write audio dictation captured on their BlackBerry Smartphones as well as flag jobs as priority directly from their device. WinScribe is the first vendor in the digital dictation sector to offer this functionality for BlackBerry Smartphones.

Since the launch of the application in February of this year, WinScribe for BlackBerry Smartphones is being deployed in over 30 of the top legal firms internationally as well as a number of medical organizations.

Rather than carrying around several devices, WinScribe's key objective was to make life easier for the mobile lawyer by combining the accessibility of all applications onto one device. turnaround with its fully featured finger touch control, secure voice and data

 

BigHand has been selected as the preferred Digital Dictation provider for Connect2Law; the UK law firm referrals and support network. BigHand’s system BigHand3, has replaced Winscribe as the recommended digital dictation workflow system for Connect2Law’s member firms. Connect2Law cites BigHand’s investment in product development, unparalleled law firm experience and market leading profile as key factors in the switch.

 

 

SRC  today revealed that it has been chosen to implement the SRC WinScribe digital dictation solution to more than 350 users at Top 100 law firm, Macfarlanes. The SRC WinScribe solution was chosen because of the ability of WinScribe’s advanced workflow to reduce document turnaround times. Selection was also based on the system’s  ability to support mobile working, enabling authors to complete dictations through standard and mobile telephones coupled with a very easy to use Blackberry device interface.

“With any technology we adopt the principle aim is to enhance the service we provide to clients, the SRC WinScribe solution allows us to do this by enhancing the author secretary relationship and at the same time improving document creation times,” said Maurice Millen, Head of IT at Macfarlanes. “We have outgrown our existing analogue system and it was crucial that in today’s economic climate we work more efficiently as a team by using the best available digital dictation solution. We are excited by the opportunities the SRC WinScribe solution offers now and in the future.”

The contract was competitively tendered by the leading digital dictation suppliers. However, the combination of WinScribe’s innovation in advanced workflow and remote working capabilities coupled with SRC’s approach to delivery were deciding factor for Macfarlanes. “SRC have a very good reputation as a leader within the legal market, which was confirmed by peers that we have spoken to about digital dictation. We liked the way they work. They are client-focused and combine exceptional expertise with a straightforward approach,” added Maurice Millen.

According to the London based legal firm existing staff and new joiners are keen to start using the new solution, which will be fully implemented and supported by SRC, including the provision of end-user training.

Macfarlanes authors will capture dictations using Philips SpeechMike IIs when in the office and Olympus DS4000s when out of the office. For additional remote working, authors will be able to dictate using standard and mobile telephones and using WinScribe’s new Blackberry dictation module.

Speaking about the Macfarlanes announcement, Chris Hart, CEO at SRC said: “This is a great win for SRC and demonstrates our focus and dedication to the legal market. We look forward to working with Macfarlanes and are delighted that another Top 100 law firm saw SRC as the natural choice to meet their challenging dictation requirements. Macfarlanes will benefit from advanced workflow, which brings greater efficiencies to authors and secretaries, while management will be able to see in real-time the volume and pattern of dictations across the firm.”

 

SRC have announced it has been selected to roll out the WinScribe digital dictation solution to rapidly expanding law firm Southerns.

The solution enables the firm to automatically distribute, manage and prioritise dictations, which will accelerate document creation times.

 

Copitrak Systems has announced that leading London law firm Wedlake Bell has gone live with its eClipse cost recovery and cost management solution. The implementation saw the introduction of eClipse terminals to the firm’s MFDs as well as a number of eClipse interfaces hosted on existing eCopy ScanStations, so minimising hardware levels. The practice is also currently trialling LaserTrak print management software with a view to a practice-wide roll-out later in the year.  

Wedlake Bell opted for Copitrak after a thorough scout of the market looking for a replacement for their ageing cost recovery system. As Head of IT Linda Webster explains, Copitrak stood out. “There was a strong product fit in that the eClipse system did exactly what we wanted and it also gave us a perfect platform for future development. As a firm, we’re interested not just in recovering and charging back costs but in cost management, in capturing and analysing what it costs us to do a particular job. The Copitrak product set affords us plenty of scope for introducing new functionality to support that process.

We were also impressed with the quality of the company in terms of its implementation skills, project management and customer focus. There is a refreshing transparency to their approach, which is complemented by a likeable, professional and highly competent team. As a result, we’re confident that we have the right IT partner on board to help us drive forward in this crucial area of business control.”

The new solution immediately slashed the amount of administrative time previously taken up with downloading and rekeying all copy costs into the firm’s practice management system. With eClipse, all costs are automatically fed into the PMS and posted against the respective matter or client number, minimising effort and maximising accuracy.

Stewart Hadley, Copitrak’s managing director, is delighted with the Wedlake Bell win. “This is further evidence that there is clear differentiation between suppliers and that law firms are attracted by an offering that combines technical and service excellence. It’s also significant that cost management as opposed to cost recovery is continuing to grow in importance and our product set reflects that change. For those firms keen to enhance both cost disciplines, Copitrak is the supplier of choice.”  

 

 

It was a case of 'who' would acquire Axxia rather than 'when', but now we know. The formal statement from LexisNexis is attached below.

 

Formal statment from LexisNexis regarding the acquisition of Axxia:

LexisNexis, a leading global provider of business information solutions, today announced the acquisition of Axxia – a leading provider of back-office and integrated solutions in the mid-law segment in the UK.

The acquisition of Axxia enables LexisNexis to offer a full suite of practice management solutions to the UK mid-law sector. Medium sized law firms can now rely on LexisNexis for both content and complementary IT infrastructure enhanced with workflow solutions.

The Axxia acquisition is a further step towards LexisNexis’ goal to be a comprehensive solutions business by combining local and global strategic acquisitions with existing content products. This move also complements the acquisition of Visualfiles in 2006 that provided a market leading case management front-end solution for the mid-law market. The addition of Axxia enables LexisNexis to offer fully integrated workflow-based solutions enhanced with relevant content for the mid-law market in the UK, building on the heritage of LexisNexis Butterworths publishing and understanding of the information used within law firms.

LexisNexis has also implemented a global reorganisation which sees the appointment of Kate Holden as Senior Vice President of Global Practice Management Solutions to oversee the development of solutions to meet local and global customer needs.


“LexisNexis offers customers integration of front and back office, with all the resulting benefits, such as improved efficiencies with seamless movement from one application to another, and relevant content automatically pre-populating searches and check lists. This one-stop-shop offering helps our customers to maximise productivity and profitability, reduce malpractice risk, enhance client interaction, and make well-informed case and matter decisions,” said Kate Holden, Senior Vice President of Global Practice Management Solutions, LexisNexis.

“LexisNexis already offers a Practice Management Total Solution in the US and we are keen to bring this successful approach to the UK,” adds Josh Bottomley, Managing Director, LexisNexis UK.

“We have seen this comprehensive business solution bring tangible benefits to clients integrating everything they need to excel in the business and practice of law - from calendaring and time management to legal research, case assessment, document drafting and client relationship management, and it means one point of contact to resolve any integration issues rather than a panel of suppliers.”

Stuart Holden, Managing Director, Axxia comments, “Although both businesses serve similar organisations, the product portfolios at Axxia and Visualfiles are extremely complementary. Both Visualfiles and Axxia hold leading positions with their respective offerings. Visualfiles has a first class reputation for its case management software and Axxia’s key strength lies in integrated front and back office solutions. With both Visualfiles and Axxia in the LexisNexis stable, we can offer our customers an unparalleled wealth of knowledge and experience across a broad range of markets. This will significantly strengthen our ability to deliver the leading portfolio of integrated and open solutions that satisfy the widest range of customer needs.”

FloSuite Ltd have announced that Maclay Murray & Spens LLP as its latest legal sector client in the UK.

Maclay Murray & Spens is a top 50 UK law firm with around 600 staff, offices in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London and Brussels, and a turnover approaching £50m (2006).

The firm selected FloSuite to meet requirements for the automation and streamlining of key internal procedures across the business, including Client/Matter Inception, Billing and others. The FloSuite applications will integrate closely with Maclay Murray & Spens’ Pilgrim practice management and Interwoven document management systems.

Legal Files Software, Inc. has released an enhanced integration between its case/matter management software and Livelink’s eDOCS DM document management solution, providing “matter-centric” document management functionality in conjunction with a customer’s own eDOCS DM document library.  The latest enhancements improve the document searching functionality from within Legal Files and extend the integration to the browser based product, MyLegalFiles. 

 

“Legal Files offers built-in document management functionality, but some of our customers prefer to continue to use their existing eDOCS DM solution,” according to John Kanoski, Legal Files CEO.  “With this enhanced integration, we help customers protect their existing technology investment, leveraging the document management strengths of Livelink’s solution with the robust matter management functionality provided by Legal Files.  It’s an option that provides the best of both worlds.”

 

The integration also offers the option of utilizing the eDOCS DM component for document-level security, limiting access to who can access a particular document, as well as providing matter-level duplicate document checking.

Axxia, have announced that Langleys a customer since 1993, will be implementing the Axxia DNA solution throughout 2008.

The decision comes as a result of a strong working partnership between vendor and firm resulting in an
implementation plan that will see the firm deploy the solution throughout the firm.

nFlow, recently outlined its aggressive growth plans for 2008.

Throughout this successful 2007 year nFlow saw its market share of the UK Legal 100 grow to 14.5% and client base as a whole rise above 135.

The launch of the nFlow mobility suite for Blackberry and Windows Mobile combined with the impending launch of nFlow Digital Dictation Version 5 will be pivotal to the 2008 plans that aim to position nFlow as the digital dictation choice of innovative, proactive and evolving law firms.

Financial results to date show a year on year growth of 1597% over the last 5 years.

Recent wins at Trowers and Hamlins, Ashfords and McGrigors as well as leading accountancy practice PKF
confirm that nFlow are rapidly earning their place as a supplier to top UK professional service
firms.

Furthermore with recent implementations of the nFlow Mobility Suite at Reynolds Porter
Chamberlain LLP (Blackberry Client) and Fladgates (Windows Mobile) demonstrate nFlow’s
ability to develop innovative technology that seeks to maximise the benefits of existing digital
dictation technology. A key feature of the nFlow Mobility Suite will be its potential compatibility
and integration with other leading digital dictation systems making the nFlow Mobility Suite
available to non nFlow clients.

Rob Lancashire, nFlow Sales & Marketing Director commented “2007 has been an excellent year
for nFlow, not only have we seen our market share increase but we have also spent considerable
investment in R&D culminating in the development of a next generation digital dictation system. I
am very excited about 2008 as I see the new nFlow next generation DDS system being a must
have for evolving law firms that are making their own impact through innovation.”

“As the digital dictation market becomes more crowded and competitive it is imperative to our
strategy that we only deliver technology solutions that add significant value to a firm and we
believe through our recent developments, nFlow will be positioned as the most innovative and
feature rich digital dictation solution on the market.”

nFlow have had their most successful award year to date, recently being ranked 23rd fastest
growing technology company in the UK in the 2007 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and ranked
Number 99 fastest growing technology company on the 2007 Deloitte Technology Fast 500

Beswicks Solicitors has signed an agreement with SRC, WinScribe’s exclusive UK Platinum Partner, to deploy digital dictation across its Staffordshire based offices by the end of January 2008. The SRC WinScribe system will replace the existing analogue dictation system and enable the firm to rationalise their document creation processes and work more effectively.

Graham Neyt, Head of Beswicks’ Litigation, who was responsible for the digital dictation project said, “Since opening new offices in 2005, many departments are recruiting four or five new members to cope with the massive growth we are experiencing. Digital Dictation was therefore a logical progression for the firm, especially as we knew it would enable us to turnaround documents much faster and more easily than before, ultimately leading to higher levels of client service.”

The decision to select SRC follows an extensive evaluation process that reviewed many of the leading digital dictation suppliers. “We selected SRC because they have proven experience of delivering successful solutions and could provide a fully-featured system that benefits fee earners and secretaries alike, with an uncomplicated, easy-to-use interface.” added Graham Neyt.

The new technology supplied by SRC enables dictations to be intelligently managed using WinScribe’s unique workflow system. This allows for the automatic distribution and prioritisation of work to teams of secretaries or where necessary individuals, ensuring documents are turnarounded in the fastest time possible.

Beswicks’ fee earners will use Philips SpeechMike II Pro devices to dictate when in the office and their mobile phones for flexible dictation when working away from the office. Fee earners have commented that the solution has made getting dictations to secretaries much faster and easier, while having very little impact on their daily working practices.

GlobalSign Inc, one of the longest established Certification Authorities (CA) and specialists in SSL certificate security, have been selected by Adobe as one of a limited number of Internet security companies authorized to provide products and services utilizing Adobe’s Certified Document Services (CDS) platform.

The GlobalSign DocumentSign™ solution suite allows organizations to create tamperproof, time-stamped and digitally signed PDF documents.

Recipients of the digitally signed document can easily determine the authenticity, origin and integrity of the PDF - essential security requisites for organizations publishing high value or high risk electronic documents.

One early supporter of GlobalSign’s CDS initiative is the Notaries Society, the representative society for the 800 or so Notaries Public practising in England and Wales. Many notaries carry out work for commercial firms engaged in international trade, and for private individuals, such as dealing with aspects of the purchase or sale of land and property abroad.

Michael Lightowler, a member of the Council of the Notaries Society commented, “Our work requires us to take the utmost precaution in integrity and security, which in years gone by meant wax seals and hand delivery. However, we are moving with the times and in order to drive our values into the modern era we are adopting technology-based methods of signature verification and secure document transmission. GlobalSign’s Adobe CDS solutions will help us reduce the fraudulent activity that often takes place in areas such as those governed by The Financial Services Authority, The Land Registry and the Probate Registry. It represents a high security, low cost solution that already has a widespread technology user base.”

Further information in the form of a tamperproof PDF here

Leading litigation and commercial practice, Kingslegal, has signed a six-figure deal for a bespoke implementation of Eclipse Legal Systems’ Proclaim® Case Management software solution.

Kingslegal, with offices in Cardiff and Solent, works for national insurers in defending claims for the insurance industry and mortgage providers. A member of the Insurance Fraud Investigators Group, Kingslegal acts for clients such as Axa, Co-operative Insurance Society, MSI, Zurich and GMAC-RFC.

The firm approached a range of leading IT providers, seeking a new firm-wide practice management solution. Following an in-depth review, Kingslegal selected Eclipse’s Proclaim® software system for an initial rollout to 130 staff. The firm’s Director of Technical Services, Lorraine Smith, comments:

"Increased competition in our market means that we must consistently reassess our procedures and the IT systems that underpin them. In winning new business and maintaining the impeccable service levels that we have become known for, we must possess systems that reduce administrative burden, streamline offerings, and satisfy our clients that they are dealing with the best law firm for their needs.

"Eclipse’s Proclaim® solution impressed us in several fields – most notable were the ease in which system appearance and workflow can be tailored, the scalability in terms of managing work volumes, and the resilience of the underlying structure."

The six-figure deal will see a bespoke Proclaim® Case Management system rolled out to the initial 130 users. Kingslegal is also replacing its existing financial software, and has opted for Eclipse’s integrated Proclaim® Accounts system to complete the full ‘Practice Management’ swapout.

Laurence Kaye, an expert in digital media law, is offering to make a donation to Children In Need for everyone who signs up to his blog about the future of digital media law here: http://laurencekaye.typepad.com/laurence_kayes_blog/



Sign up using the subscribe box on the blog page and help raise some money for charity and learn about the future of digital media law at the same time.

Outsourced transcription specialist Voicepath has further cemented its position as market leader following its selection as a preferred supplier for LawNet, the UK and Ireland’s leading network of law firms.

LawNet, which is the largest member owned network in the country representing more than 3000 lawyers, provides its members with access to centralised tailored support services.  It is committed to quality legal services and all firms must achieve ISO 9001:2000/LawNet Quality Standard accreditation. Therefore any supplier that it selects must demonstrate its own commitment to quality.

Voicepath general manager Richard Bate comments: “At Voicepath, our top priority is to provide our customers with a fast, high quality and secure service, and we work hard to achieve this.  This is extremely important to us because any firm that decides to outsource needs to be confident that our work is of the same standard, if not higher, as anything completed internally.

Helen Simpson, director of member services at LawNet, adds: “Voicepath was a natural selection for us.  Its ISO certification assures its customers of the provision of a high quality service and the fact that it has integrations with all the major digital dictation systems means that all of our members, irrespective of which system they use, are able to access the service simply and securely.”

Bate concludes: “We are delighted that LawNet has awarded us preferred supplier status.  We already count a number of members as customers and we look forward to working with many more.”

Open Text have announced that Mewburn Ellis LLP, one of the UK’s most prominent firms specialising in intellectual property management has selected Open Text Livelink ECM - eDOCS DM 5.

London based Knowhow Consulting will be providing additional services, domain knowledge and implementation expertise to deliver a
tailored solution to meet the firm’s exacting needs.

As one of the UK’s largest firms of patent and trade mark attorneys based from offices in London, Cambridge, Bristol and Manchester; Mewburn Ellis LLP recognised the need to centralise all case information; particularly with regards to incoming correspondence, whether that be physical or electronic. Simplicity and automation, where possible, with comprehensive search and retrieval capabilities were crucial requirements as was integration with the firm’s Lotus Notes email system and effective document-related task scheduling and monitoring, which Knowhow Consulting were able to provide.

The firm assessed a range of enterprise content management providers, including niche legal specialists. Open Text was selected due to its close partnership with other key technology providers, such as Microsoft and IBM, ensuring the firm’s integration needs were met. “As the world’s largest independent ECM provider, Open Text’s proven technology underpinned by a global support network was a compelling offering,” said Stephen Carter,
partner at Mewburn Ellis LLP. “An implementation partner, such as Knowhow Consulting, who had specific experience of working with Intellectual Property firms enabled us to follow the risk limiting strategy of working with a market leader, underpinned by local expertise.”

Ben Mitchell, Head of UK Legal Solutions Group at Open Text said: “The flexibility of our eDOCS DM product enabled KnowHow Consulting to create a solution that specifically met the unique requirements of Mewburn Ellis. We offer legal customers the best choice in
leading solutions from a financially strong, independent software company, with the global reach and extensive partner network to meet their needs.”

Grundig Business Systems have announced the launch of the DigtaConferenceStation, an innovative conference recording system for up to 20 people.

The DigtaConferenceStation is designed to allow important meetings to be recorded accurately and securely without the need for a minute taker. The device relies on an array of eight microphones and specialist radar-like technology to home in precisely on whoever is speaking at the time, helping to reduce sound interference during recording. As the array is highly sensitive the device can be placed some way away from the meeting participants.  When someone speaks the DigtaConferenceStation locates that person and automatically sends out what is effectively a ‘listening beam’ in his or her direction. This facilitates a noise filtering process whereby sounds from other parts of the room are diminished while the speaker’s voice is recorded in high audio quality; continuous background noise is also sampled and removed.

The DigtaConferenceStation is now available as is the DigtaConferenceStation set - this includes the Digta 4015 DS Premium digital dictation machine, a DigtaCard 128MB memory card for up to 20 hours of recording, a rechargeable battery 462 as well as a DigtaEarphone 951, allowing a user to search for specific parts of the recording without disturbing others in the meeting.   Both products include an audio cable and a carry case.

The DigtaConferenceStation connects easily to the microphone socket of the Digta 4015 DS Premium via the audio cable.  The Digta’s “follow-up dict.” function is ideal for conference recordings, as the device automatically creates a new dictation after a user-definable number of hours. This helps to clearly structure conference recordings, even if they last for several hours, and to allow some of the recording to be typed up in the background.  The device comes with a DigtaStation 441 docking station providing constant power to the Digta 4015 DS Premium and to the rechargeable batteries.  However, the DigtaConferenceStation can be combined with other Grundig Business Systems’ dictation machines and it can also be connected to a PC running the DigtaSoft software, to enable recording directly onto the computer.

nFlow, have announced that PKF (UK) LLP one of the UK’S leading firms of accountants and
business advisers, has selected nFlow to service the entire organisations digital dictation requirements.

The decision follows an extensive evaluation process which saw the leading digital dictation suppliers battle it out for this golden opportunity to become market leader in the accountancy sector, a significant new market for digital dictation that is showing signs of following in the footsteps of the legal industry.

PKF, previously an existing user of a predominantly analogue dictation system, had recognised the potential benefits of moving to a digital system as part of a drive to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the analogue system and the firms working practices as a whole.

Scott Hussey, IT Technical Services Manager, at PKF took a decision to review the market. “Once we had established a need to go digital we looked to the legal market for indicators as to the best systems in use. Following a thorough review of the viability of some of the main players we took a decision to go with nFlow. Not only did they understand our requirement but they were by far the best Citrix solution for us, an area which was key for the practice. Furthermore nFlow had such a positive attitude to the project and have shown a real willingness to develop the product further for the accountancy market whilst taking on board our suggestions.”

PKF is implementing nFlow digital dictation to replace existing analogue facilities for 335 users .

SRC have announced that Browne Jacobson, has selected SRC to roll out the WinScribe digital dictation solution across its three offices in Nottingham, Birmingham and London. Initially SRC will deploy to more than 200 users in Browne Jacobson’s corporate and banking division, then firm-wide to more than 600 users across all three offices.

The SRC WinScribe solution replaces the firm’s first generation Olympus digital dictation solution and is expected to dramatically improve secretarial efficiencies and document workflow.

Talking about Browne Jacobson’s reasons for replacing their existing system, Peter Birley, IT Director said; “We were looking for a more flexible solution that would simplify administration functions and maximise document creation efficiencies. The SRC implementation enables us to fulfil these objectives by easily moving dictations between offices and thereby more effectively managing and sharing secretarial workloads.”

“Fee earners also benefit from being able to dictate on the move using any telephone. Additional flexibility is provided by the WinScribe Web Uploader, which gives fee earners the ability to transfer audio to secretaries from any location using the web.”

“We were hugely impressed with the SRC WinScribe advanced workflow system, but it was a prerequisite that the system we selected was future-proof. SRC clearly demonstrated this with features such as the option for seamless integration of speech recognition and the option for fee earners to dictate using Blackberry devices.”

The introduction of WinScribe digital dictation is being fully project managed by SRC, and underpinned with a range of high-quality deployment services, including training for end users and support personnel.

TRILANTIC, a leading provider of European e-disclosure services, is offering Trident, in partnership with Wave Software, an innovator in the analysis
and processing of email files.

This software allows users to analyse the contents of client email boxes, determine what needs to be processed, then key word search and de-duplicate
the mails according to criteria relevant to the matter. The analysis tool is free for all to use,
and after an initial free 5 Gb of data, the cost of the software is £300 plus £86 per Gb
processed.

Recognising the time and confidentiality pressures of litigation situations, TRILANTIC wanted
to provide firms with the ability to analyse and de-duplicate the content of individual email
inboxes by lawyers at anytime. Based on Wave Software’s award winning Trident product,
TRILANTIC now provides the software, downloadable from its website.

Emails in all languages can be analysed and processed without leaving the law firm, quickly and with no
training, breaking the usual constraints of time, money, and the need for external expertise.

Available now from http://www.TRILANTIC.co.uk/services/wave_software.html; Trident
provides the following features:

• Fast and flexible Email de-duplication across multiple Outlook or Lotus notes files
• Keyword and Date Range Filtering
• Processing of foreign language emails
• Superior logging and reporting capabilities
• The ability to import Messages from MSG files, multiple folders or from multiple
custodians
• The ability to export Messages in format of choice and filtered by interest

Open Text yesterday  released its newest email management application which provides advanced features for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. The latest version of Livelink ECM – Email Management lets customers more easily deploy and manage email with Microsoft’s newest release of Exchange Server, providing comprehensive capabilities that can improve information governance and mitigate the legal and regulatory risks posed by email.

A key feature of the new release is tight integration with Exchange Server 2007’s managed folders functionality, which lets users organize messages into customized Microsoft Office Outlook folders for individual departments, users or functions based on corporate policy requirements.

Open Text’s email management application enhances the Exchange Server 2007 environment by enabling organizations to apply their centralized records management policies through these managed folders transparently.

With this application, each message automatically inherits the centralized record classification assigned to a folder when users drag and drop emails into that folder. Based on the classification, the message is assigned an appropriate retention and disposition life cycle.

“For us, user adoption and ease of use, not to mention ease of deployment, were top considerations when looking at email management solutions,” said Greg Brown, Senior Project Manager, Records Information Management, Halliburton Legal. “We liked Open Text’s solution because users could still work 100 percent in the Microsoft interface and very little was required of them to maintain our records policies. Employees get a system that helps them be productive, while we get a comprehensive system that can uniformly apply records policies to email in order to meet legal and regulatory requirements.”

Key capabilities of Livelink ECM - Email Management for Exchange Server 2007 include:

    * Industry-leading records management to provide a structured approach to determining how long emails are kept, defining and enforcing the process by which they are archived, and ensuring their eventual destruction.

    * Automatic or interactive archiving. Emails can be easily dragged and dropped in the archive by users or the system can automatically scan email folders and apply pre-configured archiving and records management rules.

    * Audit trails to define the history of activities associated with emails considered important business records. With a single click, users can review details such as when and by whom an email was deleted.

    * Comprehensive search capabilities so that administrators, reviewers and auditors can quickly and easily access archived emails. Emails are exposed to enterprise search capabilities, so that companies can make full use of email in content across the enterprise.

    * Transparent archiving that lets users access and work with archived emails, just as they do with emails on the email server. Archived emails can be retrieved with single-click access from the archive and users can edit, forward or move emails as needed.

    * The ability to easily offload email content to more cost-effective storage media, so that customers can improve the performance of their email systems and reduce storage costs.

    * Can be deployed quickly and easily without installations on the Exchange Server or individual desktops or laptops.

BigHand have today announced that following an initial head-to-head pilot between BigHand and Winscribe, BigHand3 has been rolled out to 200 users in the London office of K&L Gates.

One of the key factors in the decision was the experience of Bighand in deploying Citrix based solutions.

McGrigors, a top 50 UK law firm, initially went to the marketplace looking to purchase a legal case management or BPM framework which would enable streamlining of plot sales work within the Real Estate department. Further to a comprehensive evaluation of available products, McGrigors selected FloSuite for this purpose.

McGrigors has more than 650 staff and offices in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Belfast the Falkland Islands and Azerbaijan.

However, McGrigors soon realised that FloSuite could provide substantial benefits for system/data integration and a range of additional business processes across the firm – including Client/Matter Inception, and decided to move forward with a site-wide purchase.

Mike McGlinchey, Head of IT, McGrigors said: “With FloSuite we will be able to build sophisticated applications in a way not previously possible. The Microsoft Visio-based design environment enables fast prototyping and evolution of solutions to take place collaboratively with involvement of the business, rather than the traditional detailed specification and delivery phases associated with normal programming techniques.

“The fact that FloSuite also includes the options of deployment via Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint and Office was also important for us as this will enable applications to be deployed within working environments familiar to the user-base.”

Russell Wood, Director of Sales, FloSuite, said: “We believe project wins such as this validate the approach we have taken towards the legal market. We are enjoying significant success in this marketplace because we can provide a single, rapid development environment that enables law firms to deploy both data-centric and process-centric solutions quickly and easily in order to meet business demands.”

Grundig have launched the new top of the range 420 DigtaSonic digital dictation machine.

The digital DigtaSonic 420 is the first of Grundig Business Systems’ portable devices to support the improved DSSPro voice standard and comes with the smooth “Soft Touch Composite” finish and bright colour display. The DigtaSonic 420 boasts both enhanced security and optimum sound quality, the latter an important consideration for those using voice recognition software. The DigtaSonic 420 is available now, packaged together with the DigtaSoft PC software.

Professional, easy - and secure

The DigtaSonic 420 makes professional dictation simple. Users get a clear, bright colour display with all functions shown as symbols, while menus are available in a choice of nine languages.  The ergonomically shaped, high quality casing features the new "Soft Touch Composite" finish, a smooth, rubberised coating designed for extra grip and comfort; while the familiar slide switch makes for easy one-handed, intuitive operation.  If it cannot be charged via the mains, the DigtaSonic 420 can also be used with batteries, making it ideal for professional users on the move with extensive dictation requirements.

With its support for the DSSPro voice standard Grundig Business Systems is offering customers not only the best possible voice quality but also enhanced security for everyone from the author to the typists.  Voice files are encrypted during the recording of a dictation to allow the user (a lawyer or doctor, for example) to securely record and transfer confidential data. A PIN style password to protect the internal memory also protects sensitive recordings from unauthorized access.  Courtesy of pre-defined user permissions, only the nominated secretary can then play-back and transcribe confidential files – safely ring-fencing anything that needs protecting.  

Customised and network-compatible

The DigtaSonic 420 is geared to the power user and can be tailored accordingly. The 128 MB internal memory allows up to 20 hours of voice recordings, with extra capacity available via the DigtaCard memory cards. It can also be used as a fully functional desktop USB microphone via the USB interface.   Users can directly dictate into the PC whilst controlling the applications of the dictation software or the voice recognition software via the slide switch and the device keys.  

The extended menu functions are well suited to supporting network-based workflow. Twenty authors’ names, typists, dictation types and groups can be edited at the PC and then stored to the hard disk of the dictation machine. Any relevant information can be stored with each dictation together with its priority and individual number on the so-called dictation note.  Thanks to DSSPro the user is able to send the encrypted and compressed voice file via the Internet to the nominated typist or to the voice recognition system. This helps to keep the network clear as well as making for fast and secure data transfer.  

The DigtaSonic 420 is a professional device designed for efficient, quick and safe working on the move or behind the desk.  When used in conjunction with a voice recognition system and the DSSPro voice standard, there is the potential for even greater cost savings and productivity gains.

BigHand last week released a new ‘Mobility Suite’ at its Annual User Conference 07. The new BigHand3 Mobility Suite provides clients with a bundle of four instant mobility tools that enable networked digital dictation while out of the office: BlackBerry dictation, EmailGateway, Telephony dictation, and Web client.

The BigHand Mobility Suite allows lawyers to immediately connect to their dictation workflow software in the office regardless of where they may be, or the connection type available. Document turnaround times are significantly enhanced through this added flexibility. Furthermore the suite potentially removes the need for every user to carry specialist dictation hardware, and provides an additional cost benefit for the firm. The Mobility Suite contains:

BlackBerry dictation - allows users using BlackBerry operating system 4.2 (or 4.2.1 on the 8700) to record, edit and playback digital dictations on their BlackBerry smartphone and immediately upload them wirelessly into their BigHand3 Server for flexible workflow routing and office-based completion or transcription. Both BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Internet Service architectures are supported

EmailGateway - enables automated submission of audio recordings as email attachments into the digital dictation system from email systems such as Hotmail or Gmail. The user just requires a computer that has an internet connection, with no need for any BigHand client software. EmailGateway can also be used with Windows Mobile

Telephony dictation - each lawyer has a personal number and login that allows them to call in dictations via a fixed line or their mobile/cell phone. These voice recordings are automatically routed to the correct assistant and tracked/managed within the workflow management system

Web client - users can upload voice recordings into the office workflow and review work-in- progress via a normal internet browser or via Windows Mobile.

The Suite has been implemented at Lewis Silkin and Bentleys.

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council have purchased Axxia DNA.

Tameside is an "excellent" rated council and the only local authority in the north west to receive the
top CPA rating of four stars with a judgement of "improving strongly". The council recently won the
coveted “Best Achieving Council” award at the prestigious Municipal Journal Awards 2007.

As thelead authority for the Government Connect project – currently a £22.5m initiative led by Tameside,
DCLG and the Cabinet Office to provide a common infrastructure for secure electronic interaction
between local government, central government and citizens - Tameside is at the forefront of the
service transformation agenda, and its in-house Legal Services enjoy a correspondingly excellent
reputation.

The council’s procurement of DNA underpins its strategy of further improving the quality
of its Legal Services by using a next-generation platform which can offer internal and external
clients a seamless, business-orientated service, whilst supporting the service’s longstanding Lexcel
accreditation.

Sandra Stewart, Tameside’s Borough Solicitor commented on the decision; “The choice of Axxia’s
DNA system was made after a comprehensive procurement process. We concluded that Axxia
DNA was the only truly web-enabled system which met the current and future needs of my service,
and Axxia as a supplier showed a real enthusiasm to work with Tameside on a partnership basis,
recognizing the mutual benefits that this contract should deliver. By deploying Axxia DNA across a
diverse service, including the team which provides legal services to the Greater Manchester
Pension Fund, we are looking to improve the quality of our overall service and meet the business
demands of our internal and external clients for electronic service delivery and comprehensive
management information.”

Part of the Tameside implementation will involve significant conversion of data from the Council’s
existing Datix system. Once fully deployed, the 35 user DNA system will comprise case
management, electronic files, time recording, KPI’s, conflict checking, workflow (including Lexcel)
and legal business process management, Capella management reporting and PDF docs to
create electronic case bundles. The implementation will be incremental and, over time, integration
with Tameside’s existing systems is planned.

Legal Files Software, Inc. has enhanced the integration between IBM Lotus Notes^® and the Legal Files case and matter management software. 

 

With the Legal Files/Lotus Notes “COM Add-In,” any e-mail message, appointment or task in Lotus Notes can be saved and referenced to a file in Legal Files.  Once saved, these items can be accessed from within the file—as if the item had originated in Legal Files.  Users may also save items received in Lotus Notes without a file reference.

 

“This integration means that a legal professional can save all his or her matter related e-mails, calendars and tasks in one place directly from the Lotus Notes program,” Legal Files CEO John Kanoski explained.  “We are now using our advanced web technology to communicate between Lotus Notes and the Legal Files database so users can utilize the tools from anywhere in the world,” he said.  “It is an extremely attractive system that can significantly increase the user adoption rate of matter management by placing this functionality in the already-familiar Lotus Notes application.”

 

In addition to Lotus Notes, Legal Files also offers exclusive, seamless two-way integrations with Microsoft Outlook and Novell GroupWise.

Interesting article at Law.com on how some law firms are enabling their IT staff to work directly with clients  to help them with their technology needs and to help them get the most from the technology offered by the firm. Ultimately this is a way of helping to sell your services competitive advantage in technology and in helping to retain clients through technology integration.

Some larger UK law firms have been doing this for a while particularly with respect to Extranets and collaboration portals. However, it is not widely seen outside of the top 50 UK law firms and to this extent many firms are missing a trick. If you have IT staff with the appropriate communication skills and business acumen then this is a good way of increasing the return on investment from your IT spend and provides a new way to grow your business.

nFlow have announced that Trowers & Hamlins, one of the UK’s Top 100 law firms with 8 offices located in the UK and Oversees, has selected and implemented a firm wide roll out of nFlow digital dictation. The decision to select nFlow was largely based on their unique ability to deliver a proven Microsoft SQL Server replication solution.

Having carried out an internal technical and HR review to assess the potential benefits of implementing a digital dictation system the firm invited nFlow, as well as two other competitive suppliers, to demonstrate the features and functionality of their respective product suites. With the international team spanning 5 offices the ability to share work between offices was key to the firm, so a fundamental requirement of the chosen system was the ability to offer global scalability and resilience without sacrificing performance at the user level.

Marina Herbert, IT Manager, Trowers & Hamlins “nFlow was the only digital dictation supplier with the ability to offer a fully proven solution with the replication capabilities we recognised would be able to support our operation and with clients where SQL replication is in place and working. Doubt was cast over the feasibility of replication however we followed up references very closely and found that they were all overwhelmingly positive, not only about the capabilities of the product, but also about the level of service, experience and expertise of the nFlow team.”

By effectively using replication nFlow can deliver a resilient segmented system that acts as a global service provider. All users can see all the data they have permission to across the global system however if there is a link problem between sites the segments act like individual systems that automatically update themselves as soon as the link is re-established. The users are not affected by this as they can still dictate and transcribe locally as if nothing has happened. As users connect to a local replicated database server they can access data from across the whole organisation but don’t suffer from problems such as slow performance of loading data in the client application.

“The replication capabilities of nFlow digital dictation have already been tested. Our Oman office recently had to shut down all servers for 4 days as a result of a cyclone warning. Within 2 hours of restoring the servers the Oman office had full access to global data again on their local server. We have also had blips on our links with our Manchester office and the users have not even noticed. Replication has definitely proven itself.” Stated Herbert.

nFlow digital dictation was initially implemented in the London office before being rolled out to the entire firm in a 6 week period. Working closely with the nFlow projects and training team, nFlow and Trowers & Hamlins have carried out training for every single user and feedback has been extremely positive.

“We have found that secretaries and fee earners alike have embraced digital dictation. The significantly improved sound quality coupled with the speed at which work gets on to the system are just some of the improvements that users have mentioned. Flexible working and home working users have also benefited from the new system with secretaries downloading dictations on behalf of users, previously we had had issues of tapes being couriered in to the office, getting lost or damaged, we don’t have to worry about this any more.” Continued Herbert.

Rob Lancashire, nFlow Sales & Marketing Director commented “We believe that we are unique in our ability to prove nFlow’s scalability advantage with Microsoft SQL Server replication. It is not an easy task and has taken a number of years to perfect, it is not something you can just turn on without the knowledge or experience that prevent issues such as lost data. With 10 firms having now implemented nFlow with the replication capabilities we feel we stand apart from the competition. Ultimately we are a technology company first and foremost so I would urge any firms out there who are having problems with the performance of their digital dictation system over multiple offices to give us a call and we will be happy to discuss how we can make nFlow digital dictation work effectively for them using replication.”