Here's a quick round-up of upcoming events...
• Tikit Word day next week - Tikit’s next Word Excellence Day, run in conjunction with the UK Document Excellence Group, takes place next week (Tuesday 2nd June) at the New Street Square offices of Taylor Wessing in London. Jointly chaired by Sherry Bevan of UKDEG and Charles Christian of this parish, the programme includes sessions by Lawrence Graham on why migrating to Office 2007 need not be a big deal, and David Griffiths of Pannone on his firm’s new Sharepoint-based document management system (see also page 6 in this issue). UKDEG will provide an update on the latest Word 2007 migration trends and there will be sessions looking at e-learning, house styles and standards, and the potential role of speech technologies in document creation. Over 100 delegates have already registered for the event, for more details email marketing@tikit.com
• Mobile data seminar - Communications specialists Total, in conjunction with Blackberry, O2 and Bighand is holding a mobile data solutions event in Bristol on Friday 26th June. The event starts with lunch at 1:30pm, followed by a series of round-table – and Powerpoint-free – sessions on different aspects of mobile working for lawyers, then a keynote by Insider editor Charles Christian, followed by afternoon tea at 4:45pm. The event, which is being held at the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club ground in Bristol, concludes with an opportunity to watch an early evening Twenty20 match between the Somerset Sabres and the Gloucestershire Gladiators. The event is free but numbers are limited so it is essential to register in advance via Total’s microsite for the event http://tinyurl.com/o8rbak
• Omtool Europe Genifax Technical Webinar - Omtool Europe is holding a webinar to highlight the new features of upgrading to Genifax v. 3.6, and discuss the new technologies in Omtool's portfolio of document capture and routing solutions. Some of the key elements to be discussed and demonstrated in this no-cost webinar include: Fax-Over-IP Technologies and Virtualisation + Seamless Migration to Omtool's AccuRoute Document Capture, Routing and Fax Solution + New Web Client+ Document and Image Processing Enhancements.
Date: Thursday 25th June, 2009 Time: 10:30-11:30 (UK time)
Registration: www.omtool.com/GenifaxUpgradeSeminar
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Friday, May 29
Forthcoming events
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 29 May 2009 13:21 BST
Thursday, May 28
May issue of Legal Technology Insider (UK & EMEA) out now
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 28 May 2009 14:00 BST
The May issue of the UK & EMEA edition of Legal Technology Insider is out now. Top stories include Workshare pressing the reset button to start an new era with their customers...
According to Workshare’s new CEO Alan Fraser, when he joined the company in late 2008 “it was immediately clear that not all customer needs were being met and there were significant customer concerns about the company and its products” This month, after extensive meetings with customers, reseller partners and industry organisations such as ILTA, Workshare has – in the words of European V-P Frank Boening – pressed the ‘reset button’ to begin, what it hopes, will be a new era for the company. In terms of the issues the company seeks to address, these include improvements in the quality of support services and improvements in product quality. For example, release 5.2 SR2 (due out in the next couple of weeks) has been extensively beta and post beta tested to the point where it will be the first release in the company’s history with zero PIs. There are also changes to Workshare’s product pricing and licensing policies – full details are to be announced in July but will include no increase in support costs this year. The company is also reaffirming its commitment to the legal market by streamlining its partner channel from several hundred to just 11 strategic partners around the world. The idea here is these new super partners will be able to provide far more in depth implementation and support services than under the old regime. As for Europe, there are now just three partners: Intraforce covering Germany and Italy, Morningstar covering Benelux and Scandinavia, and Tikit covering the UK, Ireland, Spain and France.
Ashfords roll out SOS to 450 users
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 28 May 2009 10:55 BST
Ashfords has just rolled out the SOS Connect integrated practice, document and case management system from Solicitors Own Software to 450 users in the south west of England. (The firm was formed in 2004 when it demerged from Bevan Ashford.)
Since 2000 Ashfords has used SOS for accounting and back office functions integrated with another solution (LexisNexis Visualfiles Solcase – this is still being used for some case-types but will be replaced) for case management. When a pilot document management project stalled in 2007, Ashfords went out to the market examining major solutions such as Interwoven and the new SOS Connect product. Integration became the critical deciding factor. According to the firm's head of IT Mike West “Some partners had seen a demonstration of Connect. They were impressed by the complete integration of document and case management and the accounts in a single product accessed through Outlook, with which they are so familiar. Looking at the wider picture, we saw that SOS Connect removed the integration headaches, best-suited our needs and would build on the SOS expertise that we already had.” Since late 2007 each Ashford’s office – Exeter, Plymouth, Taunton, Bristol and Tiverton – was implemented in turn with completion in April 2009. Functionality is being phased too. The first SOS Connect workflows have centralised file opening. Document management is also live. Emails are initiated within Connect rather than Outlook as this means that they are stored against the matter. It works two ways, too, as incoming e-mail, where subject headers remain the same, is also automatically filed back into the matter, which West describes as “particularly impressive”. The in-house IT team is using Connect scripts to customise the system such as the integration of Workshare DeltaView document comparison. “This illustrates how extensible Connect is and how we don’t always have to go back to SOS to make changes, which is another key benefit of the software,” comments West. More extensive developments are sourced from SOS. The plan is to move the workflows from the incumbent case management system to SOS Connect, eventually. West says: “There’s a lot of potential in Connect to have everything under one system and reduce the amount of integration we need.” As Ashfords becomes more experienced with Connect, new possibilities are opening up all the time, such as the closer integration with the Microsoft CRM system (based on the Client Profiles CRM4Legal product) using XML. Wednesday, May 27
Asia-Pacific news round-up
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 27 May 2009 21:11 BST
• Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co, one of India’s leading law firms, has selected Autonomy iManage’s system iManage WorkSite for its document and email management capabilities, advanced search and automatic classification capabilities for all their matters.
• At the recent ALB Australasian Law Awards in Sydney, Aderant presented the award for Innovative Use of Technology. Three firms – Minter Ellison, Mallesons Stephen Jacques and Freehills– were nominated for the award, which Minter Ellison won for two uses of technology. One was liift, a technology platform developed by a multi-disciplinary team of lawyers and business analysts from Minter Ellison's Adelaide office that links systems, events, responsible parties, key documents, and legal expertise into one manageable workspace. It enables law firms to deliver tangible and immediate benefits to clients through improved communication, operational efficiency, accountability, and governance. The second was a free, membership-based online resource for construction, property, and infrastructure industry professionals – www.constructionlawmadeeasy.com – that Minter Ellison launched in June 2008. The interactive web site delivers detailed information about construction law concepts, real life case studies, and the combined knowledge and experience of the firm’s 16 specialist construction partners and 45 lawyers. • In other Aderant news, the company has just announced the will host a regional Momentum User Conference – Momentum APA – September 10th & 11th in Sydney. The conferenceswill feature encore presentations of Momentum User Conference content as well unique content designed to address the unique needs law and professional services firms throughout Asia. • The technology consultancy Swerdlove has announced the appointment of Michael Baer. Baer has a deep understanding of financial analysis and reporting systems, covering profitability analysis using full costing; business analysis modelling and the implementation of business solutions. “In tough economic times having the services of a financially experienced voice of reason will be helpful to firm’s seeking an external view point. To obtain the best possible outcomes in our sector firms must look beyond relying solely on internal viewpoints. Working with our existing people, products and resources, Michael will dramatically improve Swerdlove’s capability to deliver on new types of work and projects.” said Derek Giles, managing director. Baer will be responsible for the continued evolution of the company’s financial consulting strategies.
Live webcast from Chicago today
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 27 May 2009 13:31 BST
The Total Practice Management Association is hosting its inaugural Get a Life Conference (follow #GAL09 on Twitter) today (Wednesday) and Thursday of this week (May 27-28th) in Chicago. True to its mission of educating legal professionals with practical how-to marketing, operations and practice management advice, the conference will be streamed live and free of charge during the two day event. Visit www.totalpma.org (and click on Watch the LIVE Conference Web Cast banner) beginning Wednesday May 27th at 8:30am CST to listen in live on any of the 19 sessions focused on helping attendees get more out of their law practice and life. The agenda highlights sessions from speakers such as practice development consultant Gerry Riskin; legal blogging expert Kevin O’Keefe; author of Law Business Revolution blog Alexis Martin Neely; law firm marketing expert Larry Bodine; and Rainmaker Institute CEO Stephen Fairley on the following topics:
· Bulletproofing Your Clients and Your Joy of Life (keynote) · Effective Blogging and Social Media · Building Your Personal & Client Business Development Plans · Billing 101: Fees, Finance & the Bottom Line · Insights on Outsourcing · Recruiting and Selecting Talented people · Create Your Own Strategic Plan
Taking the 'hard' out of Hansard*
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 27 May 2009 11:14 BST
The accessibility of material from Hansard and other data from the Houses of Parliament is set to improve on 1st June when the notoriously difficult-to-navigate website is indexed by a new service, Justis Parliament.
Though jam-packed with highly relevant collateral for lawyers and legal librarians, the transcripts of parliamentary questions, Bills, Select Committees and debates have never been easy to find on the full-text databases on which they’re kept. When indexed by Justis, this will change. The online legal library from Justis Publishing will link into the full-text sources from its intuitively searchable platform. Going back to 1979, this new material will add three million records to Justis. Justis Publishing has operated a separate service – Parlianet –since 1994 but its incorporation into Justis opens up this rich resource to practitioners and information specialists, bringing with it a number of key benefits, including... • better search functionality, including preset searches and advanced searches of specific databases • searches can include the rest of the Justis legal library of cases and legislation back to 1163 • My Justis, a feature that allows users to save searches, receive user-specified email alerts, see their search trails and record their search activity (* And yes, we know the hard/Hansard play on words doesn't really work) Tuesday, May 26
Iowa firm swaps out legacy system & goes live with Aderant in 6 months
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 26 May 2009 18:47 BST
Iowa law firm of Nyemaster Goode West Hansell & O’Brien has implemented an Aderant Expert financial and practice management software suite and gone live in six months, rolling out the application to the firm’s 93 attorneys in three offices in Des Moines, Ames and Cedar Rapids. The firm selected Aderant Expert in October 2008 to replace its existing legacy practice management system (the Orange Rag understands this was an Elite Prolaw system) which it had outgrown.
Nyemaster Goode kicked off its implementation of Aderant in mid-October 2008 and by January 2009 had finished converting all the data from its legacy system. The firm completed two months of testing and customization and began transacting on Aderant Expert in early April. During the implementation project the firm opened a new office in Cedar Rapids and launched a new practice group focusing on intellectual property. The firm says Aderant’s professional services team was able to keep the implementation project on track even in the face of competing priorities within the firm.
Recommind warns of e-disclosure 'time-bomb' in UK
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 26 May 2009 16:03 BST
Recommind reports that over the last year almost half of UK enterprises have experienced an increase in e-disclosure requests (the identification, preservation and collection of electronically stored information for regulatory and internal investigations and law suits)*. IT directors cited fraud and other illegal financial activities as the main contributing factor, with the growth in electronic communication coming a close second.
However, in contrast to this increase, more than two thirds of UK organisations dedicate less than 5% of their IT budget (with nine out of ten dedicating less than 10%) to provisioning and preparing for e-disclosure. Similarly, IT directors still do not fully grasp the need to prepare for these eventualities, rating it as their lowest priority below information security, email archiving and rolling out productivity-related tools. According to Recommind, this oversight could leave businesses highly vulnerable to information risk and the associated consequences including breach of compliance, embarrassing headlines and loss of stakeholder confidence. “The problem is e-disclosure is still seen as an American problem and for many UK companies, this is all the excuse they need to sweep it under the table,” said Simon Price, European director at Recommind. “However, the reality is that this is a problem facing UK businesses and if the upwards trend continues, before long we’ll see firms over here subject to same level of scrutiny as their US counterparts. And, with far ranging consequences – including hefty financial penalties, and potentially worse, reputational loss – businesses will need to place the same emphasis on making sure they’re ready for any disclosure demands, as they do on IT security or anything else.” According to the research, IT departments hold ultimate decision making and budget responsibility for e-disclosure at half of all companies surveyed. The legal department made the final decision at a quarter of businesses, but held the budget at just 14% of firms. “With e-disclosure a relatively new phenomenon for many UK companies, most businesses still don’t fully understand its importance,” continued Price. “There’s a danger that the IT team won’t necessarily recognise and fully comprehend which information should be preserved and disclosed, and which can be discarded. Similarly, the legal department will be experts on this side of things, but they need the IT team to help ensure any technology processes and systems are accurate and up to the job. At the moment, each department seems to have its own different set of priorities, but as e-disclosure becomes more commonplace, businesses need to take a joined up approach with e-disclosure higher up the priority list.” Recommind has produced the following best practice tips for UK businesses wanting to find out more about e-disclosure and ensure their organisations are fully prepared: 1. Ensure IT and legal departments work closely together to prepare for e-disclosure requests – each department much have a clear understanding on their respective roles in order to meet regulatory challenges 2. Ensure that businesses can consistently and comprehensively respond to e-disclosure requests – in order to reduce the risk of data destruction or alteration, procedures typically only allow a brief window in which to identify, preserve and collect data 3. A single lawsuit can result in the production of more than one terabyte of material (the equivalent of 75 million pages) so it’s essential that firms invest in solutions that can automatically locate and categorise the appropriate data – if not, the process can be extremely time consuming, subject to human error and costly as such 4. Email constitutes the bulk of all electronically stored information in a typical law suit or regulatory investigation – companies should implement and enforce clear email policies, as well as a comprehensive, automated categorisation and legal hold system. This will also help boost employee productivity and lower IT costs 5. Bring e-disclosure in-house – invest in a toolset that can find, preserve and collect data while also removing the need to expensive, time-consuming third party providers *Survey of CIOs and IT directors at 150 UK organisations with more than 1000 employees conducted by Vanson Bourne in April 2009.
Linetime .Net accreditation latest
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 26 May 2009 11:15 BST
With the comments still coming in thick & fast about the AIM Evolution swap-out story (see this blog 19th May) and whether some .NET products are better than others, Linetime has issued an update on its status...
Microsoft .NET Accreditation Having previously received .NET Accreditation as part of their Microsoft Gold Partner Certification Linetime are pleased to announce their latest software release has now been tested by Microsoft and has been Certified As Having Passed “The Platform Test For ISV Solutions - Windows Clients + Web Services And .NET Framework”. All Linetime product development is carried out utilising .NET technology.
New podcasts available on virtualisation
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 26 May 2009 09:09 BST
Data, network and telephony management specialist InTechnology has launched a new podcast series designed to appeal to law firms of all sizes. The Grid will feature5-10 minute episodes on a range of technology and business subjects, with the simple aim of distilling ‘need to know’ information for the audience.
Two launch episodes are now available via iTunes or direct from the InTechnology website. The first explores the subject of IP telephony and why it needs to start moving up the IT agenda; while the second provides the lowdown on BT’s 21st Century Network project and its potential for transforming IT service delivery and business performance. Future editions will cover the appeal of the cloud services concept; the merits of virtualisation and InTechnology’s new Virtual Server Service; and solutions for tackling the exponential growth in data volumes. To listen to the podcasts, you can subscribe to The Grid via iTunes – simply search for InTechnology – or alternatively you can download the individual episodes at: www.intechnology.co.uk/Documents/Podcasts/01_The_Grid_IP_Telephony.mp3 www.intechnology.co.uk/Documents/Podcasts/02_The_Grid_21CN.mp3 |
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