We were tweeting about it yesterday but in case you missed it, here is the link to the Daily Telegraph report that kicked off the whole Microsoft or Oracle to buy Autonomy rumour earlier in the week. Given it is a slow week for news, we suspect it is just that: rumours.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/marketreport/7976048/Takeover-gossip-helps-FTSE-100-leap-2.7pc.html
Still, if it were true... if Microsoft takes them, that acquisition would be purely about search – Microsoft have no intent of carrying forward a DMS solution side by side with SharePoint. And, if it is Oracle? Well, if you look at how well Oracle integrated Stellent, the outlook would be bleak for the iManage business.
Still on the subject of rumours, we're also hearing another hoary old chestnut: that the Tikit Group is about to be bought by either LexisNexis or Thomson Reuters (where it would become the European arm of the Hildebrandt Baker Robbins business). We don't believe this one either – well not this year – however we look forward to Tikit's interim results next Thursday 9th September.
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Friday, September 3
Those Autonomy rumours again
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 03 Sep 2010 10:04 BST
Wednesday, September 1
APAC news: another win for Aderant in Australia
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 01 Sep 2010 21:00 BST
Aderant announced that Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers, with offices
in Canberra, Sydney, Parramatta and Wollongong, has selected
Aderant Expert. The firm will implement the comprehensive practice management
suite of integrated applications in all five of its Australian offices. Comment: In light of the battle for market supremacy currently taking place between Elite and Aderant in the APAC market (which both vendors claim they are winning, as well as trouncing the competition) Aderant say 70% – or 21 – of the top 30 firms across Australia and New Zealand now run their software. Aderant also claims to represent half of Australia's ten fastest growing firms and several major firms in Singapore, as recently published by ALB. Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers is the seventh firm to select Aderant Expert Release 7.5 in Australasia since December 2009.
The Workshare Empire Strikes Back
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 01 Sep 2010 10:46 BST
Workshare has just announced they have successfully won back German law firm Gleiss Lutz, with the firm deploying the latest version of Workshare Professional.
Marc Geiger, Head of Operations & IT said “Workshare Professional is a leading document comparison program – not only with law firms but also with their clients. For Gleiss Lutz it was important to use the same platform as our clients so when Workshare released the latest version we had to try it out. We were really impressed with the level of quality. We didn't encounter any problems during testing and its accuracy and ease of use made our decision to use Workshare again very easy.” With more than 260 lawyers in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart and Brussels, Gleiss Lutz advises domestic and foreign companies and corporate groups from a wide variety of sectors, as well as public corporations and institutions. Workshare’s Vice President EMEA Frank Boening said “We are delighted to have Gleiss Lutz return as a customer. We’ve put in a huge amount of work to make the quality of our products the highest it’s ever been. We believe Workshare provides the best user experience available for comparison and this latest validation makes us very proud.” Comment: Workshare are not permitted to disclose the identity of the swapout however from the Legal Technology Insider archive we can report that in January 2009 Gleiss Lutz defected from Workshare to the DocsCorp pdfDocs suite. The latest switch-back is clearly a set back for David Woolstencroft at the Redlining Rebel Alliance as the Workshare Empire strikes back. Although if we take this analogy to its logical conclusion, David Woolstencroft must be Frank Boening's son. (If you've never seen the original StarWars movie trilogy, these comments will be meaningless.) Tuesday, August 31
High levels of litigation risk reported
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 31 Aug 2010 09:06 BST
According to the results of research released by ZyLAB (www.zylab.co.uk) today, 88% of FTSE 100 companies are at risk of litigation due to their susceptibility to a number of risk factors, including a history of litigation, operating in litigation-heavy areas, and being directly consumer-facing, with almost a quarter (24%) found to be ‘high risk’ across industries including energy, travel and pharmaceutical.
The research assessed each FTSE 100 company’s vulnerability to ten key risk factors, a mix of industry and company-specific considerations previously known to heighten the chance of litigation, and then each company was given a score out of ten. (Companies that scored 1-3 were identified as ‘low risk’, 4-6 as ‘medium risk’ and 7-10 as ‘high risk’.) Key drivers for assessing this risk and preparing effectively include the ability to prevent legal and accounting fees which have cost companies like Siemens £850m (see report http://www.forbes.com/global/2010/0607/companies-payoffs-washington-extortion-mendelsohn-bribery-racket_2.html) in a bid to determine whether it had violated anti-corruption regulations. Other key findings from the research include: • Energy companies in the FTSE 100 scored the highest risk rating, averaging 7.75 out of 10, closely followed by travel (7.5) and pharmaceutical companies (7.5), partly driven by the heightened risk of providing consumer services and products and operating in an environmentally sensitive area, which was only recently demonstrated by BP being sued £3bn for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Finance companies also scored highly (7), which could be down to increased market volatility and heavy regulation, following the recent banking crisis. • Almost two thirds (62%) of the FTSE 100 have previously been sued or initiated legal action, highlighting the increasingly litigious environment, and with 65% of the FTSE 100 having US offices and 88% global operations, this inclination to sue could get worse in line with the highly litigious nature of the US and complexities of international legal requirements. • 92% of the FTSE 100 were found to have disparate information channels across the business eg twitter, email and paper, and with the growing use of non-searchable multimedia platforms like YouTube and technologies which move data outside the organisation, such as cloud computing, organisations could be storing up a huge problem if requested to provide information to meet legal requirements. • Almost a quarter (21%) of FTSE 100 companies have a lower share price today than they did a year ago, indicating increased pressure from shareholders to improve the financial position of the company. In line with Fulbright’s 2009 Litigation Trends Report which revealed that “repercussions from the economic downturn are chief among the reasons for expecting more litigation”, increased financial pressure could imply these FTSE 100 companies are more inclined to take out legal action for cases that otherwise might be more easily resolved. • Only 12% of FTSE 100 companies were judged to be ‘low risk’, with real estate and retail companies amongst the lucky few. With international budget cuts affecting revenue opportunities and diminishing consumer spending power, these organisations could however find themselves rapidly moving into higher risk categories. Monday, August 30
Westlaw Next - now on the iPad
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 30 Aug 2010 10:51 BST
Thomson Reuters has optimized its new legal research system WestlawNext, specifically for iPad users. The new iPad app is available at the App Store free of charge to all current subscribers of WestlawNext. Westlaw say iPad users will experience all the power, performance and ease of use of WestlawNext, just as if they were at their desktops or laptops, and the app has been designed to take advantage of the iPad’s large display and Multi-Touch screen.
The Westlaw say the app transforms the iPad into a powerful tool for the legal profession. Offering comprehensive features and legal content, the WestlawNext iPad app always reflects the current status of the law and is the only app for legal research that synchronizes with a customer’s desktop and any smartphone. “With the WestlawNext iPad app, attorneys can tap into their research from anywhere and all of their research is synchronized across Web-enabled devices,” said James Jarvis, senior director of Westlaw Product Design. “Whether an attorney is now working on a BlackBerry, an iPhone, a laptop or an iPad, they can continue to build on the research they’ve already started.” The functionality and increased screen size of the iPad allows users to perform a range of easier tasks such as finding, viewing and sending documents, which many mobile users can perform with smartphones, as well as more complex tasks that have been built into WestlawNext, such as organizing research into folders and conducting advanced searches. Researchers also can use the touch screen to scroll through search results, reorganize their folders and highlight text in documents relevant to their research. “When we talk with lawyers, most say they wouldn’t do more than five minutes of research on their smartphone,” said Andy Martens, senior vice president of New Product Development for Thomson Reuters, Legal. “The iPad is a device where we can see attorneys comfortably doing an hour or more of comprehensive research.” The introduction of WestlawNext for iPad is another addition to an entire mobile ecosystem that Thomson Reuters Legal is creating for WestlawNext subscribers. “The WestlawNext iPad app is the latest example of an ongoing commitment to enhance the capabilities of WestlawNext and fundamentally improve the research experience for legal professionals,” Martens adds. “Today, we are providing our customers the research tools they need to create a more desirable research experience, increase their productivity and provide the confidence that their research is as complete and thorough as it can possibly be.” http://west.thomson.com/westlawnext/useit/mobile/ipad.aspx Thursday, August 26
Harper Macleod report success with Pilgrim auto-billing
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 26 Aug 2010 12:42 BST
Scottish commercial law firm Harper Macleod has recently overhauled its billing system by significantly increasing the use of Pilgrim LawSoft Auto Billing. Bills are now generated automatically by LawSoft, which provides a seamless, consistent and transparent process that allows clients to receive their documentation faster. By removing the manual steps in the billing process, the margin for human error is also removed, meaning communications with clients are always accurate.
Gary Sorley, Information Systems Director, comments “Harper Macleod has always been known as a law firm with a business mind and that’s why we’re continually investing in our technology and systems. LawSoft is another integral part of our vision to better serve our clients and improve efficiencies.” Nicola White, Harper Macleod’s Operations Director, adds “By introducing LawSoft Auto Billing, we’ve made substantial time savings. Less time spent on billing administration is more time spent serving our clients – which is the most important goal for us. It is suitably flexible to be applied to a range of different clients and different departments with confidence. We aim to achieve near 100% auto billing in the coming year.”
Farrer & Co reports on its Streamline implementation
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 26 Aug 2010 09:00 BST
LexisNexis today announced that London-based Farrer & Co LLP, has implemented its first bespoke international networking solution using the LexisNexis Streamline best-of-breed rapid application development platform. This new solution, developed to support the ‘Farrer International Lawyer Network’ programme, is improving Farrer & Co’s international networking ability by allowing the firm to actively develop relationships with lawyers across the globe for potential collaboration opportunities.
Farrer & Co has used the rapid developmental capabilities offered by the LexisNexis Streamline platform to customise its LexisNexis InterAction CRM, within which all the international lawyer network contacts reside. An early adopter of LexisNexis Streamline, Farrer & Co chose the solution for its unrestricted developmental capabilities, flexible workflow, document assembly and powerful systems integration ability. “LexisNexis Streamline is a good complement to our existing technology systems,” Neil Davison, Head of Information Technology, Farrer & Co LLP, commented. “It offers us the ability to easily enhance and extend the functionality of our existing applications. This platform also provides us with the capability to quickly and cost effectively develop new solutions in response to market demand, which is crucial in today’s rapidly evolving legal business environment. In the long run, we will maximise the return on our technology investments.” Utilising the standard ‘Development Frameworks’ offered by LexisNexis Streamline, which enables firms to extend the functionality of their existing best-of-breed applications, Farrer & Co has leveraged the LexisNexis InterAction Framework to broaden the ‘contact creation’ process of its CRM solution. The firm has redeveloped the LexisNexis InterAction ‘new contact wizard’, adding new information fields for data capture such as area of expertise of lawyers, the countries they reside in the specific legal networking groups they belong to and history of collaborative work undertaken by Farrer & Co’s lawyers with international lawyers and firms. This data, captured via a single web interface, is increasing the accuracy and enhancing the quality of information residing within LexisNexis InterAction. This information is also assisting the firm with new business development activities in other geographies. The wizard can be extended further, capturing more detailed information on expert witnesses and other specialised contacts. LexisNexis Streamline will play a crucial role in the firm’s long term IT strategy to bring together its core legal applications to reduce operational inefficiencies and deliver enhanced client service. The solution will create a seamless, integrated business environment by linking together the firm’s existing best-of-breed applications including Aderant practice management system, OpenText document management system and InterAction CRM system along with its Microsoft SharePoint intranet. “With the Legal Services Act 2007 opening up the UK legal market, firms have the opportunity to expand their businesses across borders. However, the current economic climate coupled with increasing regulation means that firms need to operate in a more competitive, enterprise-like manner. Underpinning business with flexible, future-proof technology can help firms to achieve operational efficiency and devise innovative ways of working to meet growth targets. As an early adopter of technology, Farrer & Co is well ahead of the curve,” Tim Cheadle, General Manager, LexisNexis UK Enterprise Solutions, added. Using the LexisNexis Streamline platform, Farrer & Co has already commenced work to rationalise and automate the firm’s client and matter inception process. This project will be followed by the creation of a fee earner portal for client and matter management, which will give fee earners access to all relevant, contextualised information across the firm’s business systems, from a single user interface. The portal will eliminate the need for fee earners to log into disparate systems, enhancing productivity and ultimately improving client service. Tuesday, August 24
FWBS claims 'designed for iPad' legal functionality first
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 24 Aug 2010 10:41 BST
FWBS claims it has taken a significant step beyond the current crop of legal apps-on-Citrix-on-iPad implementations with the new ‘designed for iPad’ version of the MatterSphere solution it launched earlier this year.
MatterSphere, which extends the FWBS MatterCentre’s focus to the cloud, providing law firms and legal departments with anywhere access to client and matter data, access via a rich graphical interface rather than HTML. The new iPad launch now means legal professionals can be provided with a rich user experience, utilising the latest in advanced touch screen technology to: • manage documents • time recording (both live and batch updating) • and firm wide search capabilities. Mark Craddock, FWBS sales & marketing director said “Utilising MatterCentre and MatterSphere technology through their iPad device will provide our customers with a competitive edge, and greater efficiency. The ability to remotely access firm wide client and matter data, time record, exchange and upload documents from external clients, and speed through their workloads, all through iPad’s innovative touch screen interface is set to provide greater scope for how legal professionals are able to work. “FWBS are delighted to be providing productivity gains to fee earners firm wide, with ease of adoption. The launch of MatterSphere, and its compatibility with the iPad devices, is the next step forward in MatterCentre’s continued development.” Monday, August 23
LexisNexis in document assembly deal with Business Integrity
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 23 Aug 2010 09:26 BST
LexisNexis UK and Business Integrity, a leading provider of document assembly solutions, today announced a strategic partnership to deliver complete document assembly services. Business Integrity’s ContractExpress document automation technology is to be used to power LexisNexis online services. This will allow LexisNexis customers to benefit from increased efficiencies in their document production processes, as well as protecting organisations from the risk of using out-of-date information.
The first product from this partnership will be the addition of the Lexis Smart automated precedents capability to Lexis PSL, the practical guidance solution providing legal intelligence to lawyers across all UK practices. Commenting on the announcement, Josh Bottomley, Managing Director of LexisNexis UK said: “This marks an exciting development for lawyers throughout the UK, and the next step in the delivery of our Legal Intelligence vision. Lexis PSL customers can now access LexisNexis expert content with the ease and simplicity of best-in-class document assembly. This will save them time and effort drafting documents and enable them to cover more issues, in more depth, adding more value to their end clients.” Richard Newton, VP Europe at Business Integrity added, “We are delighted to work with LexisNexis, and share their vision for the future of legal services. The combination of first-rate content and automated document creation offers lawyers a compelling solution to better meet their clients’ needs.” Available from September 2010 onwards, the new Lexis Smart capability will automate over 130 frequently-used precedents across nine practice areas, within the Lexis PSL practical guidance service. Using Q&A-style drafting, context-sensitive guidance and drop-down menus speeds up the process of document creation and also enables junior staff to handle more work, helping firms to increase their efficiency and profitability. Wednesday, August 18
More new products from Aderant: Expert Matter Planning
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 18 Aug 2010 16:27 BST
Aderant today announced plans to release Expert Matter Planning, a comprehensive application that enables firms to manage the full life cycle of alternative fee arrangements. Matter Planning was developed to address the challenges firms are facing as clients increasingly request non-traditional fee arrangements. The product has been selected for demonstration in the State of the Art Technology Track at ILTA 2010 in Las Vegas on August 23.
Expert Matter Planning enables firms to more easily respond to and manage requests for both standard and alternative fee arrangements. Users can search and collate prior or existing matters and design preconfigured templates to build matter profiles. Matter Planning gives firms the ability to review work performed on prior matters to ascertain the duration, effort, and expertise required for the new engagement. It also brings together hours and roles to produce a fee estimate and a projected P&L so firms can ensure each new matter meets their pre-determined profitability thresholds. The innovative, flexible design handles all types of alternative fee agreements and monitors the matter through the entire life cycle. “At Sheppard Mullin we understand that in today’s marketplace, a law firm must be flexible and value-driven when pricing client engagements,” says Kevin Combs, Chief Financial Officer for Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP. “The ability to mine historical information to develop ‘win win’ arrangements is a wave of the future.” One key advantage of Expert Matter Planning is its full integration with Aderant Expert. Integration allows the use of Expert rates, ranks, timekeepers, phases, and tasks all to be shared, ensuring a seamless movement from the matter planning phase into file opening, time recording, and billing. The tight integration with Aderant Expert also provides streamlined matter inception through cutting edge workflow processes, as well as accurate monitoring of the estimates created in the planning phase against actual time entries and reports on any variances. |
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