Alphalaw have won the contest against CS Group owned firm AIM to supply Woodford Stauffer with the case management system AlphaLAW-Uno.

Just because its Friday - A novel approach to blending your IT infrastructure:

nFlow have announced significant developments relating to their long-term Business Strategy which will
continue to drive success in the UK legal and professional services market as a whole.

Central tothe strategy has been the appointment of a Non Executive Director in the guise of Ken Symons,
previously Chairman of ResSoft, who brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the already
dynamic and talented nFlow Board of Directors.

nFlow has taken a strategic decision to extend the management team with Ken Symons joining
as Non Executive Director, selected as a result of his extensive experience as both an accountant
and from starting, nurturing and running a number of IT companies, notably ResSoft.

Ken is an accountant who originally pursued a career as finance director in a number of medium
and large companies. He was one of the original founders of the Resolution Group in 1989 which
expanded rapidly in the early 1990's by acquisition and joint ventures.

After a series of management buy-outs and trade sales the focus turned to the legal market specialist software house ResSoft authors of the international practice management system; FirmWare.
Since the sale of ResSoft to Tikit in February 2005 Ken has taken on a number of assignments
with IT companies; in some cases as both investor and non-executive director.

Minter Ellison SANT part of the largest full service law firm in the Asia Pacific region supporting leading industries and government clients, have scrutinised the new Axxia DNA practice management solution by carrying out a full evaluation during a 2 week technical review lab.

The purpose of this was to measure the suitability of DNA as the core technical application to
underpin the firm’s business strategy and customer service offerings for the future.

DNA is the result of intensive research and development by Axxia, who welcomed the opportunity
for the independent technical review carried out by Minter Ellison.

Stuart Holden, Axxia Managing Director commented “We have always been confident that DNA will provide firms with a completepractice solution with the business process engine allowing for continual development and the ability to engineer bespoke processes and applications. To have the opportunity for an end user to fully review and scrutinise the system in this way has been invaluable, not only has it provided the reassurance to Minter Ellison that DNA is the solution to deliver to their requirements but it
also sends a message to the market that DNA is a fully functional and technically sound product
that should be a consideration for all firms that want to gain the most return from core applications
such as practice management.”

Ian Thomson, Minter Ellison Director of Innovation and previously a Partner at Morton Fraser
discussed the motivation for the technical lab; “It is key to the firm’s client strategy to be
responsive and to consistently seek to develop ways to improve the efficiency and standard of
service we offer to our clients. Clients have a concern that they are not currently handling work as
efficiently and effectively as possible, combined with the need for improved risk mitigation, they
have looked to the Minter Ellison to offer a best practice approach and solution. There were 2 key
reasons for us to initially consider DNA as the application to assist us with this, firstly the system
is web based and secondly this is the only business process management system with a legal
practice management system contained within it. As an example clients have previously looked to
us to provide information and guidance on the correct precedents to use and how they should be
using them, in the past we have struggled to do this effectively, now we are able to collaborate
with the client, not only providing access to the necessary documentation but providing further
information on how the client should be using the precedents whilst ensuring they have mitigated
any potential risks.”

“DNA will allow us to offer a collaborative communication service, successfully delivering an
improved service to clients whilst being cost effective and differentiating the firm from its
competitors. Added to this we will also benefit from rolling out DNA internally, profiting from a
unified system with the added advantages the underlying business process engine will deliver
such as consistent standards, production efficiencies, cost reduction, enhanced risk management
and performance monitoring.”

The two week technical lab has been a clear win for both Axxia and Minter Ellison who are now
looking to implement DNA over the coming year, so much so they have already started to change
the way the firm builds processes and applications with the anticipation for plugging in DNA in
due course.

With the latest add-on to Linetime's case management software you can now send your SDLT form to the Inland Revenue, and receive returned certificates - electronically.

You save time in both completing and submitting the form as data already held within the case management system is used to pre-populate the SDLT1. The completed form is then electronically submitted - by just one click of your mouse.

The need to re-key information into the Inland Revenue website is completely removed, improving efficiency and accuracy. A copy of the submitted form is held in the case history for audit trail purposes and the system also generates the required financial transactions.

Prompt return of SDLT certificates prevents unwelcome penalty letters and speeds up the post completion process allowing you to concentrate on new files.

Law firms wishing to take advantage of the cost savings and efficiency benefits of outsourcing support work now have another option within the UK, as transcription specialist Voicepath and digital dictation provider Crescendo complete a 360º integration of their systems at a customer’s request.

The integration was prompted by Dodd Lewis, a South London-based Crescendo user which was keen to begin outsourcing work through Voicepath as part of a post-merger efficiency drive.  Having received a number of outsourcing-related enquiries from new and existing customers, Crescendo began work with Voicepath on creating a ‘module’ for its digital dictation software which would allow transcriptions to be completed externally and tracked through its systems.

John Bendall, Crescendo technical sales manager, comments: “As Crescendo is a flexible, modular solution which already links to many other service providers and systems we had the right architecture in place to create a customised ‘connection’ between it and Voicepath very rapidly.  The integration module was written and in testing within two weeks of Dodd Lewis’s request.”

The integration works when, on starting a dictation, a fee earner elects to send it to Voicepath rather than an internal secretary. This can also be initiated by the secretary or administrator or fully automated based on various criteria. This instructs Crescendo’s workflow management system to send a copy of the digital dictation file and its corresponding data to a secure upload folder.  Voicepath regularly polls this folder and, when files are present, these are sent to its systems via a secure (SSL) link.

From here, Voicepath manages the automatic distribution of dictations to its network of home-based transcriptionists.  Once a dictation has securely uploaded, an acknowledgment receipt is issued by Voicepath allowing Crescendo to update the status of the job as “transcription in progress”. Completed, quality checked documents are retrieved from Voicepath’s secure web sever and sent to a secure download folder on Dodd Lewis’s server.  The Crescendo workflow management system and the status of the job are automatically updated upon completion of the document retrieval.

John continues: “We are finding that an increasing number of law firms are interested in principle in making savings through outsourcing, but often find the process lengthy and complex.  The beauty of integrations like this is that they make the process simple, secure and intuitive, meaning the customer gets all of the benefits with none of the worry.”

Dodd Lewis partner, Graham Dodd, comments: “We are very pleased with the way Voicepath and Crescendo have worked on this project.  When we came to use the service we were delighted with how easy it was.”

Richard Bate, general manager of Voicepath, concludes: “At Voicepath we pride ourselves on making outsourcing easy, and are committed to working with leading digital dictation providers to put this principle into action.  We are delighted to have been able to work with Crescendo to get such rapid results and look forward to bringing the advantages of integration to more firms throughout the UK.”

Advologix.com have announced the first web-based legal practice management solution, AdvologixPM now provides anywhere, anytime support with the Apple® iPhone™. The AdvologixPM Summer ’07 release is now available to new subscribers who can enjoy global access to all aspects of their legal practice via the Apple iPhone™.




“The Summer ’07 Release of AdvologixPM was thoroughly tested in our laboratories with the Apple iPhone and the results were not surprising. The industry standard approach we have taken with our Software-as-a-Service offerings combined with the latest in Web 2.0 capabilities make the Apple iPhone™ the perfect business platform for mobile Law Office applications,” stated Paul Deschenes, CEO of Advologix.com. “In fact”, Mr. Deschenes continued, “when one our existing customers viewed the final iPhone™ demonstration they immediately wanted their entire law firm iPhone™ enabled.”

The availability of AdvologixPM anywhere, anytime via the Apple® iPhone™ streamlines calendaring, case and client management, simplifies execution of procedural steps, and maximizes caseload, profitability, top-line revenue, and most importantly client satisfaction by allowing you to bring your law office with you in the palm of your hand. Contacts, cases, courts, maps, documents and all other critical assets required to bring your best to court are at your fingertips with AdvologixPM and the Apple® iPhone™.

BigHand, the Microsoft Gold Partner specializing in voice productivity, has won the 'Best Use of Technology in Business 2007' regional award for the South-East of England. The award was made at the regional finals at The Royal Lancaster Hotel, in recognition of the market leading combination of innovation, functionality & reliability of BigHand's digital dictation workflow software.

Full details here http://www.bighand.com/digitaldictation/NBA2007.html

LexisNexis have acquired Juris, Inc., an accounting software provider for mid-sized law firms.

Ralph Calistri, Senior Vice President and General Manager, LexisNexis Practice Management solution line, said, "Juris adds another market-leading product to an impressive LexisNexis portfolio of Practice Management products. Their leading position in the mid-sized law firm market and the strength of their product offering makes them a great addition to LexisNexis. In keeping with our Total Practice Solutions strategy, we anticipate integrating Juris products with key LexisNexis offerings in the near future."

LexisNexis Practice Management solution line provides services and tools to improve firm productivity and profitability, while Juris joins leading time, billing, and accounting products including Time Matters, Billing Matters, and PCLaw, to law firms in all markets solution according to requirements.

BigHand has announced that the leading Irish law firm A&L Goodbody has successfully rolled out BigHand3 Digital Dictation workflow software.  The system allows lawyers at the leading Irish firm to draft legal documentation via dictation regardless of their location or whether they have PC/laptop access. Secretaries at A&L Goodbody can also view workloads, share work via virtual teams, and help to cut document turnaround times.

 Dee O Halloran, Secretarial Manager at A&L Goodbody commented:
 
"BigHand has revolutionised the way we work, changed the way we share, distribute and manage workloads, and increased turnaround times and output.  BigHand has been hugely beneficial to our Secretariat by helping them to continue to provide a first class service to our lawyers and clients." 

Susan Kemp, IT Director at A&L Goodbody, who now has over 300 users on BigHand3 software, commented:

“We are obviously delighted to bring in a technology that benefits both internal workflow efficiency and client service. The rollout of the system was a very smooth process and received very positive feedback from fee-earners and secretaries as soon as we went live. It has been particularly beneficial for fee-earners to be able to do dictations remotely via their mobile phone or using the remote dictation devices. We are planning to enable the BigHand solution over Citrix in the coming months to provide seamless remote working capabilities.”

Legal Files Software, Inc. today announced a new release of its premier case and matter management software that adds powerful new features and enhancements for automating workflow, simplifying customization and strengthening integrations with other industry-standard software.  The new release, Legal Files 7.0, is the traditional client/server version of the program.  The company also offers a web based version of the program called MyLegalFiles. 

 

“Although the popularity of MyLegalFiles has just exploded—particularly in the last two or three years, we remain committed to the customers using our client/server product,” said John Kanoski, Legal Files CEO.  “As a matter of fact, Version 7 incorporates many enhancement requests from those customers.” 

 

Highlights of Legal Files 7.0 include:

Dawn Advice – a rapidly expanding legal advice charity – has selected the Proclaim® Case Management software solution from Eclipse Legal Systems.

The Newcastle-based organisation currently employs over 60 staff, and is looking to more than double this headcount over the next 12 months. An independent registered charity, Dawn Advice provides legal help to consumers in areas such as debt, housing, employment and welfare issues. A member of "adviceUK", the organisation provides its services and education programmes on a national basis, and is one of the main providers of Community Legal Service Direct.

Dawn Advice will be initially rolling out a 45-user Proclaim® Case Management system to its in-house advisors. The organisation is working with Eclipse to tailor Proclaim® to its specific areas of work, and to create caseflows to streamline processes and drive quality enhancements for advisors and clients alike.

The charity considered offerings from 3 suppliers, using the Law Society’s Software Solutions Guide 2007 as the basis for its research. Dawn Advice CEO, Liz Chadwick, comments:

"We operate in an area which demands a fast, accurate service underpinned by efficient management reporting and tight ongoing data analysis. Eclipse‘s experience in streamlining business processes appealed to us immediately. Their approach to our requirements, willingness to listen, and ability to provide a flexible and extremely robust system convinced us that their Proclaim® software is the definitive solution."