Issue 125 - 09.04.2003 - Elite to be bought by Thomson group - BigHand secures first major Euro win - European judicial network goes online - DealBuilder in at AMC - Stibbe to focus service on iManage - another red letter day for Meticulus - Big in the Cook Islands - New on the radar - Morgan Cole link up - Hummingbird acquires Benelux dealer - Conveyancing portal selects Solicitec ASP - All you ever wanted to know about web marketing - Special report: telephone manners sadly lacking

ELITE TO BE BOUGHT BY THOMSON/WESTLAW GROUP
The Thomson Corporation and the Elite Information Group last week announced they had signed a definitive agreement under which Thomson will acquire Elite. Under the terms of the agreement, a newly formed Thomson subsidiary will make a cash tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Elite common stock, at a price of $14 per share, or approximately $122 million. The Elite Board of Directors has unanimously approved the agreement. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2003.

Elite will join West (the company behind the Westlaw online legal information service) as part of the Thomson Legal & Regulatory market group. Elite's management team, led by Christopher Poole, Elite chairman and chief executive officer, will continue to lead the business from the company's headquarters in Los Angeles. West President Mike Wilens said Elite will "reinforce and accelerate" the West commitment to serving the practice of law with world-class practice management applications and solutions. "West understands the complexity of today's practice of law, and the critical need lawyers have for the right information and tools to manage their practice. Our ProLaw practice management suite is highly regarded by small and mid-sized law firms. Elite brings powerful practice management solutions geared to large national and global firms and their clients. As part of West and Thomson, Elite will be a catalyst in advancing the development of the next generation of legal software solutions for our customers," he added.

Thomson and Elite expect that the tender offer will be commenced as soon as practicable following the filing of the required documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offer is conditioned upon, among other things, the tender of at least a majority of the outstanding Elite shares, expiration of the waiting periods under applicable antitrust laws and other customary conditions. All of Elite's directors, who currently hold approximately 22% of issued and outstanding shares, have agreed to tender their Elite shares into the offer.

COMMENT: Although it is quite clear why Thomson is interested in Elite - the West group is already well on its way to becoming a major supplier of legal applications, everything from billing systems to knowledge management software - to law firms in the United States, news of the proposed acquisition has prompted widespread speculation as to why Elite decided to accept such an offer in today's economic climate, when technology stocks are universally undervalued? One suggestion is that Elite needs a major ally if it is ever to fully break out of the legal market into the wider professional services sector. Another suggestion is Elite needs an ally to help develop its next generation system, so it can meet the demands of the big global law firms who might otherwise be tempted by ERM (enterprise resource management) systems from the likes of SAP and Oracle. However we suspect the rumour merchants are missing a more obvious explanation, namely that by teaming up with West, Elite is now in a position to become part on a proverbial 80 stone gorilla that could dominate the legal software applications market in the US, UK, Europe and beyond.

BIGHAND SECURES FIRST MAJOR EURO WIN
UK-based digital dictation specialists BigHand have secured their first major Continental Europe order for their TotalSpeech system. Belgium law firm Claeys & Engels is rolling out the TotalSpeech digital dictation workflow software to over 100 lawyers and staff across the firm's Brussels, Antwerp, Kortrijk, Liege and Gent offices. Lawyers will be able to send dictation to tri-lingual secretaries (those speaking English, French & Flemish) for transcription whatever their location.

EUROPEAN JUDICIAL NETWORK GOES ONLINE
Members of the public and lawyers are now able to obtain information from the European Commission web site about civil, family and commercial law systems in all EU Member States. The first topics covered by the site include how to apply for legal aid and how to start civil court proceedings in each Member State. Information about the court structure in each Member State is also covered. In the coming months more topics will be added in areas including divorce, child maintenance and parental responsibility. The site is one of the first initiatives of the European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters which was formally established on 1 December 2002 to facilitate judicial and legal co-operation between Member States. http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/ejn/

Staying with Euro legal web sites, the Association of European Lawyers (AEL) has just launched a new site for members across more than 30 countries. London-based Charles Russell, a founder member of AEL, took a lead role in developing the for AEL members and their clients. More information can be found on the main AEL site at www.europeanlawyers.org

DEALBUILDER IN AT AMC
Ashurst Morris Crisp has deployed the DealBuilder document assembly and automation system from Business Integrity. DealBuilder enables complex legal contracts to be automatically assembled from simple web-based questionnaires. Ashursts will use DealBuilder to automate the firm's core corporate documents. As a result, clients will enjoy faster and accurate document turnaround across a range of corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions. Jeremy Thomas, Ashursts' legal development partner, commented: "Clients have increasingly sophisticated expectations of their legal advisors and how they use technology to better serve them. This firm is committed to meeting that challenge by enabling our lawyers to incorporate standard variables into a first draft of a document at the click of a mouse. This will improve turnaround time and enable our lawyers to concentrate on the unique aspects of a deal. DealBuilder will help us deliver an even more timely and sophisticated product." www.business-integrity.com

STIBBE TO FOCUS NEW SERVICES AROUND iMANAGE
Following a succesful pilot project, the European law firm Stibbe, which has offices in Amsterdam, Brussels, London and New York, has selected the iManage WorkSite system to supports the firm's vision of a 'matter centric collaboration' environment that will provide its lawyers with an integrated, historical view of documents, events, tasks and contacts for any given matter. The global roll-out is due for completion later this year and, as a result, Stibbe anticipates it will significantly increase internal productivity. It will also enable the firm to offer a range of new services to its clients. These include e-case management and online litigation - the ability for both client and firm to collaborate on the content of a case via the Web, through a single portal view. Additionally, Stibbe expects that iManage WorkSite will help cut the time taken to draft contracts and other case matters.

NEW ORDERS MAKE IT A RED LETTER DAY FOR METICULUS
Three more UK law firms have placed orders for the RedLetter secure email system from Meticulus Solutions. The three are Bevan Ashford, who also use the Meticulus document management system Meticulist, Silverbeck Rymer, who will be integrating email with their TFB case management software, and the commercial & maritime practice Watson Farley Williams. Back in February, Dechert became the first firm to roll out RedLetter. One of RedLetter's attractions is it can provide security without causing any disruption to either the sender or those receiving email, as messages can be sent from any email application without the need to install additional software and can be received in any SSL capable web browser. We suspect another attraction is Meticulus concentrate on quietly delivering a system that does what it says on the box whereas some other secure email wannabes have fallen into the all high profile hype but no trousers category. Meticulus has also just announced a deal with MessageLabs that will see the MessageLabs service integrated with RedLetter so users can also scan email traffic for viruses, spam and offensive materials. www.redlettermail.com

BIG IN THE COOK ISLANDS
Continuing our policy of bringing you the news you never even realised you did not know, the Insider recently renewed acquaintance with IT Accounting, a small Devon-based legal accounts software supplier that produces a low cost system - pricing is based on the number of live matters open - for smaller firms. Although the company's main market is the UK, because the system does not require regular maintenance support, it has also attracted interest from overseas jurisdictions including Hong Kong, Australia and the Cook Islands. In fact back in 1998, when IT Accounting sold two systems to the Cook Islands, there were just two law firms with offices in the Cook Islands, giving the company a 100% market share. www.cashier2k.co.uk

NEWLY SPOTTED ON THE RADAR
WebEx Communications Inc, a US based provider of online conferencing/collaboration services, has opened a European operation in Amsterdam and the business development manager Ewan Cameron - EwanC@webex.com - is interested in talking to potential distributors and business partners. Cameron says the system has "a proven track record of increasing the productivity of law firms, such as Heller Erhman in San Francisco, leading to decreased T&E costs and increased billable time." www.webex.com

MORGAN COLE LINK UP WITH DATA INTEGRITY VENDOR
Tripwire Inc, a company specialising in data and network integrity assurance, has formed a relationship with UK law firm Morgan Cole to help ensure any legal issues relating to data integrity are managed effectively for prospective and existing Tripwire customers. Commenting on the deal, Dominic Hickman of Morgan Cole said "Change management and security are essential for all businesses but these issues carry a legal minefield of legislation and guidelines. From data protection and company laws through corporate governance codes to specific industry requirements, the picture can be very complex. Our partnership with Tripwire is a great opportunity for us to highlight the importance of these issues and to help organisations keen to both protect their assets whilst remaining aware of the legal issues". Morgan Cole has developed a white paper discussing the legal aspects surrounding system integrity and the associated responsibilities facing businesses. Copies are available on request from 29 April 2003 - for details email celeste.ainge@morgan-cole.com

HUMMINGBIRD ACQUIRES BENELUX DISTRIBUTOR
TFollowing hard on the heels of its recent acquisition of records management company LegalKEY Technologies (see last Newswire) Hummingbird has just announced the acquisition of Key Automation Nederland BV and its affiliate Dispro BV, the distributors and integrators of document management solutions (and long standing Hummingbird partners) in the Benelux region. According to Fred Sorkin, the chairman and CEO of Hummingbird "The acquisition of Key Automation/Dispro is consistent with our strategy to build higher value solutions around our core Hummingbird Enterprise suite of products. New compliancy and disclosure requirements, e-government initiatives plus the increased interdependence between member states of the European Union create a strategically viable market need that Hummingbird and Key Automation/Dispro can uniquely address."

In a related development... Dever-based RealLegal, which provides litigation and practice management software for law firms, has announced a strategic partnership with Hummingbird. RealLegal say the partnership will allow law firms to integrate document management within one fully-supported matter-centric practice management system.

CONVEYANCING PORTAL GOES WITH SOLICITEC ASP SOLUTION
The UK's Easymove conveyancing portal has selected Solicitec's SolCase system, delivered via an ASP route, as the basis for their interactive case management technology. Easymove's aim is to speed up the conveyancing process by providing a dedicated legal consultant to facilitate the property transaction on behalf of the client. Easymove consultants, based in a number of estate agents nationwide, will carry out the initial case creation by entering the buyer/seller details directly into SolCase. This will then be allocated to a panel member law firm who will also access SolCase. Solicitec's ASP solution enables two-way communication between the solicitor and the Easymove consultant, ensuring the provision of a personal service to all parties involved, including the estate agent, the buyer, the seller and the solicitor.

Commenting on the order, Nolan Braterman (CEO, Easymove) said "Having done a thorough search of the marketplace, we were delighted to discover Solicitec's ASP solution at the recent Legal IT exhibition in February. Solicitec combine the greatest in-depth knowledge of the legal market with the technical expertise to ensure that the ASP solution will work. Our experience up to that point was that many dedicated ASP suppliers lacked the necessary legal knowledge while most legal suppliers do not currently offer an ASP solution. We chose Solicitec as they could supply immediate access to a tried and tested application template (no implementation delays), which requires zero infrastructure other than internet access, in a transaction based solution which eliminates the initial capital outlay and will enable us align the cost to revenue".

ALL YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT INTERNET MARKETING BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK
The English Law Society this month publishes 'Internet Marketing: Strategies for Law Firms' (288 pages, paperback, ISBN 1-85328-870-5, price £34.95) edited by Nicola Webb. The book aims to cut through the usual internet hype to consider the ways that new business model are affecting the legal market but with the emphasis upon practical advice and guidance on how to set about creating and effective legal web presence. Co-authors include e-security expert Rupert Kendrick, Christopher Davis, Gina Lovell of Addleshaw Booth & Co and Insider editor Charles Christian, who wrote the chapters on web strategies and client relationship management (CRM). The book is packed with bullet points and do's and don't lists and although written for the UK market, contains valuable information that should help any law firm just about anywhere. Quite frankly, this book should be required reading for any lawyer considering selling legal services online.

SPECIAL REPORT - TELEPHONE MANNERS SADLY LACKING
Legal Technology Insider newsletter has just conducted a survey of law firm telephone and switchboard management techniques and the findings suggest that many firms need to brush up on their telephone manners if they are not to risk losing potential new business leads. The survey (conducted in association with Performance House - a consultancy specialising in switchboard performance and bench marking) took the form of a 'mystery shopper' posing as a prospective small business client contacting the switchboards of 15 national and major regional UK law firms. The object of the exercise was to see if callers could receive practical information over the phone within the course of one phone call, with firms' switchboard and internal transfer performance marked as a percentage.

The highest score was achieved by Bond Pearce with 88.9 percent, followed by Osborne Clarke with 77.8 percent. Four other firms scored between 70 and 79 percent, eight firms scored between 60 and 69 percent. The lowest score was 58.9 percent. Performance House say some switchboards were particularly unwelcoming, interrupting the caller mid-sentence to ask if they were an existing client and on one occasion brushing off the caller with the comment "We don't speak to the general public."

The survey found that 21 percent of incoming calls were initially transferred to the wrong internal extension - this is known as a 'blind transfer' where a switchboard transfers a called without any clear idea whether they will be able to assist the called. It also found that only 28 percent of switchboards explained or introduced the caller to the extension user - the result was a number of calls were greeted with the question "Why have they put you through to me?" Although the object of the exercise was for callers to see if they could receive information within one call, less than 33 percent of calls resulted in a query being resolved the first time.

Rather more worryingly, although the mystery shopper callers were frequently offered a call back, email from someone who could help or even information posted out to them, only 38 percent of these promises to supply further information were actually fulfilled. Or, to put it another way, 62 percent of potential new clients never received the follow-up information and material they were promised. Eight of the 15 firms featured in the survey currently run CRM (client relationship management) systems including the two poorest performers but not, interestingly, the best performer Bond Pearce.

Given the amounts of money law firms now spend on marketing activities and related services, including software systems, it is worrying to see how poor some firm's telephone manners still are and that even basic measures, such as ensuring follow-up materials are actually sent out to the caller, are being ignored. Perhaps firms are substituting the installation of marketing and CRM software for the implementation of true client relationship strategies?