Barker Booth & Eastwood, a long established firm of solicitors based in the North West, has chosen TikitTFB as their official solutions partner to replace their existing IRIS AIM Evolution Accounts system and introduce a comprehensive case and document management system firm-wide.

 

The 50 user system will be deployed in phases with the accounts and desktop components scheduled to go-live during September. The second phase will concentrate on developing the case management system including the creation of caseflows for their Personal Injury and Conveyancing departments, and is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

 

The firm had been using AIM for a number of years with many of the precedents and processes unchanged since it was first instated. Tracy Kirkland and Sue Pilkington, Practice and Accounts Manager respectively, felt there was a need to move the firm forward and provide an improved way of working. Following a visit to the 2010 Legal IT show, they reviewed the upgrade path being offered by IRIS as well as a number of other vendors including Eclipse and Linetime before selecting TikitTFB and Partner for Windows as their preferred choice.

 

Anne Morley, Matrimonial Partner at the firm comments, “This kind of investment requires a great deal of trust in your chosen supplier and confidence that the system is going to deliver as promised.

 

“We see Partner for Windows and our relationship with TikitTFB as a long term commitment and we look forward to working with them to develop an advanced system that will allow us to improve the way in which we operate and manage processes on a day-to-day basis, compete more effectively in the market place, and most importantly provide a higher level of customer service to our clients.”

 

Partner for Windows will provide the firm with a fully-flexible and comprehensive solution that can be used across all their practice areas including Personal Injury, Conveyancing, Employment, Family Law, Commercial Property, Wills & Probate, and Civil Litigation. As Partner for Windows is fully-compliant with LSC requirements, the firm will be able to manage their Civil LSC contracts more profitably utilising functionality such as SMP reconciliation, and bulk export to the LSC website. The firm have also chosen to implement PartnerMail, an intelligent email management tool that helps to file emails to and from your inbox to the relevant case file in Partner for Windows, and the SMS module, which will allow them to communicate with clients and third parties quickly and discretely via text message.

SOS Connect’s ability to provide a comprehensive, integrated one stop solution for case and practice management has led mfg Solicitors LLP of Kidderminster to place an order with Solicitors Own Software (SOS) for a 140 user system.

mfg Solicitors provides a balanced portfolio of commercial, agricultural and private client services from five offices in the Worcester, Kidderminster, Bromsgrove, Halesowen and Telford  and has grown to be a regional force through a number of mergers and acquisitions over the years.

ICT partner Peter Simner, who headed up the IT systems evaluation said: “ A firm of our size, that is experiencing considerable growth, needs to ensure that IT keeps up with the competitive pressures in the market as well as the quantity of work which we now need to process. We pride ourselves on providing exemplary service to clients and believe that SOS Connect will help us to continue to improve the quality of service for which we are known.”

mfg looked at several possible replacements for the incumbent Osprey system which could no longer meet the demands of the firm. SOS Connect was selected from a final shortlist of two.

“We preferred SOS Connect because we could see how to standardise and centralise on a single system which would deliver efficiency benefits to all areas of the firm whether for conveyancing case management, probate work or financial accounting,” continued Mr Simner. “The ease of use of SOS is a practical advantage giving us the confidence that the system will be widely used by partners, fee earners and staff alike. We want to work closely with SOS to ensure that we use the system to the full.”

The plan is to fully implement SOS Connect in 2011, using the interim period to clean up data from several databases and prepare for the deployment across five offices.

David McNamara, managing director of SOS said: “mfg Solicitors is taking the steps they need to standardise and implement a system which is flexible and adaptable to all areas of their business and which will keep their systems up to date allowing them to ensure the quality of the services they deliver. Through centralisation and standardisation of business processes, I am confident they will make the efficiency gains they desire but also dramatically improve the accessibility and quality of management information.”

New Quadrant Partners LLP (New Quadrant), a newly formed private client boutique based in London, has gone live just two months after ordering a new case and practice management system from TikitTFB. The firm, led by Louise Stoten, formerly of Payne Hicks Beach – will employ Partner for Windows to help manage business processes, drive growth and support the delivery of services in tax and trust advice, wealth structuring, succession planning, trust management, and family office consulting and administration.

 

The project was managed for New Quadrant by Pragmatise Limited, an independent IT consultancy which has been involved in IT projects for organisations such as Ernst & Young, and most recently establishing all IT-related services, including the successful implementation of Partner for Windows, for Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP, the private client de-merger of top five law firm Allen & Overy.

 

Joan Major, CEO of New Quadrant comments, ‘As a new start-up it is extremely important that we choose reliable systems that will assist us in developing our position in the market by giving clear visibility of our performance across all areas of the business. Partner for Windows offers us functionality and flexibility allowing us to develop a solution in line with our requirements and one that will adapt with us as the firm grows.

 

‘TikitTFB have demonstrated that they are a willing partner to help us get the system where it needs to be now and in the future, and we look forward to working with them to achieve this’.

 

New Quadrant Partners LLP have also chosen sister company TikitNIS to handle their infrastructure and hardware requirements, meaning both hardware and software will be looked after by the Tikit Group.

Walsall based firm Enoch Evans selected Pilgrim LawSoft as their next generation Practice & Case Management system in February 2010. The project began in earnest in March and the firm went live in June, having successfully migrated from their legacy Miles33 and SolCase systems in tandem.

 

Pilgrim and Enoch Evans project personnel worked in unison to ensure data conversion, consultancy and training were all completed in line with the projected go live date. The firm was able to take advantage of the comprehensive case management applications supplied by Pilgrim allowing the project team to focus on ensuring the overall system reflected the firm’s working practices. Implementation training and familiarisation support was given to all users within the firm.

 

The firm’s Managing Partner David Evans said, “The firm was committed to achieving a short turnaround period for the project. My team worked diligently alongside Pilgrim to ensure a smooth transition from systems that had been in use for over twenty years. I and the rest of the partnership are happy with how the project went and the firm is now starting to enjoy the benefits of using the sophisticated tools LawSoft provides, all supported by a single database.”

 

Colin Kennedy Pilgrim’s COO said, “David and his team were excellent to work with. Any firm embarking on a new system implementation would benefit from taking a leaf out of Enoch Evans’ book. Common sense, quick decision making and a ‘can do’ attitude were the key ingredients for this exemplary project.”

Worcestershire and Gloucestershire based Thomson & Bancks LLP are to be the first firm to implement a hosted version of Partner for Windows, after choosing TikitTFB as their preferred supplier to replace their ageing IRIS FoxPro system. They follow May’s announcement of Marchants Solicitors who also chose to switch in favour of Partner for Windows.

 

The firm, who have been in operation for over 170 years, will be deploying Partner for Windows to merge the two separate FoxPro systems they are currently running at each of their offices, providing the firm with a single, consolidated solution. They have chosen to run the 58 user system remotely via a hosted solution to be provided by ACM IT Solutions. The hosting solution is due to go live in early August with the entire Partner for Windows project to be completed by October.

 

The introduction of a hosted Partner for Windows system will enable the firm to bring together disparate parts of the business, centralising and reducing duplication of work and providing a streamlined approach to the firm’s case management processes in the areas of Business Law, Family, Private Client, Litigation and Property.

 

David Roberts, Project Leader at the firm comments, ‘We reviewed other suppliers who offer a complete hosted solution but the depth of functionality that Partner for Windows could offer us overall far outweighed those options. Coupled with the solution being hosted by ACM, we have a powerful business tool that will allow our staff to work anywhere, anytime and will provide us with significant savings across the firm.’

 

‘We have so far been impressed with TikitTFB’s approach to our project, openly willing to work with our chosen hosted supplier to provide us with a solution bespoke to our needs.’

Top 150 law firm Howes Percival LLP is a leading commercial practice with 275 partners and staff and offices in Leicester, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Norwich. Renowned for top quality service and recognised as a forward thinking practice, the firm has selected the LawSoft Practice Management solution incorporating Legal Accounts, Case Management, Document Management and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to replace their legacy Iris AIM system.

 

Howes Percival Finance Director Alastair Mearns states “We are delighted to have chosen Pilgrim to supply our next practice management system and are looking forward to the benefits we expect LawSoft to bring to our business. Key for us has been the intuitive, easy to use capability of LawSoft, which at the same time is sufficiently comprehensive to have responded to virtually every test we have put it to in our selection process. We anticipate that this and the straightforward pragmatism of the Pilgrim team will be the foundation of a productive relationship for many years to come.”

 

Pilgrim COO Colin Kennedy observes that “Howes Percival is another significant new client win for us. In line with many other practices they have identified the key strengths of our solution as being an ideal combination of flexible software, leading edge technology and experienced people, plus a stable business roadmap that provides the assurances buyers seek in an ever changing commercial world.”

One of the largest law firms in the Thames Valley – Harris Cartier LLP – is modernising its legal software fundamentally with a switch to SOS Connect from Solicitors Own Software (SOS). SOS Connect will replace the current Axxia system in order to achieve standardised procedures, easier to use systems, improved management information and the extension of case management to more departments.

Founded in 1922 Harris Cartier operates from offices in Slough and London providing a wide range of commercial and private client legal services.

Chief executive David McIntosh, commenting on the IT modernisation programme, said: “The initial driver was the need to become more competitive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Our old IT system was not as easy to use as we would like and no longer met our business requirements fully. We were looking for an integrated system that would enable us to instil standard, best practices and be so easy to use that we could ensure adoption and widespread use of the new system’s features by the whole firm.”

From a short list of software suppliers, which included the incumbent supplier LexisNexis Axxia and IRIS with Law Business Software, Harris Cartier selected SOS Connect for a number of reasons including the intuitive nature of the software. “We liked the way that e-mails are captured and automatically stored into each case, the automation of  time recording and the ability for partners to create management reports without redress to the IT department,” said David McIntosh. “Having a more straightforward and user-friendly system means that we also plan to extend case management to new departments in addition to personal injury and conveyancing and use SOS Connect for customer relationship management. This is a fundamental change to the way we operate and one that we expect to greatly improve efficiency and our service to clients.”

SOS Connect is expected to go live for over 60 users in the Slough and London offices of Harris Cartier in the autumn.

David McNamara, managing director of SOS said: “Often we tend to overlook the importance of SOS Connect being intuitive and easy to use. It is a very significant advantage in helping a firm to gain buy-in from staff and therefore commitment to use the system to best effect throughout the firm. The more extensively the software is used the faster the return on investment. We look forward to assisting Harris Cartier in updating their systems and being able to meet the challenges ahead.”

Bath based Stone King Sewell (SKS) is a dynamic 170 staff strong practice with a national reputation for the provision of legal advice to schools, charities, Private Clients and other not-for-profit institutions.

Recognising the importance of implementing a leading class system that is capable of supporting their evolution from a regional player to a national force, and in common with many other law firms, SKS identified the need for a sophisticated, fully integrated, Microsoft based system to support the efficient operation of its business.
 As a result the firm will be replacing its SOS system with LawSoft's full Practice Management Suite including Financial Management, Document Management, CRM and Case Management (replacing LexisNexis SolCase).

Colin Kennedy Pilgrim's COO commented, “We are experiencing an exceptionally strong period of growth. SKS and businesses like them recognise the unique proposition Pilgrim has in providing a mature, advanced solution from a well run and customer focussed business. We are delighted to be working with SKS and supporting their future plans.”

SKS’ Managing Partner, Steven Greenwood, said of the firm’s decision, "We are very impressed with Pilgrim and are looking forward to meeting the challenges we face with the help of their excellent product and service. We do not want the concerns two databases bring; we wanted a true single database, Microsoft based solution, and we want to continue to develop a relationship with a supplier that we enjoy working with.”

South West law firm Stones Solicitors LLP has selected SOS Connect integrated case and practice management software from Bath-based Solicitors Own Software (SOS). This comes as a result of the law firm’s strategy to focus on business agility and efficiency. SOS Connect, which will be rolled out to 115 users across its Exeter and Okehampton offices is part of a £250,000 investment which has already seen the introduction of server virtualisation and integration with outsourced back office services.

As well as offering high quality services to businesses and private clients across the South West, Stones Solicitors LLP has established a national presence through its specialist teams dealing with foreign travel insurance claims and social housing.

SOS Connect will help the law firm achieve its strategic goals. Chief Operating Officer Adrian Richards said: "Stones reacted very quickly at the first signs of recession by rationalising offices and then adopting a new business strategy. The focus was on achieving agility to adapt the business in response to pressures the legal market will feel from the consequences of the Legal Services Act. We recognised the need for very slick IT systems to maximise efficiency”.

The firm undertook a review of several of the leading legal software products and ultimately selected SOS. “We were impressed by the functionality of the software and in particular the knowledge demonstrated by the project team. It was clear to us that it could be instrumental in helping us meet our need to make fundamental changes to our operating practices that formed an essential part of our strategic plan,” said Richards. “We liked the look and feel of the product and felt comfortable about developing a long-term relationship with SOS, which is very important to us.”

The integration with SOS Connect will enhance further the work that has already been undertaken in streamlining the back office procedures as well as the development of workflows and standardised business process. As Richards continues: “SOS Connect will allow our lawyers to be lawyers, by taking away routine administration and letting them concentrate on providing legal advice but without taking away their individuality. Above all clients want value for money. SOS Connect will assist us in making us attractive to clients on both pricing and efficiency in service delivery.”

SOS Connect is expected to go live for document, case, matter and email management, time recording, billing and legal accounts, marketing and business reporting in the autumn of this year.

David McNamara, managing director of SOS Connect commented: “I am delighted that the prowess of the SOS team shone through in this negotiation and that Stones Solicitors can see the potential of SOS Connect to modernise their business and provide an easy to adapt environment to meet changing future needs.”

West Country-based Everys Solicitors has started to reap the rewards of integrating case and practice management since going live with SOS Connect from Bath-based Solicitors Own Software (SOS). Managing Partner James Griffin said;” We have already increased capacity across most departments and are working smarter. This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of efficiency benefits, improved service to clients, including on-line services, and improving our competitiveness.”

Last summer Everys selected SOS Connect to replace an IRIS system as part of a £500,000 investment in new IT, communications and telephony systems. Everys, is a well-established family firm with 63 lawyers whose slogan is “legal expertise for everyone”. Established 250 years ago, the firm has a very progressive outlook, recently opening branches as diverse as Dubai and the new livestock centre at Junction 24 on the M5, as well as having eight offices across East Devon and in Taunton, Somerset.

SOS Connect was chosen after an in depth evaluation of the legal software market place. Managing Partner James Griffin said: “When I took over as managing partner in 2008 I realised there was room for improvement in our use of technology for case management and the integration with the accounts, to streamline performance. The need to become more competitive was also spurred on by the changes in the legal services world that the Legal Services Act would bring.”

SOS Connect was chosen to replace the previous IRIS/Videss system, introduce case management for the first time and be the vehicle for providing a consistent, standardised, multi-disciplinary service from all offices.

Claire Lovett, Head of Residential Property acted as the full-time project manager for the 3 - 4 month implementation which kicked off in late summer 2009. This was the largest project of its type undertaken by the firm and the decision was taken to take a big bang approach to going live rather than an phased implementation.  “SOS aided our understanding of  the size of the project and their experience was very useful in helping us to plan and manage the project and in pre-warning us of the likely pitfalls. I acted as a single helpdesk point for people to turn to with queries and SOS provided me with excellent hand-holding support.”

Case management technology was new to many at the firm and the plan was to roll out common business processes, a reasonable level of case management (for later customisation and tweaking), as well as the accounts and switch off the old system on the go-live date.

Training turned out to be the one area that with hindsight would have been handled differently. As James Griffin said: “I should have placed a greater emphasis on training. It’s not that the new SOS system is complex, in fact it is highly intuitive and people were picking up the system quickly, but when you switch over you are immediately operational on the new system and training on the job is not something you want to be doing. We spotted a training need and asked SOS for immediate help over a weekend. On Monday morning I had the four extra trainers I needed and I was very pleased with the response from SOS.”.

Part of the training issue was due to the different levels of experience within the company of using case management systems. However as Claire Lovett further explained: “Even with hindsight we wouldn’t have done anything very differently. Of course we had the option to move the go live date, but we bit the bullet on the day and we knew there would be a bit of pain, but it was definitely the right decision. It was tough for the firm to make such a big investment at a time of economic recession and we didn’t want to lose the momentum or enthusiasm of everyone for the new SOS system or delay the anticipated benefits. “

Everys made use of SOS data conversion services to transfer and translate the data from the Iris system onto SOS Connect and the new system went live, on time, in November 2009. It was also on budget save for extra training costs. The benefits started to emerge quickly. “We saw the benefits in up-to-date accounts and real-time client information pretty quickly,” said James Griffin. ”Most departments are reporting that they have got to grips with the system and finding that their capacity has been increased. We have got the case management basics live and now each department is working on adapting the work flows to their specific operations and rolling them out as standard processes at the multiple sites. The automation of many of the probate and estate account processes for private clients is due to go live imminently.”

Delivering clients certainty of costs has always been a guiding principle at Everys and with the automated time recording and full integration of client cases with the accounts Everys is able to monitor the relationship between fixed fees and actual costs incurred, and keep an eye on profitability. Standardisation of business processes across the whole multi-site practice is another major advantage of the new system. Claire Lovett comments: “SOS Connect has helped us to put in place really clear procedures for everyone to follow. This enables us to maintain the advantage of operating multiple offices and providing services in the community while retaining control and enormous flexibility in terms of cover. I can instantly see from the centralised system what is happening, everywhere.”

The new system enables the firm to ensure that during holiday or sickness times a lawyer in a different office can pick up on a case and continue to serve the client. Similarly lawyers have the freedom to work with their caseloads from any office and remotely. The system is streamlining operations and changing the way everyone works. “Fee earners and lawyers have great interaction with the system and the real-time integration is a great time-saver,” said James Griffin. “For example a digitally dictated letter is integrated with time recording, the accounts and the case file so that when the secretary comes to type it up, the letter is automatically populated with the recipient’s details, greeting etc and the billing information is updated.”

He continued: “If you are not being proactive in today’s legal services landscape then you will fall behind. As we move to a real-time operation with vastly improved management information I am confident that SOS Connect will continue to support our goals of achieving a highly reliable, efficient and cost-effective service to clients. Next we are looking at providing clients with on-line access to track case progress and also in linking in our Dubai office which we are expanding. We will continue to move forward as a progressive law firm.”

Wilkin Chapman LLP, the largest law firm in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire with 32 partners and 254 staff has contracted with Linetime for their Liberate case and practice management system.

Liberate will be replacing Iris (Aim Evolution).

Wilkin Chapman’s Chief Executive, Julia Whittaker states “We selected Liberate so that we can move forward with the provision of effective and efficient legal services to our clients. We are merging with Grange Wintringham Solicitors with effect from 1.8.10 and look forward to the implementation of Liberate for practice management, case management, time recording, cheque requisition, case tracking and on-line billing.

There is now a significant implementation and training programme in place and we have been impressed with the flexibility and professionalism demonstrated by Linetime”.

London-based, new start-up Matrix Legal has turned to Virtual Practices for hosted legal case management software and accounting services accessed over the Internet, as the cost-effective solution for its IT and legal book-keeping needs.

Matrix Legal aims to be modern, dynamic and unconventional in its thinking to deliver high quality advice particularly in its speciality areas of commercial property and corporate work as well as residential property. The firm handles most of the caseload via email, telephone and letter, and makes use of serviced offices, instead of operating from fixed premises, to maintain competitive and fixed prices wherever possible. Part of the impetus for breaking out on his own was the Legal Services Act, as founder Tariq Mubarak said: ” The Act creates greater transparency, openness and competition in the marketplace. I felt that the time was right to set up a new kind of firm where we maximise IT services to reduce our overheads, and provide top quality client service.”

Already familiar with SOS Connect from his previous employer, Tariq Mubarak quickly understood that using the software as a service through Virtual Practices would avoid a heavy, upfront investment in IT. However although he started his IT evaluation with a demonstration of Virtual Practices, he also thoroughly surveyed other case management options in the market, including IRIS hosted services. The selection period lasted several months before returning to Virtual Practices for a reminder demonstration. “Virtual Practices was very appealing,” he explained, “as the flexibility it delivers fits in with my ‘almost’ virtual business model. We also don’t need to worry about business continuity or disaster recovery as in the event of a problem we would be back in business within hours, rather than days or weeks.”

Another criterion for choosing Virtual Practices was that it is a division of Solicitors Own Software, which has remained fiercely independent despite the massive consolidation of legal industry software suppliers. “This independence is important to me,” commented Tariq Mubarak, “as I have seen many instances where users were left with a defunct system, after support has been withdrawn. I have plans to grow the business either organically or by acquisition and I want to keep the virtual IT model, so the scalability of Virtual Practices was also a decisive factor.”
 
Matrix Legal began using the software service for case management in January 2010 and three months later at the beginning of the financial year also opted for Virtual Practices’ legal cashiering on-line service which takes care of the accounts and complies with all statutory regulations. “Virtual Practices showed great professionalism and I took comfort from their obvious in-depth experience during the set up period. I went live with case management within two weeks,” said Tariq Mubarak. “The support, overall service and response to queries has been very prompt. It is nice to have a first line of protection especially in terms of keeping the accounts correct and keeping abreast of changes to the rules. Having that knowledge to fall back on is like having your own accounts department.”

Virtual Practices offers a 24 x 7, available anywhere service, on a pay per user subscription basis. It is powered by SOS Connect, a complete suite of applications including document, case, matter and email management, time recording, billing and legal accounts, marketing and business reporting. The legal book-keeping service is also provided on-line and ensures that the accounts are kept up-to-date by qualified cashiers and comply with Solicitors Accounting Rules (SARs). This frees up precious fee earner time for building the business.

Matrix Legal is allowing a three month period to get used to the system and then plans  to start customising the software and automate as many processes as possible for greater efficiency.

Stephen Parry, business development director of Virtual Practices said: “We are experiencing a great increase in demand for Virtual Practices. I believe that our successful record and the combination of fully featured case and practice management software together with the legal accounts service sets us apart. We are absolutely in tune with the ‘virtual trend’ in the market and its needs.”