The October issue of the Insider Colour Supplement is out now. The stories include:
• Cracking the acorn theory - do large clients grow out of small clients?
• How Norton Rose transformed its knowledge management infrastructure
• Different approaches to law firm workflow strategies
• Workshare reports on its latest global security threat report
• Money laundering compliance – manual versus online methods
The next issue will be published on Monday 26th November – you can find the Insider Colour Supplement at www.theinsidermag.net
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Monday, October 29
Latest issue of Insider Colour Supplement out now
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 29 Oct 2007 17:58 GMT
nFlow pull off Fast 50 triple
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 29 Oct 2007 07:54 GMT
Digital dictation supplier nFlow has been ranked 23rd in the 2007 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies by revenue in the UK. Rankings are based on growth over five years. The rankings also see nFlow positioned as the fastest growing software company in the South East Region (excluding London) and the 4th fastest growing software company in the UK as a whole. (The company also hopes to win a high place in the EMEA 500 rankings to be announced later this year.)
“Making the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 is a testament to a company’s commitment to technology,” said Deloitte Technology partner for the South East Region. “With its 1597% growth rate over five years, nFlow has proven that its leadership has the vision and determination to grow in competitive conditions.” • We don't normally report Deloitte Technology Fast 50 rankings because over the years all the world and their uncle have featured in the listings – but usually only in the regional charts – however we are making an exception for nFlow as they have made it nationally. Friday, October 26
XML standard announced for e-discovery industry
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 26 Oct 2007 09:46 BST
The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), an industry group
created to develop and establish practical guidelines and standards for
electronic discovery, this week announced that it has developed an
Extensible Markup Language (XML) standard for the easy transfer of
electronically stored information (ESI) to and from applications
involved in different phases of the discovery process. The new XML
standard will help all e-discovery practitioners – whether vendors,
consultants, law firms, in-house counsel or corporate IT departments –
reduce the cost, time and manual work associated with e-discovery.
“In any discovery project, no matter the type of company or legal matter involved, data is stored, collected, reviewed and produced across multiple systems in a very costly and complex process,” said George Socha, co-founder of EDRM and president of Socha Consulting LLC. “The XML standard addresses a major pain point within e-discovery – moving and formatting the different types of data across all of these disparate systems – and is an important step towards streamlining the process.” The XML standard was developed by the XML Project, an EDRM working group consisting of technologists and lawyers from the leading e-discovery vendors, service providers, law firms and corporate end-users. The standard consists of an XML Schema Definition (XSD) that will allow all parties to consistently describe documents, email, attachments and standalone files, as well as the underlying metadata for all of those objects as they move through the e-discovery process. The XML Project has created a validation tool to quickly and efficiently validate that files conform to the XML standard prior to importing the data. Additionally, the XML Project has developed an XML compliance process to help all parties determine whether products conform to the standard and interoperate properly. In total, the new XML standard provides a number of benefits to users involved in all stages of the e-discovery process, including:
“From the beginning, EDRM has focused on developing standards and providing thought leadership to a new and very complicated market,” said Tom Gelbmann, co-founder of EDRM and president of Gelbmann & Associates. “We’re confident that as the XML standard is adopted by the industry over the coming months, this will set the stage for greater efficiencies within e-discovery.” Launched in May 2005, the EDRM Project was created to address the
lack of standards and guidelines in the electronic discovery market – a
problem identified in the 2003 and 2004 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic
Discovery surveys as a major concern for vendors and consumers alike.
The completed reference model provides a common, flexible and
extensible framework for the development, selection, evaluation and use
of electronic discovery products and services. Expanding on the base
defined with the Reference Model, the EDRM projects were expanded in
May 2006 to include the EDRM Metrics and the EDRM XML projects. Over the past three years, the EDRM project has comprised more than 118 organizations, including 72 service and software providers, 34 law firms, three industry groups and nine corporations involved with e-discovery. Organisations actively involved in the creation of the standard include Zantaz, Summation, Concordance and MetaLINCS – and many others involved in EDRM have committed to supporting the XML standard by February’s LegalTech New York show. Information about EDRM is available at http://www.edrm.net Commenting on the standard, Mark Reichenbach (Vice President - Client and Industry Development at MetaLINCS) said "You could look at this as a 'Universal Load File'. As an old Litigation Support guy from way back, I can recall countless hours of massaging data load files, writing scripts and reading more 'import failed' messages, so much so it hurt, all in an effort to get data out of one system and into another. If only this had come along back then!"Wednesday, October 24
Richard Susskind says "Is this the end for lawyers'
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 24 Oct 2007 08:52 BST
Love it or hate it, Richard Susskind's 1996 book The Future of Law prompted many law firms – and legal IT suppliers - to rethink their longer-term ideas on the way the legal industry might operate in the future. Now he's back with a new book – The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services – to be published next year by Oxford University Press. This points to a future in which conventional legal advisers will be less prominent in society than today and argues this is where the legal profession will be taken by two forces: by a market pull towards commoditisation and by ongoing development and uptake of information technology.
Susskind says "a running theme of the book is the growing impact on the law and lawyers of online community – systems that enable easier and better communication and collaboration amongst human beings (celebrated examples of which are Facebook and Wikipedia). In that spirit, we thought it might be interesting, before the book is finally put to bed, to create an online community; to generate some online discussion that focuses on the central arguments and claims. And so, over the next six weeks, and starting today, draft extracts from the book will appear on Times Online. In releasing the ideas and the arguments a little earlier than normal, we are inviting people to comment and contribute. It will be fascinating, as an author, to see if readers are interested in offering ideas in advance of a book being written or whether there is a preference to wait for publication in the traditional way." Susskind goes on to say "I am hoping that some of you will find the time to go online and have a look at some of the draft extracts and the analysis and commentary that might grow around them. More optimistically still, I am also hoping that, while you are there, you might contribute some thoughts of your own." To read the initial article in The Times go to www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/The_End_of_Lawyers and from there you can also jump to the draft extracts – the first one is Legal profession is on the brink. You can comment on any of the drafts by filling in the form at the bottom of each article. And of course you can also submit your comments on this blog. Friday, October 19
Latest Insider out – free CD available
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 19 Oct 2007 07:42 BST
The latest (October) issue of the Legal Technology Insider newsletter is out now. Once again it is another cracking read AND this issue also comes with a free archive CD containing every issue of the Insider from No.1 in October 1995 through to issue No.202 in July 2007. If you would like a copy of this CD, just email a note of your postal address (not DX) to cds@legaltechnology.com
Wednesday, October 17
More delays for HIPs
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 17 Oct 2007 17:14 BST
Investment analysts Scotia Capital have just reported the following news...
"Speaking at an industry conference on HIPs, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Housing & Planning announced that the UK government plans to delay a full roll-out with no official launch date. "What it means... We believe the government's caution in rolling out HIPs reflects slowing demand in the housing market driven by interest rate hikes, impact of initial HIPs roll-out and issues in the mortgage market. Currently ~60% of the UK housing market is required to purchase a HIP prior to starting the home sale process. While sufficient inspectors are available for a full roll-out the government is looking for the housing market to stabilize before proceeding. Our view is that the government is committed to HIPs based on recent debates in the House of Commons but given a weakening housing market the Labour government will be cautious prior to launching the remainder of the programme." Scotia believe the full roll-out for HIPs has now slipped from Q1/08 to Q2/08.
Osborne Clarke sign-up for Metastorm
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 17 Oct 2007 10:33 BST
The BPM/workflow systems market is starting to heat up with Metastorm today announcing that Osborne Clarke in now implementing to company's BPM software. This follows announcement's last week by rival BPM systems developer FloSuite that Glasgow-based McGrigors was rolling out FloSuite software plus a raft of announcements by LexisNexis Visualfiles on the take-up of its M2 matter management system.
Commenting on the deal, Nathan Hayes, Head of Infrastructure & Technology at Osborne Clarke, said "Metastorm BPM enables us to create more streamlined business processes that improve efficiency and billable productivity. It also allows our processes to flow continuously by feeding into our other key systems and applications. We already have a list of over 25 processes to automate." The firm will also be using Metastorm BPM with wireless connectivity to Blackberry and integrateing with the firm's Thomson Elite practice management system and Interwoven for document management. Other recent Metastorm wins include Addleshaw Goddard, Cameron McKenna and SJ Berwin. Tuesday, October 16
Blackberry - critical application OR gadget ?
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 16 Oct 2007 10:58 BST
Legal Technology Insider is running a readers poll, once again looking at the Blackberry but this time from the point of view of law firm disaster recovery and business continuity strategies. For example, the latest edition of the Solicitors Code of Conduct requires firms to have business continuity and DR plans in place for critical applications, so is the Blackberry just another gadget or a critical application? If your firm is running multiple applications via Blackberrys (and this autumn should see digital dictation becoming available on the device), what would happen if your BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) crashed and how long could elapse before this became a business critical issue? The link to the full online survey form can be found on the righthand side of the LegalTechnology.com website home page here... http://www.legaltechnology.com
As ever, all responses are anonymous and we will publish a full report on the findings in November. Monday, October 15
2007 Fulbright & Jaworski litigtion trends survey out now
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 15 Oct 2007 12:23 BST
UK companies are seeing significant increases in the number of internal and external regulatory investigations according to a new report published today by international law firm Fulbright & Jaworski. However, the number of court actions filed against companies appears to be down with 38% of UK companies seeing no court proceedings brought against them in the last 12 months, compared with 17% of US businesses that saw no litigation brought against them.
Findings from the 2007 Litigation Trends Survey, which interviewed over 300 companies in the UK and US, reveal that over half of UK companies (54%) said they had had one or more internal investigations in the past year while nearly four in five (78%) of UK corporates said they had seen an increase in the number of regulatory inquiries/investigations over the past three years. Consequently – given this increase in regulatory inquiries – regulatory matters top the list of greatest concerns for UK companies, cited by over half (53%) of all UK respondents. The second greatest concern for UK companies is securities litigation, actions relating to the corporate governance of companies often brought by activist shareholders, and then labour/employment matters. These concerns contrast markedly with the US where labour/employment, contracts and personal injury issues are ahead of any regulatory concerns. The number of companies involved in either internal investigations requiring outside external counsel or external regulatory inquiries or investigations showed a divergence between US and UK companies. The UK companies experienced significant increases in both categories; whereas the US companies saw declines. Chris Warren-Smith, Head of International Financial Services Disputes at Fulbright & Jaworski, commented: “The UK appears to be catching up with the US in terms of exposure to regulatory matters, and in particular the increase in the number of corporate investigations over here would appear to mirror the US situation that we witnessed during the stock market downturn five or six years ago. “Whereas regulatory inquiries have recently quietened down in the US, we’re seeing UK companies over here citing regulatory matters at the top of their list of litigation concerns. Just two years ago we were seeing UK businesses stating employment and labour disputes as their greatest concern.” UK companies are likely to spend more on regulatory matters, with 11% reporting annual expenditures of US$5 million or more. Just 5% of US companies were in this upper range of regulatory costs. UK financial services organisations are the most likely to spend over US$5 million, with 11% stating they spent this amount, followed by 8% of insurance companies. Chris Warren-Smith, commented: “This may be a sign of the impact that the UK regulatory bodies’ move from rules-based to principle-based regulation is having on the UK’s spend on regulatory matters. The UK is increasingly moving towards principle-based regulation which puts more onus on the participation of corporates themselves and the professional services companies that advise them. This may be resulting in increased expense.” Interestingly UK companies are seeing increasing numbers of inquiries from the SEC, the US regulatory body. In 2006, less than a quarter had received inquiries, however in 2007 this had jumped to 81%. The SEC also appears to be targeting smaller and mid-sized companies with a considerable jump from 18% of this group receiving SEC inquiries in 2006 to 62% in 2007. The report also reveals that UK businesses are finding themselves under increasing pressure to waive lawyer-client privilege, with 38% of companies having agreed to waive privilege in the past 12 months in order to avoid more severe action by enforcement authorities. Antony Corsi, a Senior Associate at Fulbright & Jaworski commented: “Companies find themselves in a difficult position as a result of the perceived regulatory environment, as well as their desire to be as helpful as possible to their regulators, whilst protecting their legitimate rights.” The increase in regulatory issues may also explain the substantial increase in the number of UK companies with litigation hold policies in place, which has increased from 62% in 2005 to 96% in 2007. Litigation exposure The number of court proceedings issued against companies appears to be down from 12 months ago, returning to levels similar to 2005. As a result, only one in five respondents in both the US and the UK expects more litigation in the year ahead. However, actions with US$20 million or more at stake are on the increase. Of the smallest companies in the survey, 17% reported at least one court action of that magnitude in the last year. For the largest companies (over US$1 billion gross turnover), 80% had up to 20 lawsuits in the US$20 million or more range. Lista Cannon, Partner in Charge of Fulbright & Jaworski’s London office, commented: “The upper end of the litigation market remains strong. We are seeing the effects of the credit crunch feed through into the disputes arena, and the increasing use of third party litigation funding”. The report indicates that there was an increasing number of settlements prior to final court or arbitration hearings, with about 70% of the total survey sample saying that about half or more of the actions that their companies initiated last year ended in settlements. Predictably, smaller companies with gross turnovers of under US$100 million are more likely to settle through mediation before the commencement of proceedings than larger companies. Litigation & legal spend Almost a quarter of all UK and US respondents had annual total legal spending of US$10 million. Litigation costs continue to differ considerably between the UK and US. The average litigation spend by UK companies is US$2.10 million compared with US$3.59 million by US companies. UK financial and insurance organisations spend more than other industries, with the average spend standing at US$2.84 million. US companies were nearly twice as likely as their UK counterparts to spend US$5 million or more on litigation (19% versus 10%). In terms of preferred billing arrangements, fixed fees continue to be the client’s preferred alternative to standard hourly fees, cited by 42% of all survey respondents, and 67% of UK businesses. However despite their popularity with clients, half of all respondents use fixed fees, but of those, most use them rarely. E-discovery and litigation hold policies Issues relating to e-discovery remain a very rare or nonexistent event for 70% of all businesses surveyed, with no increase on 12 months ago. Two in five (40%) of the largest organisations said that they sometimes or frequently experienced issues related to e-discovery in their litigation matters. However, there was some increase cited in the number of e-discovery issues by small and mid-sized company respondents, which would indicate that e-discovery is spreading to businesses of all sizes. More companies are considering or actually retaining e-discovery specialist lawyers to deal with actions, 42% stated this was a consideration compared with 17% in 2006. Another consideration for businesses who may be called to provide information in relation to e-discovery concerns the increasing use of electronic channels for corporate communication. The majority of respondents (72%) permit employees to access their company network from home and just under a half (48%) allow the use of external email accounts, such as Hotmail and Yahoo, from company computers. Instant messaging would appear to be increasing in popularity with over half (54%) of companies permitting this; however, just 31% log or retain any instant messaging. Only slightly more (40%) retain voicemail. The backup retention period varies significantly between companies, but the median for all companies in the survey is approximately 60 days, with the industries most likely to retain communications for a year or more being real estate, technology/telco and energy. Two in five of all respondents (40%) say they now have a chief privacy officer. Other types of litigation Although class actions have not taken off in the manner that many commentators predicted a couple of years ago, the class action net appears to be growing broader as more companies are likely to have at least one class action pending. Unsurprisingly, it is US companies that have had the most exposure to class actions with 60% facing at least one class action. Just 5% of UK companies had class actions pending in the US. Companies that are at risk from patent infringement claims have reported an increase in the number of such claims received. The industries most likely to have received patent claims in the last three years include manufacturing, retail/wholesale and technology/communications. A copy of the full 2007 Litigation Trends Survey report (as a 53 page PDF) is attached.  1 AttachmentsFriday, October 12
Email - ooo, there's a lot of it about, say surveys
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 12 Oct 2007 10:15 BST
Following on from yesterday's survey on e-disclosure from KPMG, we've had two more email/e-discovery related stories hit our desktop.
The first is from a company called Securecoms on the subject of email security, encryption and interception. According to their survey... • On average, more than half the emails sent by law firms contain confidential information. • Email is considered the second least confidential way of communicating information - 82% of those asked were aware it passes through many places before the recipient actually receives it. Fax is thought of as the least confidential because there is no guarantee that the person it is sent to will be the only person who sees it. • Almost half thought that their existing anti-virus/anti-spam software covered confidentiality, although on further questioning it emerged that well over 90% of these were mistaken in their belief. 20% didn’t know whether or not their software covered email confidentiality. • 45% of lawyers thought that email security was a priority, but only 20% thought that there was a straightforward software solution available. And, an email storage integrator called B2Net, riding on the coat-tails of the KPMG story, said that because it can cost so much to deal with email messages in the e-discovery process "it makes sound financial sense for businesses to keep legal hours to a minimum by ensuring that all required information is easily located and quickly retrieved... Businesses will increasingly look to Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) techniques and technologies to help them better evaluate, categorise and locate their unstructured data throughout its whole lifecycle. It is much more cost-effective to invest in ILM now, so you are guaranteed the quick retrieval of your data at all times, rather than having to pay hundreds, possibly thousands of man-hours searching for that ‘smoking-gun’ whenever a regulatory or litigious issue arises”. • The announcement was headed "Email is the scourge of compliance" and just to emphasise the point, B2Net's PR agency sent us 3 copies of the press release. Thursday, October 11
Lawyers call for clarity on e-discovery - and training for judges
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 11 Oct 2007 07:55 BST
With the amount of electronic evidence growing rapidly in litigation cases, a survey by KPMG Forensic amongst 100 litigators in 22 leading UK-based law firms has found that there are widespread concerns about ambiguity in the e-disclosure rules, and that 50% of those surveyed believe judges and masters should be trained on the difficulties routinely faced in an e-disclosure exercise.
The research, carried out on KPMG Forensic’s behalf by Ipsos Mori, found that overall 48 percent of those surveyed believe that judges and masters are ill-equipped to make effective e-disclosure case management decisions. Amongst those litigators more heavily involved in e-disclosure, this rises to 71 percent. In addition, over two thirds (68 percent) of those surveyed support the establishment of an independent body of industry practitioners to promote best practice and training in dealing with the disclosure of electronic documents. Two years on from the anniversary of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) which laid down guidelines on e-disclosure in litigation cases, only 17 percent of lawyers believe that they have had a positive impact. Nearly a half (43 percent) believe that the rules have not had a positive impact, and almost six in ten (56 percent) believe that the rules have led to increased costs in conducting litigation. According to KPMG’s survey, nearly half (48 percent) of e-disclosure cases cost £500,000 or more, with over a quarter (26 percent) costing more than £1 million. A possible contributory factor to these high costs, KPMG Forensic suggests, could be that the two sides in a litigation are not meeting early enough – or at all – to discuss e-disclosure issues. Despite encouragement in the CPR that both sides of a case should cooperate on e-disclosure, nearly four in ten respondents (39 percent) admitted that they had never met their opponent to discuss it. Of those that had met, in nearly a third of cases (29 percent), it was not until or after the case management conference. The most common suggestions from lawyers for improving the e-disclosure process are to obtain more clarity and guidance on the CPR rules, and to restrict the types of documents or information disclosed , or the cases in which the CPR e-disclosure rules apply. Litigators typically regard business emails, word documents and excel spreadsheets as the most important types of document for electronic disclosure. However a range of other documents including databases, audio files and personal emails are also considered important. Perhaps surprisingly, text messages are not widely regarded as significant. Commenting on the report findings, Paul Tombleson, Head of Forensic Technology at KPMG Forensic, said: “As electronically generated and stored information continues to proliferate, lawyers have expressed some clear concerns that the rules have not kept pace with the reality of the modern business world. E-disclosure can be immensely complex, costly and challenging, and litigators have called for renewed energy in agreeing clearer case management guidelines. Many of them also clearly believe that some training for judges could be beneficial. “Technology may have created the problem, but technology can also be part of the solution. Lawyers need to be aware of the tools that exist to help them manage the information load, as well as devise review strategies to make the task easier. “E-disclosure, as technical as it may seem, is in many ways at the heart of the modern litigation process, so it is clearly of great importance that the issues lawyers have raised here are debated, discussed and acted upon.” Among some of the other findings in the report... • 51% regard instant messaging records as being important in the e-discovery process • 63% consider audio files important • 70% said they would look to third-party suppliers for concept mapping tools • 10% said they had never consulted with an IT specialist in any case • 75% said they would consult with specialists in their own firm • 33% said they would consult with a specialist at the client's organisation • 71% believe judges are ill-equipped to make effective case management orders The report goes on to conclude... The experience of practitioners tends to suggest that the existing rules on e-Disclosure are by no means perfect. Practitioners are coping with a comparatively new framework to deal with ever expanding volumes of electronic material. Difficulties will inevitably be encountered on that journey. Costs are clearly a legitimate concern and practitioners are calling for greater clarity in the interpretation of rules in the hope of achieving greater consistency and predictability. For the reasons already outlined in this report, it appears that there may be limited opportunities for Judges and Masters to provide definitive case law guidance. Many practitioners also doubt that Judges and Masters are sufficiently equipped to make effective e-Disclosure orders. A majority of practitioners also seem to favour the formation of an independent body of industry practitioners. Such a body may have a role to play in terms of training the judiciary to assist them to make more effective e-Disclosure Orders, and to promote good practice in dealing with electronic documents. It is to be hoped that such a body emerges, perhaps through the recently suggested formation of an English counterpart to the Sedona Conference Working Group. A copy of the full report (a 24 page PDF) is attached. 1 AttachmentsFriday, October 5
Bearpark joins Cognito team
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 05 Oct 2007 14:26 BST
AIM-listed Ultima Networks plc, whose legal legal sector subsidiary is Cognito Software, has appointed Richard Bearpark as a non-executive director. Until its acquisition by the CS Group (now IRIS) last year, Bearpark was the chief executive of AIM Group Holdings. Commenting on the appointment, Ultima chairman & chief executive Humayun Akhter Mughal said "Our objective of growth, organically and through acquisition, remains core. Richard is well regarded in our industry sector. His connections are wide ranging and business experience directly complementary to Ultima. We welcome him to the board”
Robert Piper, Ultima’s Finance Director, has been given the additional appointment of managing director of subsidiary company Cognito Software. Piper is in the process of strengthening the management team of Cognito and progressing business development opportunities. Mr. Bearpark will also contribute to this process. Wednesday, October 3
New NLIS trials announced
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 03 Oct 2007 10:18 BST
The Council for the National Land Information Service (C-NLIS) has launched a number of trials aimed at determining how access to base or unrefined land and property information held in local authorities can be provided electronically. Working with a number of partners, including Northgate Information Solutions and the NLIS Hub, initial explorative work has begun in eight local authorities. The local authorities participating are:
• London Borough of Islington • London Borough of Croydon • London Borough of Lambeth • London Borough of Camden • Liverpool City Council • Guildford Borough Council • Woking Borough Council • West Oxfordshire Borough Council The original idea for the project came out of the Office of Fair Trading's Market Study into Property Searches which recommended that such data be made available and the introduction of the Home Information Packs this month has added further momentum. Alex Fraser, chief executive of C-NLIS commented "C-NLIS is excited to be taking the lead in investigating how such data could be delivered electronically. We have been given support for our work from Communities and Local Government and we have been delighted with the response that we have received thus far from local authorities and from the private sector. Once we have collected sufficient data, we will consult widely with interested parties on how best to take this initiative forward and how to make access to this data a practical reality on a national scale." The local authority data will be made available in manual and electronic format through NLIS, other mediums and independent portals. www.c-nlis.org.uk Monday, October 1
IRIS start to reorganise the CS Group legal division
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 01 Oct 2007 14:41 BST
The IRIS Group, which acquired the Computer Software Group (aka CSG including its legal division comprising AIM, Laserform, Mountain and Videss) today announced a reorganisation of the legal division – which also sees the departure of some well-known names within the legal market, namely Jim Chase of AIM and Ian Knox and Steve Kendrick of Mountain.
Change number 1 is the name – the CS Group vanishes and the legal business unit will be known from today as IRIS Legal Solutions. Change number 2 is a move from the business operating as separate companies and a shift towards operating as functional units at a senior management level, including customer service, development, sales and marketing, HR, professional services and product management. However the four individual 'brands' will continue to have their own discrete personnel so, for example, Videss sales will still be handled by the Videss sales team and Mountain helpdesk requests will still be handled by the Mountain support team. Commenting on the changes, managing director Arlene Adams said "This change allows us to pull together best practice, optimize our resources and introduce industry leading software development methodologies and processes. In doing so I am convinced we can offer a whole new level of service and innovation that the legal industry has not yet seen, whilst maintaining our commitment to 'user choice' by not ending the life of any of our products. "Until the recent IRIS acquisition trail the legal market largely consisted of small private owned software houses and with this business structure comes limited investment. I was surprised to find a general lack of innovation and process in the legal sector compared to that of other software markets. There is a great opportunity with the backing of IRIS for us to make substantial investments in people, process and technology that enables us to reset the benchmark at whole new level." Adams says she has already started the ball rolling with the creation of a Product Management function within the new structure that will maintain a very strong focus on individual product lines. The new management team comprises... long time AIM staffer Benette Tarbotton as Head of Customer Support, Hazel Birdsall, another long-time AIM manager, as Human Resources Manager, Catherine Bailey, previously with CSG, as Head of Marketing, Philip Murray (originally technical director at Meridian Law and more recently with Mountain) as Head of Professional Services, Videss veteran Chris Rose becomes Sales Director Solicitors. And, reflecting the group's niche markets, Nick Ozga will be the Sales Director for the barristers and coroners systems, while Brian Welsh will continue as the General Manager of GB Systems Scotland As part of this organisational change, those leaving the business include Jim Chase (former MD of AIM and recently the Operations Director of CS Legal), Ian Knox (MD of Mountain) and Steven Kendrick (Sales Director of Mountain). |
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