Company formations specialist Jordans has broken new ground by being the first to set up a new company using XML technology. From October 2009, all companies must be formed using XML as part of the Companies Act 2006 which will replace the current email system.
Paul Townsend, director of corporate services at Jordans, says the initiative was not an academic exercise as the changeover will be immediate. "For decades, company formation was a purely paper-based process. Then with the advent of email, the process went electronic and in 1998, Jordans was the first in the field to form a company by electronic means. More recently, security concerns among some Companies House users means that XML is now being made mandatory."
Not only will this change affect company formations, but by October 2009 any documents currently filed electronically with Companies House, including annual returns and accounts, will have to be sent using XML. This could mean that companies would be in default if they or their service provider are not set up to use XML and therefore did not file relevant documents on time.
Townsend warns: "This kind of proactivity is doubly important in the switch to XML, as the Government has said that the change will take immediate effect, and that there will be no 'grace' in terms of being able to continue to use email for a limited period after October 2009."
Comment: Yes, we know. Only the UK government would choose the middle of a recession to make it harder to create new companies.
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Friday, August 8
XML coming to Companies House
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 08 Aug 2008 10:25 BST
Thursday, August 7
Issue #1 of American Legal Technology Insider out now
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 07 Aug 2008 15:06 BST
Issue #1 of the American Legal Technology Insider newsletter is out now. The lead story is a sneak preview of the results of the annual ILTA/Envision Agency large firm technology survey's results. The full results will not be published until later this month however key trends include big uptakes in virtualization and Microsoft Sharepoint projects and a 50% fall off in wireless/mobile handheld device rollouts.
To download a free copy just click on the link – the next issue is out on 10th September.  1 AttachmentsWednesday, August 6
All the latest from the e-conveyancing frontline
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 06 Aug 2008 14:46 BST
With the Land Registry reporting the number of homes sold in June this year was 80% down on the 2007 figures (down from 105,000 to 17,681) and HM Government considering some kind of suspension of stamp duty to help kick-start the market (actually, not a lot of use if you can't get a mortgage) how is the e-conveyancing software market faring?
According to Archie Courage of SDLT.co.uk, the market in an anomalous position for although conveyancing work is down, the volume of e-conveyancing work (or at least online SDLT submissions) is actually on the increase as more firms gear up for the abolition of bar-coded paper SDLT forms from 1st November. Courage's own data also suggests that not all law firms are being hit with uniform severity, with the firms that have a volume business or belong to panels suffering relatively modestly, while it is the independent High Street firms that are taking a more severe beating. Tuesday, August 5
Law firm IT department salaries - latest survey
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 05 Aug 2008 09:18 BST
The UK recruitment consultancy ITS (Information Technology Services) has just published its latest survey (the figures are for June 2008) on law firm IT department salaries (see attached PDF). Looking at these figures and comparing them with earlier surveys, it looks as if salaries have stalled – although once again the figures do reveal that if a candidate is prepared to shop around, there are wide variations in the salaries being paid for the same job levels. There again, as nobody seems to be moving and the Insider's website jobsboard is the quietest its ever been, with almost no new vacancies being posted, perhaps its all a bit academic and we need to hunker down and live with a recession.
1 AttachmentsFriday, August 1
Introducing our Asia-Pacific link-up
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 01 Aug 2008 09:06 BST
As part of our mission to provide the most comprehensive source of legal IT news in the known-universe, we have formed a link-up with Chris McLean's Australasian Legal Technology blog – you can find more details at www.auslegal.com – and will be regularly carrying ALT stories both in The Orange Rag blog and in the main Insider newsletter. Here's Chris's round-up of July news stories...
New appointments at Potter Farrelly Consulting firm Potter Farrelly and Associates have announced a number of staff changes. Elizabeth Miller is moving back to Australia after a stint consulting at the International Criminal Court, setting up their case management system. Elizabeth is taking up the role of National eCourt Manager based in Sydney. Potter Farrelly has also appointed Derek Begg, previously a Special Counsel at Middletons as the manager of their Melbourne office. Aderant User Conference 08 Sebel Pier One Sydney, 4 & 5 September 2008 For those of you using variations of Aderant's practice management offerings, they are holding their annual user conference Momentum Rocks 08 in Sydney this September (4 & 5 at the Sebel Pier One). http://momentum.aderant.com/primary_apa.asp Mallesons plugging the virtues of iPhones Mallesons have been singing the praises of the iPhone as a platform for rich web applications. Gerard Neiditsch, their Business Technology Executive Director, sees the iPhone as a way to introduce more than simple email to mobile devices, for example Malleson's staff directory application. It will be interesting to see whether the new touchscreen Blackberry, codenamed Thunder, will change the perception of Blackberrys. E-conveyancing a step closer After years of squabbling it looks like the Australian states may be making at least some headway on the quest for a national electronic conveyancing system. At COAG, the Council of Australian Governments, the states agreed to a timetable where a national system would be implemented by 2010 (see below for the full timetable). The system is intended to allow the lodgement of all interests and transactions involving real property and to deal with the associated stamp duty obligations. The proposal involves the establishment of a new entity to be owned by all states and the appointment of a board for the new entity comprising "skills-based" representatives with banking, IT, coveyancing and commercial backgrounds. The initial task for the board will be to assess the current Victorian system and determine whether it is fit for use in all states. The move is a small but important step forward, as the process appeared to be stalled over the issue of whether Victoria's system should be considered at all, or whether the other states should develop their own platform. The real fun will begin if the board assesses the Victorian software and decides that it isn't suitable for a national rollout. More at the NECS website here www.necs.gov.au LexisNexis sells Affinity into New Zealand – and Visualfiles to the Australian Government LexisNexis have announced their first New Zealand sale of their (relatively) newly acquired Affinity product (formally Locus Affinity). The new client is Lane Neave, a small to mid Christchurch headquartered firm with about 50 fee earners. It looks like Affinity really is the practice management solution of choice for LexisNexis in the region, with it being preferred over the recently acquired New Zealand product LawBase and their UK favourite Axxia. In other news, LexisNexis have announced that the Australian Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) have purchased their Visualfiles product for legal matter management. Aside from their current diverse list of state Visualfiles clients, the win gives LexisNexis inroads into Commonwealth legal departments. |
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