Eclipse Legal Systems, is unveiling a raft of enhancements to its Proclaim system at Legal IT 2010. More...

Autonomy received a “Strong Positive” rating in Gartner’s recent report “MarketScope for E-Discovery Software Product Vendors.” Strong Positive is the highest possible rating in the Gartner MarketScope.

The MarketScope evaluated E-Discovery vendors based on their overall viability, customer experience, market understanding, sales execution / pricing, offering (product) strategy, product/service, and sales strategy.

“The world’s leading corporations and law firms continue to trust their most demanding E-Discovery and Information Governance requirements to Autonomy – the only company to cover all aspects of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM),” said Mike Sullivan, CEO of Autonomy ZANTAZ.  “Autonomy’s comprehensive platform for E-Discovery and Information Governance is a proven asset for reducing legal costs and arms our customers with a competitive advantage in obtaining favourable outcomes in all manner of cases, litigations, and investigations.”

Autonomy is the only vendor to provide an end-to-end platform across the entire information management lifecycle, including eDiscovery and Information Governance, and a seamless experience for its customers. The Autonomy platform provides corporate clients with the ability to view, analyze, and manage data in place while also enabling outside counsel to have secure, targeted access to their client’s data. Autonomy’s approach dramatically decreases the time and costs associated with managing litigation and investigations while also mitigating the risk involved with protracted manual processes and transfers of data.
Autonomy’s eDiscovery platform helps corporations become more agile and effective by creating tighter linkages with their outside counsel, streamlining the exchange of information. This enhanced connectivity, enabled by Autonomy’s unique “discover-in-place” capabilities, allows firms to gain a competitive edge while providing the client with greater transparency into risks and costs.

New Somerset firm Williamsons Solicitors has selected SOS Connect from Solicitors Own Software for its first practice, matter and case management system. Williamsons Solicitors' new website http://www.mrw-law.co.uk/ launches today.

The litigation firm which began operating in December 2009 is specialising in dispute resolution, personal injury and employment law. By taking advantage of technology, integrated case and practice management systems together with digital media, the goal is to provide high quality, streamlined and ‘crisp’ services to clients.

Founding principal Michael Williamson spun-out the new firm from The Stokes Partnership where, as managing partner, he headed up litigation for 11 years: “I welcome the opportunity to start with a blank sheet of paper and in particular to install and develop the technology that I believe will give us an edge in service delivery”, he said, “and the SOS software is a key part of that.“

SOS Connect delivers the flexibility, scripting tools and building blocks that Williamsons was looking for, which will enable lawyers to modify and create their own new workflows as required and without delay. As Williamson commented: “SOS Connect is to case management what content management systems are to web sites. In other words we can respond rapidly to dynamically changing business needs.”

Familiar with SOS from the old firm, Williamsons also took advice from IT colleagues and carried out its own research into available software suppliers, before opting for SOS Connect. Starting afresh with contemporary software is a major advantage in creating efficient processes and managing the business effectively.

Already live on accounts, client and matter management, Williamsons expect to commission the extensive additional features of the new software in the very near future.

David McNamara, managing director of SOS said: “SOS Connect is a powerful tool for helping any new law firm to manage its business effectively and to maximise performance right from the off. We’d like to wish Williamsons every success in their new venture.”

Personal Injury specialists, Irvings Solicitors, have chosen TFB plc to provide their new case and practice management system in place of Axxia. The system is scheduled to go live in April 2010 to coincide with their new financial year.

Irvings, who have been based in Liverpool for the past 30 years, had been using Axxia’s Artiion system, but following a system review upon the appointment of their new IT Manager, Scott O’Brien, identified the need for a system which would allow them to make greater use of case management and enhanced report automation. They reviewed an upgrade offer from Axxia to their new DNA system, as well as proposals from Eclipse, before selecting TFB’s Partner for Windows as their system of choice.

Scott and his team were immediately impressed with the breadth of Partner for Windows’ flexibility, allowing them to easily configure the system to fit within their existing IT infrastructure. This, coupled with Partner TaskCentre, a business process automation tool, will significantly increase the firm’s ability to extract and circulate management information to key individuals as well as increase the overall efficiency of the business.

Scott comments, ‘Moving to any new system can be unsettling, but with the depth of Partner for Windows’ functionality, the strength of TFB’s installed user base and their ‘can do’ attitude, we are confident we have chosen a system and supplier that will consistently deliver results and develop with the firm over time.’

Richard Higgs, Sales Director comments, ‘Irvings are a client who will always be keen to push the boundaries of Partner for Windows’ functionality which makes this an exciting and challenging project for TFB. We look forward to working with the team at Irvings for many years to come whilst helping them to fulfil their ambitious plans for the business.’

London - Lewis Silkin LLP, a leading full service corporate law firm, has selected IntraLinks, the leading provider of critical information exchange solutions, as its sole supplier of client extranet platforms. Through the use of IntraLinks’ solutions, Lewis Silkin LLP can provide a cutting edge service to its clients by allowing the secure exchange of business-critical information across enterprise boundaries.

“Our clients require the most secure solutions to facilitate the safe, compliant and auditable exchange of critical information.” said Jo Farmer, Partner in Lewis Silkin’s Media, Brands and Technology Department. “We therefore wanted a secure extranet in place to add value and create a space for all kinds of communication between Lewis Silkin and the client. We needed a partner with expertise and a proven track record in providing the highest levels of security and availability and IntraLinks came out top.  At the end of the day, our clients’ needs come before anything else, and IntraLinks shares that philosophy which was extremely important to me and the rest of the firm.”

“During the selection process I worked closely with the firm’s partners to define and select an appropriate solution. It was recognised early on that a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering would drastically reduce the total cost of ownership and provide much more functionality than an in-house solution could,” said Jan Durant, Director of IT, Lewis Silkin. “IntraLinks was the natural choice in that it provides a fully hosted and secure environment with 24/7 live support which ensures we continue to deliver the  outstanding service which our clients have come to expect from Lewis Silkin.  Also, the service capabilitiy in terms of functionality was far superior to anything else we could find in the market.”  

Leeds based Lupton Fawcett LLP completed the roll out of its new Personal Injury package at the beginning of December 2009. A concentrated period of development involving both Pilgrim consultants and firm staff led to a managed roll-out phase. The new system takes advantage of the advanced workflow functionality offered by LawSoft Release 8. The LawSoft case management system replaces the legacy AIM Evolution Workflow system which the practice had used for the previous 12 years.

 

IT Manager Shaun Denham said, 'The system has been a complete re-write from the bottom up and gives us what we believe to be an industry leading package'.

 

'We had the right people engaged on the project, support of the Management team and the drive to acquire new skills.  With a shared vision of what the PI package had to deliver, a flexible approach and a strong relationship between the Pilgrim consultants, IT and the PI department, the project was a great achievement,' said Asif Dabhad, Lupton Fawcett’s Business Analyst and Project Manager.

 

'To make this even more challenging, we were requested to undertake a live conversion from our existing AIM system to LawSoft, which most firms shy away from,  Having over 10.5 million records and some 180,000 contacts to convert was a major test of both our and Pilgrim's resources, but we got there with little downtime.'

 

Colin Kennedy Pilgrim’s COO said, ‘I have been involved in many case management projects over the years. I can safely say that Lupton Fawcett’s PI project was one of the largest in terms of scope and complexity. The PI application is massive and caters for practically any eventuality in this area of legal work. All the case handlers are experienced case management users. Therefore the challenge was to ensure the new LawSoft system delivered tangible benefits to the team and to the firm. Both objectives have been met.’

 

The firm’s ICT team now intends to use their knowledge, experience and new skills to focus their efforts on some of the more esoteric areas of the practice and help streamline processes and improve risk management.

BigHan has today announced that Halliwells LLP, ranked within the top 40 UK law firms in terms of number of fee earners, has signed up to switch from their current Winscribe dictation system supplied by SRC, to BigHand voice productivity technology across the firm. The 700+ user software changeover will take place early this year.

 

Dene Rowe, Partner & IT Director at Halliwells commented:

 

“As a Firm we have been established users of digital dictation technology for a number of years now. In line with our annual review and following an appraisal of the technology and opportunities available we have chosen to move our digital dictation platform to BigHand. As in all technology changes we had to review a number of factors such as business and technological fit, strategic direction, the ease of change and commercial return on investment. Put simply, we felt that the BigHand solution suited our needs now and in the future and we look forward to working with them as a strategic provider to the Firm.”