Marcus Evans events has just cancelled its London e-discovery conference, that was scheduled to take place at the end (26 & 27) of February. The organisers said "due to unforeseeable circumstances we can not guarantee the high standard of event that we are committed to. We have therefore had to make the decision to postpone this conference..."
We're also hearing a number of IT vendors saying that although they will attend next month's event because they are already committed, they are not planning to reserve stand spaces for the 2010 Islington Design Centre Legal IT exhibition. Their view is that in the current economic climate, staying in the office and hanging onto their jobs – not wandering around IT exhibitions – is the main priority of law firm IT managers and directors. They say that if the economy does show signs of recovery, they may reconsider their position nearer the time but are not prepared to commit (and pay) so far in advance.
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Tuesday, January 20
Recessionary Tales - events next to take a hit?
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 20 Jan 2009 09:57 GMT
Monday, January 19
Epoq and Cohen brothers hoping for second time lucky
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 19 Jan 2009 13:11 GMT
Epoq Software – the company behind the Rapidocs document assembly & automation – is hoping it will be second time lucky for its ventures into online legal services with the launch today of its MyLawyer.co.uk service.
MyLawyer provides both consumers and businesses with 24 hour access to create their own legal documents. As standard, each service includes individual review and where necessary, amendments, by leading UK law firms, in order to ensure that resulting documents are precisely tailored for customers’ legal requirements. MyLawyer say that while online legal document services have been available for some time now, these have mainly been offered as ‘flat pack’ forms services unsupported by legal review by a qualified practitioner. At its launch, MyLawyer has access to hundreds of lawyers based throughout the UK. The service has been designed to allow tusers to have access to flexible and cost effective legal document services and it is anticipated that in its first year the numbers of participating law firms will quickly rise from the initial 6 firms to over 20. The firms which are announced as part of the MyLawyer network at launch are all listed within the Legal 500 and include Pannone LLP, Hugh James LLP, Nelsons LLP, Minster Law, Brethertons LLP and Last Cawthra Feather LLP. “Historically, technology has revolutionised the back office process but the accessibility of the internet means that the legal front office – the way legal services are offered to and accessed by consumers and businesses - is now changing too. Law firms can now give their clients what they want, keep the personalised service yet lower cost and increase recoverable hourly rates, benefiting from the very real opportunity to provide the generation of consumers and business managers who regularly engage other professional services using the internet and who are eager to embrace these changes” says Richard Cohen, solicitor and Joint CEO of Epoq. Cohen says technology will play a key role in firms’ future structures. “Technology is enabling multiple legal brands to collaborate and in doing so they can achieve far greater scale and cost economies. Solutions such as MyLawyer provide law firms with new channels to access business and will also prove an effective tool erecting barriers to fight the threat of market erosion from alternative legal services providers.” As well as gaining customers from the national MyLawyer brand, firms participating in the MyLawyer network also receive extensions to their own websites, enabling them to deliver transactional services to new and existing clients. They each receive their own branded private-client and business services website where their clients can engage, instruct and generate draft documentation, then seamlessly move from web to bespoke in-office services. For those of you feeling a sense of deja vu, here is the back story (from the September 2001 edition/no.123 of Legal Technology Insider) from the last time the brothers Richard and Grahame Cohen were involved in the UK online legal services market. Back then, the service was called Desktop Lawyer and the company Epoch Software.... EPOCH SURVIVES NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE Twelve months ago Epoch Software, the company behind the Desktop Lawyer service, was being fêted as one of the great success stories of the legal dotcom world. Yet, at the end of August the company had run out of money – the statement of affairs issued by the liquidators suggested investors lost nearly £7 million on the venture – and gone into voluntary liquidation. Ten days later, after a marathon 27 hour negotiating session, the liquidators agreed to sell the business to its original management team, including co-founders Richard and Grahame Cohen, for an undisclosed sum. So what went wrong and what implications does this have for the future of online legal services in the UK? In an exclusive interview, Richard Cohen told the Insider that while the immediate cause of the collapse was the inability to secure additional funding – Epoch’s board spent the past five months talking to nearly every venture capital group in the UK but was unable to find anyone prepared to invest in a dotcom business – the failure also raised serious doubts about the current demand for online legal services as an alternative to conventional bricks and mortar legal services. Although the new business will continue to run the old Desktop Lawyer (MyLawyer.com in the US) consumer oriented online services, it would do so primarily as a shop window to promote the company’s technology capabilities, including its RapiDocs document assembly system. For the future however, the main focus of the business will shift to the supply of bundled online legal service packages to third parties, such as banks and insurance companies, who will then include them as part of larger products that they sell directly to their own customers and policyholders. The Epoch’s US arm (All American Law Inc) is already selling its services as part of a legal expenses insurance package offered by Royal & SunAlliance. (In fact over the intervening years Epoq has been providing online legal services to a range of institutional customers including MORE TH>N, HBOS, RBS, NatWest, DAS, Abbey Santander and Allianz.) Cohen said Epoch would still be interested in talking to smaller law firms wanting to offer ecommerce services to their clients, via Epoch’s DirectLAW system, but would no longer be actively promoting this side of the business. “Because there is no money in it. You can advertise your online legal services until the cows come home but there are not the volumes of consumers and SMEs out there to buy these services. “The only organisations that are going to make this work are either the very large law firms or organisations like insurance companies who already have a captive audience for their services. I really do believe the internet is the way legal services will be delivered in the future but we thought the market would move a lot quicker than it has done. With hindsight, I can see we were ahead of the times and that we are looking at maybe another five years before the demand for online legal services in the High Street firms/consumer market really takes off.” ~ ~ ~ Eight years – rather than five years later – Richard Cohen is clearly hoping this time it will be second time lucky.
Hammonds Direct up for sale?
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 19 Jan 2009 12:49 GMT
The Lawyer magazine is reporting that the Hammonds Direct bulk conveyancing business is in discussion with potential buyers to buy the operation as a going concern but failing that could enter administration. The Hammonds' law firm offshoot has been hit by the collapse of the residential conveyancing market.
Friday, January 16
Something for the weekend - a little quiz
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 16 Jan 2009 17:05 GMT
Here's a simple quiz for the weekend? What is the legal IT-related connection between the building on the left of this picture – No.167 – and the passage to its immediate right? Post your answers in the comments section.
And then there were 10
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 16 Jan 2009 09:37 GMT
Contrary to earlier reports, the English Law Society's latest 2009 edition of its Software Suppliers Guide will only carry 10 vendors this year. They are, in alphabetical order...
AlphaLaw (now part of the IRIS group) Cognito Software (part of the Ultima group & now including longtime guide stalwarts JCS) DPS Software (still independent) Eclipse Legal Systems (still independent) Linetime (still independent) Opsis (now part of the IRIS group) Quill (still independent) Select (still independent) SOS (still independent) TFB (now part of the Tikit group) In terms of bangs for your bucks, High Street firms looking for a supplier now get a better choice from the Institute of Legal Cashiers & Administrators rival ILCA Listed Suppliers Guide 2009 which this year contains detail on 18 vendors... Access Legal Systems AlphaLaw Cognito Software DPS Software Eclipse Legal Systems Edgebyte Computers FWBS IRIS Legal Solutions LexisNexis Linetime Opsis Peapod Perfect Software Professional Technology (UK) SOS System One TFB Timeslice Wednesday, January 14
Dirkzwager first to go with Open Text Sharepoint DMS offering
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 14 Jan 2009 13:22 GMT
The Dutch law firm Dirkzwager has become the first legal practice worldwide to sign up for the Legal Information Management Solution (LIMS) – Open Text's new Microsoft Sharepoint-based document management system. After considering both Interwoven Worksite and Handshake Software's own Sharepoint solution, the firm selected Open Text LIMS for an initial proof of concept, before going on to place an order for 250 seats. The deal, including the proof of concept and full implementation, is being handled by Open Text's Benelux partner Timesoft. The project will encompass both document and email management – and also see Open Text being integrated to Dirkzwager's Aderant practice management system.
• In other Open Text news... After several years of running with Open Text (previously Hummingbird) as its DMS platform in London and Interwoven Worksite in New York, Clifford Chance has standardized on Open Text DM as its global document management system and is swapping out Interwoven from all its American offices. Tuesday, January 13
A&L Goodbody moves to Aderant Expert
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 13 Jan 2009 12:42 GMT
Aderant today announced that Dublin-based firm A&L Goodbody, one of Ireland’s leading corporate law firms, will replace their existing Aderant/Keystone practice management system with the company’s Aderant Expert integrated business management software suite. After evaluating its options, the firm chose to stay with Aderant on the strength of Expert's comprehensive financial management functionality, robust international capabilities, and clear alignment with Microsoft technologies.
Beyond Aderant Expert’s core time and billing and financial management functionality, A&L Goodbody will also implement Expert’s business intake, practice management, and business intelligence applications. Additionally, the firm will roll-out Aderant Expert’s Microsoft SharePoint-based portal application and time entry and inquiry capabilities for BlackBerry handheld devices. Monday, January 12
If you're going to LegalTech NY...
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 12 Jan 2009 10:22 GMT
If you are going to LegalTech New York – or anywhere else in the United States – watch out for the ESTA rules (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) which came into force today. Basically you have to complete an online ESTA form at least 72 hours before your trip to the US, otherwise you could find yourself on the first return flight home. The information you need to supply is pretty much the same as you already supply (were you a member of the Nazi Party, have you ever been convicted of a crime involving 'moral turpitude' - no, but it sounds fun) on those inflight green visa waiver cards you are already familiar with. According to the US embassy in London, so far 99.6% of people registering via ESTA have been approved – the majority within 4 seconds. An ESTA is valid for 2 years – in otherwords, once you have one, you can make multiple trips without reapplying. The attached FAQs & Fact Sheet tell you all you need to know.
 2 AttachmentsMonday, January 5
Lupton Fawcett now live on Pilgrim
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 05 Jan 2009 12:50 GMT
UK top 250 law firm Lupton Fawcett are now live with Pilgrim’s LawSoft after successfully migrating from their legacy IRIS AIM Evolution system. The firm are live with PMS, document management, CRM, matter management and debt collection case management. Pilgrim and Lupton Fawcett are now implementing a detailed Personal Injury case management system that fully integrates with the rest of the LawSoft suite. The firm, who were running the old Classic Unix version of AIM Evolution, placed the order early last year – for first report see Insider #206 (February 2008).
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