ASP crash - no drama and no crisis
Three weeks after the applications service provider The Hub called in the receivers, Chris Cann - the systems partner at Telford-based Martin Kaye, is pleased to report that despite being the largest law firm using The Hub's services "there was no drama and no crisis" when the ASP crashed.

According to Cann, there was no disruption to the firm's access to its data or applications and since then the service "has just kept going, as good or even better than before". Cann attributes this to precautions the firm took when it first started down the ASP route two years ago. These included the choice of an ASP that had a safety net - in this case The Hub's services were housed at XKO Network Systems' data centre, so it was a relatively simple matter for XKO to take over the service. And the choice of a legal software supplier - in this instance Axxia - that was prepared to help Martin Kaye make the ASP option work.

Axxia and Martin Kaye hope to finalise negotiations on a permanent replacement for The Hub within the next few days but in the meantime Chris Cann remains convinced that ASP remains the ideal solution for many law firms who don't want the hassle associated with running an inhouse IT operation.

Poor design & stale content holding back law firm web sites
A new report by web design consultancy Intendance says many law firms are let down by poor web sites because of a failure to keep them up to date in terms of both their content and design.

Based on a review of 48 mid-sized firms (20-to-50 fee earners) the report warns that along with poor navigation, many sites now have an outdated feel because they have not been revised since they were originally designed three or more years ago. The "most urgent deficiency" however is out of date content with, for example, some firms still promoting events that took place over a year ago. Interestingly, there is no obvious correlation between the size of the firm and the quality of the site - in fact some of the largest firms in the sample had the worst sites. Copies of the report are available free of charge - call James Tuke of Intendance on 020 8788 5604. www.intendance.com
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S J Berwin rolls out digital dictation
Top 20 law firm S J Berwin is rolling out BigHand's TotalSpeech digital dictation and workflow system to the whole of its 120 strong property department as the firm starts to shift away from analogue tape systems.

The move follows a successful pilot project that has seen one of the largest client service teams in the property department running TotalSpeech for over two months. Once the results of the rollout to the remainder of the department have been evaluated, the firm will consider a more widespread implementation throughout the rest of the practice.

Commenting on the project, S J Berwin IT director Simon Kosminsky said "We are happy with the progress of this project. 'Law at the speed of business' is our commitment to better client service. Technology that can genuinely streamline internal workflow is rare but TotalSpeech appears to provide some impressive benefits on that front." The firm says its experience with the pilot suggest TotalSpeech "appears to offer the opportunity to reduce the cost of producing written material for clients" while at the same time optimising the use of secretarial resources.
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Law firms get into debt - in a profitable way
Two major regional firms - Bevan Ashford in the West Country and Ward Hadaway in the North East - have just announced significant developments with their computerised debt recovery and credit management services.

Bevan Ashford, riding on the back of its recent appointment as a panel firm to Plymouth City Council, has launched its new bespoke Debt Recovery Service based on Solicitec's SolCase case management software. Similar systems are already in use with Bevan Ashford's bulk remortgaging and personal injury services and the firm now plans to give clients of the debt service online access to progress reports and other matter related information.

Meanwhile Ward Hadaway, which 12 months ago became the first firm in Europe to go live with RealLegal's Practice Manager case management software, says the system has proved so successful in debt collection and credit management work that it is now being introduced into other areas of practice including personal injury, clinical negligence and road traffic accident claims, as well as housing plot sales.

According to the firm's collection services manager Andrew Charlton, the system has enabled the firm to chase new markets which had not previously been cost effective. "Because of the high level of automation, chasing smaller debts such as parking tickets has now become worthwhile. Rather than being an extra cost for clients, it has put at their disposal a way of generating further finds that otherwise may have been closed to them or too expensive to consider recovering."

The firm says that within the first 12 months of using Practice Manager, the department's workload has increased by 54 percent and generated instructions to collect over £6.4 million. The system cost £120,000 to buy and implement.

ROI - the new math of legal technology
As reported in recent editions of the Insider, more and more firms are now adopting a more fiscally prudent approach to the purchase of technology, with serious attempts being made to measure cost-benefit analysis and return on investment. In particular, there is a growing realisation that although a new IT system is unlikely to generate a 'big bang' increase in turnover or profits, the cumulative effect of minor improvements in fee earning capacity can still add up to a substantial benefit.

Allan Carton, of the Practical Solutions (0161 929 8355) consultancy, recently demonstrated this in a presentation he made to a firm considering installing a new residential conveyancing workflow management system. According to Carton's figures - and he suggests this is the minimum increase in productivity that can be expected, if the firm succeeded in enabling each of its team of 40 conveyancers to charge just an extra 5 minutes of their time each day at £45 per hour, this equates to a total of £34,500 in extra billable time each year.

The calculation Carton used was: 5 minutes x 0.75p per minute x 5 days per week x 46 working weeks pa x 40 staff = £34,500. Carton also reckons that while the average High Street firm fee earner clocks up about 1610 hours in the office during the course of each working year, the amount of chargeable time actually recorded is between just 1200 and 1300 hours.

The Legal Technology Jobs Board
If you are a legal systems supplier or a law firm looking for IT staff, including positions in management, development, sales, support and training, you can post your vacancies free of charge on the Legal Technology Insider web site. Email job details to: news@legaltechnology.com

New ASP case manager for smaller practices
Internet database specialist UKNet Select has launched a new ASP (application service provider) service offering sole practitioners and smaller firms a web based case management and extranet system that is hosted and managed on their behalf.

Called CM12, the product allows law firms and their clients to access and interact on matters securely via standard web browser software. There is also a mobile phone module for lawyers and clients on the move. Security is in accordance with BS7799 best practice. The system can exchange data to and from existing WP systems for document management purposes and has all the usual workflow, contact database and reporting features expected from a modern case management system.

The CM12 pricing structure is based on numbers of matters managed, with no other capital outlay required from subscribing firms. The minimum subscription is £499.50 pa, which covers up to 50 live matters on an unlimited transaction and client access basis. Discounts are available for higher matter volumes and all closed matters are held within the system free of charge.

The CM12 product is based on UKNet Select's larger claims management system, which is now in its fourth year of use at various sites including Kennedys and Morgan Cole's insurance arm Fishburn Morgan Cole. UKNet Select also handle the IT side of managing professional indemnity claims for over 1500 law firms on behalf of PI insurance brokers Alexander Forbes Group.

UKNet Select can undertake any data conversion or practice management system integration work. For larger firms the company also offers a no obligation pilot in one department. For details contact technical director David Copper on 01708 736660. www.uknet.uk.net
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Keeping track of the bills
iManage and Whitehill Technologies have announced plans to integrate their respective systems so law firms will be able to convert billing records, such as invoices, into professional looking documents that can then be stored on an iManage document management system. In the past bills have not typically been stored in document management systems but instead been managed as loose data.

The integration of iManage with Whitehill's "document transformation technology" is intended to provide a simple process for firms to manage invoices after creation, while retaining their professional appearance, without the need for complex scripting or third party import tools. By bringing these documents into the iManage WorkSite DMS system, the new functionality enables firms to manage their billing records with the same efficiency, reliability and security as the rest of their business content, as well as providing the option of sharing invoice data with clients through extranet links.

Whitehill software is available in the UK both through Aurra Consulting, now part of Tikit, and to users of Axxia systems.
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News in brief

Security - a technology or a complacency issue ?
Last week it was reported in the press that as part of a publicity stunt to promote a computer security exhibition, commuters travelling into London's Victoria Station were asked by market researchers to disclose their network loggin passwords. Only a third of those questioned refused to do so, despite the fact the information was being requested by complete strangers.

According to Paul Carratu, managing director of the security and investigations company Carratu International, such indiscretion is par for the course in far too many organisations. What concerns Carratu is while some organisations seem almost paranoid about the risks posed by external hackers or disaffected members of staff "the biggest threat to security is complacency".

For example Carratu was recently asked by a major London law firm to review its arrangements. The Carratu team quickly found that most staff were only too happy to disclose their passwords to an investigator who phoned up pretending to be from the firm's IT department. Rather more worryingly, Carratu also found that because the six VDU screens mounted in reception, giving access to the firm's intranet, used the systems manager's loggin details, an inquisitive visitor could access files that were clearly never intended for wider public consumption, including references to merger talks with another firm.

Carratu's verdict is he has yet to find a law firm that is more than 75 percent secure. And Carratu adds that if his people can penetrate security with such ease, how exposed are firms to serious attempts at commercial espionage by rival organisations?

According to Carratu, partners need to realise that because the rewards are so great, commercial law is no longer a game of cricket played by gentlemen. In the US there have already been reports of professional service organisations, both law firms and - viz Enron - accountants, resorting to dirty tricks and Paul Carratu predicts that within two to three years time the same behaviour will start to be seen on the UK legal scene.

Incidentally, you do not need to invest in password cracking software to break into a network. According to Carratu research the most frequently encountered user name is 'administrator' and the most widely used password is 'password'. www.carratu.com
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Document assembly news in brief

Keep up with the news
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FWBS moves into Scots market
FWBS, the developers of the OMS document and practice management system, have appointed CVG Computer Services in Aberdeen (01224 708080) as their Scottish market reseller. FWBS and CVG are now looking at ways of integrating OMS with ScotLAW, a version of Curat Lex's Sovereign Law accounts system which was specifically developed to meet the Law Society of Scotland's solicitors accounts rules. The CVG deal relates only to Scotland. South of the border OMS is distributed exclusively in England & Wales by Pericom. www.cvg.co.uk
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And cheap web sites for all?
To-date the UK market for hassle-free legal web site development has been dominated by ActiveLawyer, with its in-a-box solution that makes updating a site as easy as editing a Word document and Martindale-Hubbell, whose all-in Lawyer HomePages consultancy service includes a placing on the LawyerLocator search engine and web traffic generator. But it looks as if both these services are now going to be given a run for their money.

Sift, the online communities developer best known in the legal market for its LawZone service, has announced plans to move into the law firms web site market as part of a new venture with Stat Plus, part of the OyezStraker Group. Sift has been operating a similar service in the accountants market - under the PracticeWeb name - for some time and has over 130 accountancy firms licensing the application, which allows them to both build a professional site and then keep it up-to-date. Stat Plus will now be taking the message out to the market through its sales network which has over 6000 law firms on its books.

The second new entrant is WebSite IT with an online self build web site system that is both easy to use and stunningly cheap. How cheap? For the basic service, which includes unlimited access to the self-build software, web hosting and a domain name, the rate is £5 a month.

Additional facilities are also available, including personalised 'yourfirmsname.co.uk' style domains for £9.99. And, for more adventurous practices wanting to dabble in e-commerce by selling legal services directly from their sites, there is a secure online payments system costing just £19.99 a month. It is also worth noting that not only is WebSiteIT cheap but you can take advantage of a no obligation two week free trial before you buy.

Here at the Insider we recently tested the software and were able to create a mini web site from scratch in under 20 minutes. Although the software is based on a series of design templates, users still have plenty of freedom as to how they use it, with the system supporting graphics, formatted text and tables - and none of it involving any exposure to HTML programming code. www.websiteit.com
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Low cost technology - Linux and other options
Our recent stories on Linux and other low cost alternatives to Microsoft technology continues to be a hot topic and our thanks to those readers who have contacted us with suggestions.

MySQL - the most stable current release is 3.23.49a - is available as a free download from the internet for internal use. Licence fees are payable if you intend to ship MySQL as an embedded database within a commercial application. Prices start at € 230 per user for 1-9 users but are subject to substantial volume discounts. The major drawback is MySQL is reportedly difficult to set up however cheap support contracts are available, along with various free utilities including ODBC drivers. www.mysql.com

Omtool supports Lotus Notes
Omtool (01932 334444) has launched a new version of its Genidocs secure email system that will now support the Lotus Notes and Domino platforms. Genidocs is already compatible with Novell GroupWise and Microsoft Outlook/Exchange.

The latest release of Genidocs (version 1.2) also handles the encryption and conversion of PDF/Zip attachments and supports a 'secure message relay' facility. This allows law firms to exchange secure messages to clients and related third parties without the recipients having to install a full version of the Genidocs system.

According to Omtool vice president Scott Dockendorff, another popular Genidocs facility is 'public key' management, which automates the recognition of signatures and removes much of the hassle associated with server to server routing.
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Searching for savings with Searchflow
We have all heard the propaganda in favour of electronic conveyancing but is this change for its own sake or can it offer real benefits to law firms? The consultancy Practical Solutions has just conducted a study looking at the use of just one aspect of e-conveyancing - the NLIS Searchflow online local authority searches service - and concluded that such a system "genuinely has the potential to make a big difference".

After taking into account the different pay levels of everyone involved in a typical High Street conveyancing practice, from the office junior carrying out photocopying through to conveyancers and partners, plus an analysis of the average time taken handling each step of the process, Practical Solutions calculate that to complete three searches by conventional postage-and-paper methods, a firm can expect to spend between 65 and 76 minutes or the equivalent of £23-to-£26 in billable time.

This is in contrast with a cost of 15 minutes - or £4.75 - when using Searchflow. Practical Solutions suggest that if firms also integrate the Searchflow system with case management software, they can expect even greater benefits, with the time involved falling to 12 minutes (£3.67) or less.

Looked at in isolation these figures may not seem much but when projected across a month, by switching from conventional local authority searches to Searchflow, a firm handling just 25 conveyancing transactions a month can expect to save between 21 and 29 hours in total time - or between 250 and 350 hours during the course of a year. Copies of the report, in a PDF file format, can be found on the Practical Solutions web site at www.inpractice.co.uk

New people moves at Pilgrim
Colin MacGregor has joined Pilgrim Systems as a senior project manager and will work primarily on projects for existing case management clients and new PMS sites. Robin Boyle has returned to the company as product strategy manager with responsibility for the future development of the LawSoft system.

Finally, another old Pilgrim hand Jim Currie, who was with the company prior to moving into law firm IT management, has formed an independent consultancy for Scottish firms. Called Legal IS (01259 720305), the consultancy has been appointed a Pilgrim 'channel partner' specialising in management information strategies and key performance indicators reporting. www.legalinformationsystems.co.uk
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LSSA reviewing criteria
The Legal Software Suppliers Association is reviewing its criteria for membership. LSSA chairman Alan Richardson told the Insider that the current rules were starting to show their age and in some aspects no longer reflected the needs of the modern market. Issues being considered include relations with suppliers of complementary best of breed products and the status of non-UK based systems vendors and suppliers of ASP services. One possibility, which LSSA members will have a chance to consider at their AGM in June, is the introduction of a new category of associate membership.
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SCL approves reforms
Last month's EGM of the Society for Computers & Law unanimously approved changes to the SCL's Memorandum and Articles of Association, thus opening the way to a major modernisation of its structure to cut bureaucracy and make it more responsive.

The EGM also saw the election of a new six man management board of directors who, in view of the SCL's charitable status, will also be trustees. The six are barrister Glen Davis, IT consultant Andrew Levison, Fox Williams partner Nigel Miller, Baker & McKenzie partner Harry Small (who as immediate past joint-chairman of SCL was one of the architects of the new structure), Masons partner Richard Stephens and John Yates, a solicitor and chief exec of the virtual law firm v-lex. Nigel Miller and John Yates were elected as the SCL's new joint chairmen
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Online news in brief

Legal Technology Events Diary

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