For the last decade we've been familiar with the frequent LegalTech New York + Legal IT Show London calendar clashes in early February. However from 2011 it looks like this problem has been solved, with LegalTech remaining at its traditional time of late January/early February (apparently it is timed to coincide with the Superbowl - some kind of American sporting event involving lots of men in protective clothing running around in ever-decreasing circles - next year it is 31 Jan to 2nd Feb) while Legal IT moves to 1st & 2nd March. This should also avoid the problem of heavy snow blighting the second day of the London show as it has done in the past.
So, hooray. No, hang on... the new Legal IT Show dates overlap with the ARK Group Lex 2011 event which was provisionally scheduled for 2 & 3 March. We have asked ARK for clarification on the date - and we see the date no longer appears on the website for the event.
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Wednesday, June 30
Event clashes ahoy !
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 30 Jun 2010 12:16 BST
Guest article: could Halliwells have avoided its fate?
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 30 Jun 2010 09:59 BST
By James
Courtis-Pond, Director at Rosslyn Analytics, and former City lawyer and
general counsel...
Could Halliwells have avoided administration if it had a stronger handling on its finances? Probably not but it's worth exploring for a moment because Halliwells is a microcosm of what could happen to just about every business falling on harder times after rapid expansion, commoditization of services and finally consolidation. Now, I don't claim to be privy to all the internal details at Halliwells - and clearly the main components of this sad event are on the debt/revenue side - but, perhaps, generic to most in the legal industry, the cost side has not been as deeply understood and managed as well as it might have been. Why do I say that? Two years ago I offered Halliwells our spend analytics and integrated contract management service. The response at the time was politely "Thanks but no thanks." The reason given was that most of the firm's costs are salaries. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to appreciate 70% of a law firms spend is on salaries, usually followed by rent and professional insurance. But the major focus of spend analysis is directed at that tail of 20% to 25% of indirect spend, which is spent on running a firm. It is here where spend visibility has been traditionally weak and money is left on the table. Whether your indirect spend is £1m or £100m, a proven toolkit to help you cut up to 20% of that spend has to be taken seriously. For example, a law firm with a profit margin of 30%, cutting just £100,000 of spend is equivalent to £300,000 of new revenue. This may explain why forward-looking law firms take spend analysis seriously, but more on this later. So when I hear a managing partner tell me "we think we have our spend fully covered," after only a little questioning it often becomes clear to us both that "We actually have little visibility of spend outside our top suppliers, that is exponentially complicated if you want a global or parented view, and we have very little idea where our physical contracts are, when they terminate or when we should receive volume rebates." Case in point, a procurement officer at one of the largest law firms recently told me that "if I want to know how much I spend with a supplier I have to phone and ask that supplier. I am lucky if I get an answer by the end of the month." This is a waste of negotiating/bargaining power. It is not all dire, though. Law firms are increasingly taking steps to better understand and analyze their spending patterns. Through spend visibility comes better cost side decision-making that results in plugging cash leakage and making additional savings through improved sourcing opportunities. At the end of the day, it's a competitive advantage to understand and manage your costs better than the firms you are competing against for business. Information systems cannot stop firms going into administration but I do strongly believe spend analysis does help executives better manage their bottom-line. Friday, June 25
Something for the weekend - the Alt Legal IT Awards ?
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 25 Jun 2010 11:00 BST
Well you have been chivvying me all week, so here are the categories for our new spoof legal IT awards – aka The Alternative Legal Technology Awards aka The No List aka The Not-The-Loties aka The Legal IT Losers aka The Switchies aka... Well we are still working on the branding. Maybe we'll just call it the Another lame Irish comedian reads out weak jokes while you eat indifferent food and drink over-priced booze awards – that or we'll do an Apple and just stick an "i" in front of the name The iLegals maybe. Here are the categories – and all supplied by IT directors and IT vendors who clearly have too much time on their hands...
Category 1: Most Inept Government Legal IT Initiative Award This is likely to be a hard fought competition with many candidates for the shortlist. The judges will be looking for extreme and sustained incompetence and will be looking for nominations from other government departments not just the MOJ and HMRC. Category 2: Can I borrow your watch to tell you the time Award This award is offered to anyone setting themselves up as a consultant in the legal industry to offer legal IT advice. The criteria to win this award is strict. They must have set themselves up as a legal IT consultant without having a clue what they are talking about. Some evidence of this will include- 1. Never having worked for a law firm before. 2. Assuming that lawyers are “just like everyone else”. 3. Expecting suppliers to train them on the job. Category 3: “I’ll have what Janet Day’s got” Award A prestigious award open to legal IT directors who make major purchasing decisions on the basis that somebody else has already bought it and if it is good enough for them it is good enough for me. The judges will be looking for evidence that the product chosen is wholly unsuitable for the size/profile of the firm that has bought the application. Category 4: "After Extensive Market Research” Award Awarded to any firm who replaces a major part of their IT systems (usually PMS or case) claiming to carryout extensive market research but in fact just buying from the first supplier who comes through the door. In order to win this award the firm must then be persuaded to support the supplier with an appropriately gushing puff press release. Category 5: Opaque Product Strategy Award In the first of our supplier categories this award is given to the legal software supplier who is able to define their product strategy is such a way that nobody can actually understand it. It will not be sufficient to demonstrate that clients are confused. Winners will be expected to show that none of their own staff have much of a clue and ideally the author of the strategy should struggle to explain it as well. Judges will be looking for over-use of the word .NET. Category 6: Maintenance Value Award This award is given to the supplier who can demonstrate the ability to deliver very little product improvement and enhancement in return for their maintenance income. Suppliers looking to win this award must be able to clearly demonstrate that they have not improved the product at all over the period whilst threatening the end user of the dire consequences of failing to pay their invoice. Category 7: The “Fred the Shred” Award This award is given to the supplier who has, in the eyes of the judges (from an end user perspective), carried out the most poorly thought through takeover of another organisation based largely on the vanity of the chief executive. This is likely to be a quite a large shortlist so the judges will be looking to reduce the numbers by applying the following criteria. 1. Credit will be given to firms having to borrow money to fund most of the deal. 2. If a previously good brand can be ruined in the process extra points will be awarded. 3. Losing clients within the first few months of announcing a deal will be well received. 4. Failure to retain key staff will be viewed positively. Category 8: The Left or Right award Presented to the supplier that has shown the highest levels of incompetence in the sector. Suppliers shortlisted must have clearly demonstrated significant failure in their decision making process over a number of years. When common sense would dictate a right turn the management team will have shown a complete disregard for this and stormed to the left at breakneck speed. Having made many of the above decisions the supplier will have shown great determination in the face of well made comment to continue with the original decision despite the evidence from clients migrating to other suppliers. The supplier will have shown ruthless determination in sacking anyone with experience or an ounce of common sense in the sector. Suppliers must provide at least three compromise agreements for well known individuals who they have managed to exit. The above will of course be backed up by a desire to also hire and fire as many MD's as possible within a short timescale. Preferably those listed will have had zero expertise for the job and will have demonstrated to the staff their complete incompetence within a few months of joining. On the the night those Suppliers shortlisted will also need to demonstrate their 'left or right' credentials by announcing the day before key decisions such as their MD has departed on holiday and didn't realise they might win an award or those with a high degree of nerve might leave it until a few minutes before and demonstrate complete indecision over who will collect the award. Category 9: The Pin-Cushion Award Open to both law firms and vendors, this is for the executive who having inherited a technology or strategy disaster and/or warned his/her board of the dire consequences of failing to take a particular course of action, is stabbed in the back and fired by said board when the whole thing collapses due to said board's failure to heed his or her warnings. (Also known as the Scapegoat Award.) Category 10: The Kiss of Death Award This is open to law firms, vendors and individuals who, having previously won an award in another awards scheme or else been designated an expert in a trade directory, find that from then on their career/business/reputation nosedives at a near terminal velocity. Category 11: The OMG - LOL Award This is open to individuals in both law firms and vendors whose behaviour has been so outrageous, with possibly career terminating consequences, that the natural response is to say "Oh, my god" and burst out laughing. As in "OMG, Instead of going back to the office to face the music, they then took another day off to play golf." The judges will be looking for tales of sexual and/or alcohol fuelled excess. Category 12: The "That's Enough Awards" Award Wednesday, June 23
S.J. Berwin select Litera for redlining & metadata
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 23 Jun 2010 16:00 BST
S.J. Berwin has selected Litera Change-Pro for its document comparison and redlining requirements. The firm is also taking Litera's MetaDact metadata sweeping application, along with Powerpoint and embedded Excel spreadsheet comparison software.
June issue of Legal Technology Insider newsletter out now
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 23 Jun 2010 14:48 BST
The June issue of the UK & EMEA edition of the Legal Technology Insider newsletter is out now. (The digital edition has already hit desktops & the print edition will be arriving from tomorrow.) Top stories include: the ongoing cycle of swapouts in the UK PMS market + the return of Tom Lee and Quintec with a SaaS/Cloud-based document management system for the legal sector. The next issue is out on 22 July, so don't miss the 16 July deadline.
Zylpha say they have an answer to the MoJ RTA portal debacle
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 23 Jun 2010 11:44 BST
Legal software specialist Zylpha say they have a solution "that eases the pain of the latest Government IT shambles" now read on, as these are their words and not our's...
"It is fair to say the UK government does not have a pain free record of implementing successful IT projects and one of the latest ones, the Road Traffic Accident (RTA) insurance claims portal is no exception. The idea behind the portal is that it will significantly speed up the processing and payment of low cost claims by digitising and streamlining communications between claimant lawyers, insurers and compensators leading to all claims being resolved with the new time limit of 15 days, instead of the previous 60-to-90 days. "However, the implementation of the portal was so rushed that the data interface specifications were still in a state of flux when it went live on the 30th of April and this led to the suspension of new registrations for several day as soon as it went live to sort out the mess. Even when operational again, users discovered that the manual data entry through the data collection screen was a very laborious and error prone problem, taking an average of 30 minutes per claim and processing errors in the portal have been discovered by around 50 organisations. Such was the degree of unhappiness of the user community that they formed their own protest group on the leading business networking Linkedin. A typical comment from a disgruntled user commented that the development of the portal was ‘like the blind leading the blind’ and 'The portal people have been fobbing us off forever, saying it’s all in hand’." Zylpha, who specialise in providing integration, connectivity and security solutions for case management systems, had the foresight to predict the need to develop a direct web based integration solution that extracts and updates the required information from an underlying case management system such as SolCase or Visualfiles and is flexible and responsive enough to maintain alignment with the shifting interface specifications throughout the early 'switch on' period. Currently Zylpha has nine organisations using its Rapid RTA solution, with users having processed many hundreds of claims through the portal Paul Hinchliffe, practice manager & co-founder of Bott & Co comments: "Bott & Co settle over 7000 accident claims every year, recovering in excess of £40 million in personal injury compensation for their clients with a 99% success rate, so we need a robust reliable solution for working with the Portal. Having evaluated other solutions we found that Zylpha's Rapid RTA was a much more comprehensive and ready to use product, with all the integration, scripts and screens included and ready to use. "Zylpha’s solution was up and running within a couple of days and because it is integrated so well with our SolCase case management system out of the box, there was minimal training required to start using it. We are now seeing a significant improvement in speed, efficiency and security of processing these claims as a direct result. We estimate that using the portal is saving us around 30 minutes per claim just at Stage 1 and we are being paid the Stage 1 costs much more rapidly. This has given us a quick return on our investment." Tuesday, June 22
Thomson Reuters launch pro bono portal
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 22 Jun 2010 12:06 BST
Thomson Reuters Foundation has launched TrustLaw, what it describes as "an ambitious global service that will transform access to pro bono legal support and provide an international hub on anti-corruption and good governance issues. The new service www.trust.org/trustlaw will widen access to the rule of law and promote greater transparency, empowering people with trusted information and free legal assistance.
Speaking at the launch, Monique Villa, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation said “At a time of great economic uncertainty, legal support is more important than ever for organisations addressing the critical social and environmental issues of our age. The Thomson Reuters Foundation has set itself an ambitious goal: to create a truly international new marketplace connecting those in need of free legal assistance with those able to provide it - anywhere in the world. The dramatic response we have already seen from the non-profit and legal communities highlights the appetite and need for such a service.” As a global online resource on anti-corruption and good governance, TrustLaw brings together a repository of information, advice and best practice, along with agenda-setting material from the Foundation’s expert editorial team. With a database of national legislation, international conventions, news, country profiles and law reviews, this will offer a one-stop shop for anti-corruption and governance information. This model will later be used for other areas including women’s rights. At the heart of the project is TrustLaw Connect, an online marketplace for pro bono work, which will help to spread the culture and practice of pro bono legal assistance around the globe. TrustLaw Connect is a must-have tool for lawyers interested in doing high-impact pro bono and volunteer work. Likewise, social entrepreneurs, NGOs and government agencies will be able to readily access pro bono legal support from lawyers anywhere in the world – for free. TrustLaw Connect itself is an online platform, offered free to all members, enabling fast, efficient connections between those in need of legal assistance and those able to provide it. It will act as a trusted intermediary, vetting participants on all sides to ensure confidence in the requests and assistance provided. On the Trustlaw Connect service, Stuart Popham, Senior Partner Worldwide at Clifford Chance said: “Trustlaw is such a great concept that will really help lawyers fulfill their social responsibilities. It is independent, cutting edge and has already got the support of large parts of the international legal community. It will reach those around the world most in need, even those who are furthest from the protection of the law. I am delighted to be involved with this unique new marketplace.” Monique Villa said “We recognised that a key barrier for law firms managing a pro bono programme is making initial contact with organisations with high impact projects. NGOs and entrepreneurs are also often unaware of the help they can receive. TrustLaw Connect will bridge this gap.” Over 190 organisations working in over 140 countries have already joined TrustLaw Connect, including over 60 leading law firms from around the world. Joining the first truly international service of its kind, ahead of launch, leading lawyers firms such as Slaughter and May, Eversheds, Herbert Smith, Torys, Bird & Bird and Beirut Legal have already assisted NGOs and entrepreneurs through the Trustlaw Connect network. Comment: this is one of those stories you have to re-read 83 times to work out what they are on about. However we think it seems a good idea – even we do have a cynical view of large law firms talking about their social responsibilities and pro-bono work (a bit like celebrities doing good work 'for charidee'). The sites content is provided by Westlaw and Reuters writers. Monday, June 21
Bighand launch analytics module
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 21 Jun 2010 11:06 BST
Bighand has launched a new analytics module that uses Crystal Reports to provide digital dictation users with key metric and trend visibility data relating to document production, dictation and remote working practices. Backed up by a new reporting database, there is now a full audit trail of the history and progress of every dictation. We could rabbit on longer about it but these graphics and the YouTube video link are probably more useful...
   And here's the link to YouTube: www.youtube.com/bighandsoftware Thursday, June 17
Guest article: property search pricing
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 17 Jun 2010 12:56 BST
David Kempster, the marketing director of MDA Searchflow comments on new charging regulations and their effect on property search pricing...
The way in which charges are levied for search information can be divided into two different eras: before the launch of HIPs and after the launch of HIPs. Before HIPs were introduced, the traditional approach to conveyancing meant that the buyer's solicitor would simply order the necessary searches by post or increasingly electronically via NLIS, and pay for them. This shift in the search information market put a lot of pressure on Local Authorities, who still needed to supply information to conveyancers (as before), but now had to deal with a near doubling of volume of the preferred personal searches from HIPs as well. In order to add further credibility to the usefulness of HIPs, and to attempt to reduce the duplications and inefficiencies that remained, new regulations came into effect in April 2009. These new regulations tried to encourage more comprehensive searches, whilst also discouraging search companies from cutting corners or using insurance for answers that weren’t previously available or that they would insure against. They also changed the way in which Local Authorities could charge for this additional information. Since 6th April 2009, Local Authorities have been legally obliged to give private search companies full access to all relevant data as specified in the revised HIP regulations, to bring it closer to the content of the CON29 Official Search, which has traditionally been favoured by solicitors, especially when acting for the buyer. MDA SearchFlow has long felt that it was unfair that these lower-cost personal searches were effectively being subsidised by official searches which were highly variable in price – anything from £40 to £300 – and therefore believed that a more equitable pricing balance between the two search types was needed. As a result of this same legislation, the cost for official searches began to come down, with the average now around £110-£120, as Local Authorities are now required to charge on a cost-recovery basis only From 1st January 2010, the Ministry of Justice implemented a rise in personal searches from £11 to £22 (statutory fee) to access Local Authority information, together with additional costs for the extra information required by the HIP regulations, such as Building Control and Environmental Health. The extent of this charging varies between Local Authorities, based on the cost of their operation. Not only has the impact on private search company margins been significant due to HIP price pressure, but it has been compounded by the variable charges for the extra information (which need to be funded upfront), as well as the need for additional working capital. As such, when considered as a whole, these variable costs mean that a personal search will not necessarily cost less than a CON29. From the end of June 2010, Local Authorities must be able to show how their books are balanced in order to prove their compliance with this new cost-recovery model. At the same time, Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) have been introduced following a 2004 EU directive, which has (clearly) been very slow to come into effect. As a result, Local Authorities will need to consider how they can provide certain pieces of information free of charge, which means that Local Authorities will have to become more efficient, find new ways to put more information online, and to charge less, which could (in some cases) have an impact on staffing and other operational considerations. The Legal Services Act and Alternative Business Structures (ABSs) implementation from next year could force even more changes in how transaction efficiency and unit costs are managed. In fact, the Legal Services Act and ABSs are bound to drive even more structural and competitive change in conveyancing, including the more widespread adoption of electronic processes. At the same time, changes in the way that property search information is stored, curated and released by Local Authorities through the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) will demand a cost-effective solution for them to connect content to the conveyancing professional in order to effect exchange and completion. The good news is that all of these changes have sparked a renewed interest in how we, as an industry, can work together to get important property information through the system more efficiently and cost-effectively. This renewed focus, combined with the recognition that property search information must be at a standard that is acceptable to all parties in the chain, will help to get house sales moving more quickly, which is an objective that everyone, across all political parties, would like to achieve.
Bighand goes on tour with its nFlow convergence plan
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 17 Jun 2010 09:46 BST
BigHand has today announced its plan for the convergence of the BigHand and nFlow technologies. A new converged product; BigHand v4, will be launched on Nov 4th 2010 at the BigHand Annual User Conference and will combine the best features of both technologies in a new BigHand product. BigHand v4 will enable all customers within the BigHand Group to access an unrivalled voice productivity toolkit and will enhance their document production and mobile efficiency even further.
Rob Lancashire, BigHand Managing Director for UK Legal & Professional Services commented: “Since the acquisition of nFlow I have spoken with customers about the best way forward and there has been overwhelming support for the convergence of the product streams as it offers both nFlow & BigHand customers the best of both worlds. Equally we acknowledge a customer desire for flexibility and a caveat to the convergence plan is that we intend to allow firms to do this at their own speed and not be forced to upgrade by any set deadline. I believe the plan we have in place delivers BigHand and nFlow end-users a combination of product improvements and technical consistency, and is a result of engaging quickly and directly with the customer base post-acquisition. We will continue to evolve the plan to ensure a seamless migration path to the converged version, and an upgrade that delivers significant value.” Asif Ali, BigHand Head of Products, commented: “The BigHand Group is committed to the long term support of users on current versions 4 and 5 of the nFlow system, including the nFlow mobility apps, and there are no plans to discontinue either product. As testament to our support, BigHand’s Analytics package comprising a suite of Crystal reports will be integrated with nFlow software, and be made available this summer. However, following the next service release for nFlow v5, nFlow development resource will then be concentrated on the converged product which will effectively become the next major release for the nFlow product stream. This will also mean that a number of the innovative nFlow functions will be available to BigHand users as part of their upgrade to BigHand v4.’’ BigHand will honour all existing nFlow Annual Maintenance and Support contracts for all firms including those wanting to migrate to BigHand v3.4 or future v4 products. Furthermore, the migration will replicate the existing nFlow configuration as closely as possible making the process simple and straightforward, but give access to significantly enhanced mobility, workflow and voice-to-text functionality including: · BigHand for BlackBerry v4 · BigHand for iPhone · BigHand Integration with Microsoft Office · Email Notification + Document Return · Advanced Reporting + Analytics · Server-based Speech Recognition Existing BigHand v3 users will be able to seamlessly upgrade to BigHand v4 as per their standard process to date and with little or no change to their existing infrastructure or system set-up. More information is available at a series of breakfast briefings being held at the following locations: Fri 18th June 8am-10am Birmingham Tues 22nd June 8am-10am Manchester Weds 23rd June 8am-10am Liverpool Thurs 24th June 8am-10am Leeds Fri 25th June 8am-10am Newcastle Thurs 1st July 8am-10am Edinburgh Fri 2nd July 8am-10am Glasgow Tues 20th July 8am-10am London For further information or to register for one of the briefings, contact jo.beckwith@bighand.com |
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