Birmingham-based Blakemores Solicitors has swapped out its IRIS AlphaLaw practice management system in favour of TFB’s Partner for Windows. The firm is also anticipating significant efficiency gains for the processing of their LSC family and immigration work thanks to the comprehensive legal aid functionality of Partner for Windows. The firm will be rolling out a 180-user Partner for Windows practice management system across the firm whilst implementing case management within their family, probate and immigration departments. They have also chosen to implement Partner TaskCentre, a business process management tool, which will allow them to provide timely and specific management information to key personnel.
Robert Palmer, IT Manager at Blakemores comments, ‘When we decided to replace our IRIS AlphaLaw Accounts System, we were looking for a flexible, intuitive and easy to use system. Partner for Windows meets all these requirements and more. From a user perspective, our cashiers particularly favoured it because of the comprehensive in-built LSC functionality and our Head of Finance, Kerry Sherrad, liked its flexible management reporting. From an IT perspective, its ability to work seamlessly within our existing infrastructure and integrate with other leading technologies means the system can grow with the firm and help us embrace new ways of working such as the growing market of online services.’
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This Month
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Wednesday, December 23
Blakemores drop IRIS for TFB
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 23 Dec 2009 11:42 GMT
Another firm goes live on Elite 3E + Twitter
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 23 Dec 2009 09:15 GMT
Another law firm has gone live on Elite 3E, namely Jersey (Channel Islands) based Mourant de Feu & Jeune – the firm previously ran a bespoke system based on Microsoft Dynamics Financials. This is the 6th Elite site to go live in the past 60 days.
In other Elite news... One of the largest law firms in Malaysia has chosen Elite 3E for its core financial and practice management platform. Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill (LHAG) is currently the fifth largest law firm in Malaysia with offices in Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru and Penang. LHAG is Elite's first customer in the Malaysian legal market. And, Elite is now available on Twitter at http://twitter.com/elitelink Tuesday, December 22
Tikit looking for Operations Manager @ £100k
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 22 Dec 2009 10:20 GMT
This job has just come in – and while we don't usually flag vacancies on the blog, the salary is one of the biggest we've seen from a vendor in recent months – nice way to start of the New Year...
Operations Manager Tikit, London, £100k plus benefits Tikit Group plc is a leading European IT Consultancy and Solutions Provider to the legal and professional services market. Tikit is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and has its head office in central London. This exciting new role has overall responsibility for the Groups Operations in respect of Consultancy and Training Services, with focus on internal and external procedures in terms of best practices. The individual will lead and assist the Business Unit Heads with maximising billing, utilisation and project opportunities. Overall further enhancing customer satisfaction and measuring the Groups performance, via client surveys, is also a key aspect of the role. Reporting to the Professional Services Director Simon Hill this is an excellent opportunity to join a leading provider of IT consultancy and solutions to the sector. To apply and for more information please email simon.hill@tikit.com Friday, December 18
The Insider named as principal media partner for Legal IT Show
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 18 Dec 2009 10:07 GMT
 The UK/EMEA's most widely read legal technology publication – Legal Technology Insider – has been confirmed as the principal media partner for the Legal IT Show, which takes place at the Islington Business Design Centre in London in February. www.legalitshow.com In addition, Insider publisher & editor Charles Christian will be conducting the Keynote Interview on the first day with Neil Renfrew, the head of IT at Thomas Eggar – the topic will be Legal IT and The New Normal. Thursday, December 17
Jacqui de Gernier joins Aderant & other news
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 17 Dec 2009 14:17 GMT
Jacqui de Gernier, most recently responsible for new business sales & account management in the south of England for Pilgrim Systems, has joined the sales team at Aderant. Before joining Pilgrim in April 2007, she spent seven years with Tikit and before that was with TFB.
In other Aderant news... • Aderant has secured two more wins for its Aderant Expert system. The Maitland Group, which provides legal, fiduciary and asset management services to corporations and high net worth families & individuals, has selected Aderant Expert in a win against Elite 3E. The Maitland Group has 12 offices throughout the UK, Europe and South Africa. And, 100 fee earner Florida law firm Trenam Kemker has selected Aderant Expert. Although the firm used one of Aderant's older products, it did review the market (including looking at competitor products) before selecting Expert. • Sydney-based Allens Arthur Robinson went live on Aderant Expert in one year across 14 offices in eight countries. The implementation also included Aderant's File Opening Workflow system.
Update from Land Registry + House Price Index now live
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 17 Dec 2009 12:10 GMT
News from the Land Registry...
• The Land Registry's House Price Index is now live. www.landregistry.gov.uk • The Land Registry has also announced that the Business Gateway is now open to all customers beyond those selected for the initial pilot. The LR say... "Business Gateway is the B2B technology platform that allows you to access Land Registry services using XML via the Internet. We developed it in response to customers growing need to access our services directly from their Case Management Systems (CMS). This initial release of Business Gateway offers: 1.Information Services • Official Copy where Title Number is known (OC1) • Official Copy of documents referred to in the register (OC2) • Official Search of Whole with Priority (OS1) • Title number enquiry by property description • Land Charges Bankruptcy Search (K16) and 2. Network Service • Electronic Charge in Standard Form (create Charge (e-CSF) and make it effective) "Customer feedback during the course of the pilot so far has been invaluable, and we would like to thank all pilot participants for their contribution throughout this process. Many more of you have provided us with feedback and we would like to thank you for this too. The Business Gateway was initially aimed at conveyancers in the remortgage market who had a CMS, and who could benefit from further automation of their processes. This tended to be the higher volume conveyancers. "During the course of the project, the views of other conveyancers and their software vendors and other intermediary service providers were put to us, and highlighted further the need to broaden access.Having proved the technical resilience of the service during the initial pilot period, we are now in a position to offer increased access to the Business Gateway. The changes mean that the Business Gateway can be used by (amongst others): • Conveyancers • HIP providers • Property search or other intermediaries • Providers of hosted services • Debt recovery agencies "There are a number of intermediary solutions that are possible, and given that this is a new market for Business Gateway, we would like to exercise some caution until we are more familiar with this environment. As such, we would be pleased to discuss your solution with you and ensure the Business Gateway and the associated legal agreements are suitable. You will need to sign up to Land Registry portal to gain access to the Business Gateway, and those wishing to use the Electronic Charge in Standard form (e-CSF) will still need to enter into and be bound by the requirements of our Network Access Agreement. Please contact the Channel Partners Team on the email below for further details. Timescales There have been a number of changes as a result of the tests carried out during pilot, which will need to be implemented before we consider the pilot fully completed. • An improved Test System is currently being built that will allow easier access for a larger number of testers to overcome limitations found with the original test system. This is planned to be available at the end of January 2010. • Further software improvements are being implemented and will be released on 1st March 2010. • To help you with the new service, we are holding a Technical Workshop during the week of 25th January 2010. Please register your interest by email to the address below. "We now look forward to welcoming you to the Business Gateway. Please contact the Channel Partner Team on channel.partners@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk and one of our account managers will contact you to discuss the sign-up process. Wednesday, December 16
IRIS say Windows 7 compliance by 2nd half 2010
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 16 Dec 2009 13:57 GMT
The UK's IRIS software group intends to have certified support for Microsoft Windows 7 in all its Windows based products by the 2nd half of 2010. The company already supports Windows 7 within several of its legal and accountancy practice solutions. New versions of its accounting, payroll, charity, project management, membership and other solutions will adopt the new Microsoft operating system as part of the next two rounds of enhancements and updates.
December Legal Technology Insider out now
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 16 Dec 2009 13:46 GMT
The December issue of the Legal Technology Insider newsletter (UK + EMEA edition) is out now. The print version should be hitting desktops from tomorrow and the digital issue is popping into email inboxes at this very moment. The next issue is out on 28th January.
Among other things, the December issue contains some interesting statistics on the potential wasted budgets spent on records management... According to new research carried out by records management specialists Legal RM, UK law firms could be paying seven times as much as they should on the off-site storage of their records. A sample of 21 top-50 firms revealed that between them they are currently spending a total of £7.7 million a year on off-site document storage. This figure only relates to actual storage, ‘ancillary costs’ (such as charges for registration, collection and delivery) are extra. Currently the firms have over 3 million boxes of deeds in storage and between them are registering 608,000 new files each year. However, while the average price per box is just £2.52 a year (in London prices average nearer £3.30) Chris Giles of Legal RM says the important metric is how many files and boxes firms are paying to store unnecessarily. For example, the survey also found only 61% of firms had document retention and destruction policies – and that less than half of them had actually implemented those policies. The next result was the average time each file was retained was 11.23 years, whereas according to Giles, at least 50% of those could be destroyed immediately, with a further 10% disposed of in each subsequent year. Giles calculates that if you multiply what firms are spending each year over the lifetime of their documents’ storage (in this sample £86 million) and compare what they could pay with proper lifecycle management (£12.8 million) there is an overspend – or wastage – of 85%. • Legal RM is holding its next Records Management Networking Event on 14th January (between 4:30pm-6:30pm) at the London offices of CMS Cameron McKenna. The session will be looking at the pricing policies of off-site storage vendors, including their ancillary charges. For details email Chris Giles on chris@legal-rm.com
Xmas gifts guide: All I want for Christmas is a divorce token
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 16 Dec 2009 08:36 GMT
When you were young, you often got book-tokens or record-tokens instead of gifts in your Christmas stocking – well today there is an alternative: a divorce-token or voucher.
It is the idea of London-based divorce lawyers Lloyd Platt & Company who have introduced a half or one hour Legal Advice Gift Voucher. The idea was prompted by a comment by a client’s relatives that they wished to make contribution towards their relative’s legal fees on divorce. In order to soften the fact that their relatives were in fact making such a contribution, Vanessa Lloyd Platt, senior partner of Lloyd Platt & Company, suggested that perhaps she would provide a 'gift voucher' for this purpose. The relatives were delighted, commenting they knew many others who'd also be interested in purchasing vouchers for members of their families – and so the gift idea began... According to the firm, the people requesting these vouchers have so far included... • Friends who having witnessed a decline in their friend’s relationship, want them to obtain advice and see the Gift Voucher as a subtle and less embarrassing way of dealing with the subject. The vouchers have provided an opportunity for relatives to make a contribution towards legal fees without feeling that they are undermining or encouraging the situation. • Others who have approached the firm have been both husbands and wives who have said that this is an ideal way that they can finally broach the subject that they no longer wish to be in the marriage, by purchasing such a Gift Voucher and suggesting that this would be the best way forward. • Mistresses have been enquiring as to the amounts that they can pay and vouchers that they can buy for their lovers to finally get on with the promise of divorcing their wives. • Parents and grandparents alike who are worried about their offspring have been buying them, declaring in some cases as they were purchasing them, that they had never liked a son-in-law/daughter-in-law in the first place. • Employers are buying the Gift Vouchers for their employees so that they can deal with their matrimonial problems and not bring them into the office. • Celebrities are buying them for their celebrity girlfriends instead of the usual handbag. • Agents in the world of media, sports and otherwise are buying them for their clients as a fait accompli to take legal advice instead of having to listen to endless stories of matrimonial unhappiness. (Are these called Tiger Vouchers? ...Ed) The firm adds "Whilst at first sight the issuing of Gift Vouchers for the ending of marriages seems to be somewhat unpalatable, perhaps it is just simply a sign of the times. Along with divorce cards, divorce parties and divorce flowers, the Divorce Gift Voucher seems a must." For details visit www.divorcesolicitors.com or phone: 020 8343 2998. These will then be dispatched by post and are valid for one year from the date of issue. Tuesday, December 15
Boyes Turner drop Axxia for Elite
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 15 Dec 2009 15:44 GMT
Boyes Turner, based in Reading, UK has selected Elite 3E to replace its legacy LexisNexis Axxia system. The firm included Aderant in its evaluation for an advanced financial and practice management system. Boyes Turner's finance director Jeremy Sleap said “Following a review of the market, we chose 3E as we believe that it gives us a flexible platform, which will develop with the firm over the coming decade.”
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