October
sees the launch of a new Bob Dylan anthology and as part of the
promotional push, the record company has added a message generator to
the cue-card scene from D.A. Pennebaker's 1967 documentary Don't Look Back so you can post your own messages on Bob's cards.
For the record, the track is Subterranean Homesick Blues, the movie was shot in an alley behind The Savoy Hotel in London.
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Saturday, September 29
Bob Dylan says "read The Orange Rag" - probably
by
Charles Christian
on Sat 29 Sep 2007 20:38 BST
Friday, September 28
Mark Woodward says goodbye to Visualfiles
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 28 Sep 2007 16:10 BST
Mark Woodward who, along with Neil Ewin, was one of the key architects of the Solicitec/Visualfiles case management software success story, has left the company, departing this August just over a year after Visualfiles was acquired by LexisNexis.
A spokesperson at LexisNexis Visualfiles said that having spent the past 12 months working on the integration of the Visualfiles business within the LexisNexis group, Woodward (under the terms of his earn-out deal with Lexis) had the opportunity to leave the company this summer and decided to do so, so he could spend more time with his family, which includes a young son. Woodward is however still retained by Visualfiles on a consultancy basis. Tuesday, September 25
Irwin Mitchell drops Axxia for Elite 3E
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 25 Sep 2007 16:50 BST
Irwin Mitchell – the 4th largest firm in the UK by staff numbers (it recently merged with Golds in Glasgow and acquired niche PI practice Alexander Harris) – has chosen Thomson Elite's 3E as its next-generation financial and practice management system. The firm previously ran an Axxia PMS.
Ian Fowles, Head of IT Business Systems at Irwin Mitchell, said "We were motivated to search for a new solution because of the high cost of running the existing mix of systems that constituted the firm's back office system, as well as the inflexibility of this legacy mix of applications to adopt new working practices. "We chose Thomson Elite because they were able to demonstrate significant forward thinking around solutions for practices at the top end of the legal sector. Most importantly, the 3E solution has a unique openness which enables it to connect with other essential systems to improve compliance and efficiency. "The system will undoubtedly be welcomed by our fee-earners and partners, as a lack of access to high quality financial data has been a growing frustration. Elite 3E will allow partners to quickly analyse performance data and make more informed decisions, particularly around the pricing of legal services. "We anticipate that cash flow will also be increased through improved financial management such as efficient billing and cash collection. The process tool kit will be developed to ensure disbursement capture is consistent and effective." Kaye Sycamore, the recently appointed Vice President International at Thomson Elite, said "The rate at which leading law firms worldwide are adopting 3E illustrates that they are becoming aware of how advanced technology can give them an unmistakable advantage over their competitors. Elite 3E has quickly established itself as the next-generation practice management solution of choice for innovative law firms, from magic circle to the smaller end of the market." Nearly 50 firms worldwide have chosen to adopt Elite 3E in the last year, including Allen & Overy, DWF, HLBBshaw, Nabarro, Ozannes, and Semple Fraser in the UK. Irwin Mitchell plans to implement 3E across the firm in late 2008/early 2009. Monday, September 24
Latest issue of the Insider Colour Supplement out now
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 24 Sep 2007 15:38 BST
The September issue of the Insider Colour Supplement is out now. You can find the supplement at www.theinsidermag.net/ The stories include
• the results of the latest ILTA survey on North American law firm IT spending trends • the Trek China charity hike raises £100k • are you ready for Instant Messaging • a new portable printer for road warriors • what is meant by EPE - the electronic presentation of evidence • Stuart Holden of Axxia on why a modern PMS can meet all your needs • Speech recognition 10 years on • Bindmans go with Sharepoint portal Enjoy - the next issue will be published on 22nd October Thursday, September 20
IRIS/CSG wins English Law Society order
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 20 Sep 2007 08:55 BST
It has just been announced that the English Law Society is to overhaul its membership management and associated business processes by replacing its existing, disparate databases with IRIS Group’s (formerly CS Group) Integra CRM and membership management software package.
Following a selection exercise including an in-depth analysis of the short-listed systems' functional and technical fit, the IRIS Integra package was identified as having the strongest overall fit to the Law Society’s requirements, including non-functional requirements such as the ability to implement it in the UK. To complete the selection process, 20 gap analysis workshops were run and a six week proof of concept exercise was undertaken prior to signing contracts in late July 2007. • The Scottish Law Society also runs an IRIS Group software application – a LawMaster system from GB Systems (who were acquired by Mountain Software).
Ashurst going public on new intranet at workshop
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 20 Sep 2007 08:13 BST
Here's a story that came in too late for the Insider but fits in nicely with the Delia Venables Web 2.0 story we blogged earlier this week...
On Wednesday 26th September, at their offices in Maidenhead, Ektron, a web content management software provider, is holding free workshop to help webmasters and business heads in law firms get an understanding of the latest social networking technologies. Ektron will be demonstrating an example law firm website with built in blogs, forums, wikis, case collaboration and more. Presenting at the Workshop will be Carl Clement from the Ektron Development Partner, Eurisko. Also present will be Eddie Beaumont-Thomas from City law firm Ashurst who will be talking about their Ektron based intranet development. Ektron describe their product as having "out of the box Web 2.0 functionality" To register to attend the Web 2.0 workshop call Lorna Wells on 01628 509 429 or visit www.ektron.com/uploaded_files/090407-ektron-uk-legal-final.htm Wednesday, September 19
September issue of Legal Tech Insider out now
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 19 Sep 2007 11:38 BST
The latest issue (No: 201 - September 2007) of Legal Technology Insider has been published. The digital edition should be landing in in-boxes anytime about now and the print edition should be arrving on Thursday.
The top story is whether Interwoven has now created a killer app with the latest additions to the Worksite DMS suite, including its 'send & file' email management and 'universal search' facilities. So who needs to develop a Sharepoint DMS - or invest in 3rd party search engines and KM systems when the functionalty is all there in the DMS? Other stories include: - Is Microsoft Dynamics heading for critical mass? - Bighand gets foot in Magic Circle - Record results from Tikit and Eclipse - Government admits to SDLT problems There is also a round-up of all the latest practice management system deals plus an opinion piece by Lisa Burton of Legal Inc on why litigation support services should really be viewed as litigation management. Monday, September 17
The Rise and Rise of Web 2.0 - and Law 2.0
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 17 Sep 2007 09:42 BST
Legal internet experts Nick Holmes and Delia Venables are so convinced of the importance of "Law 2.0" (Web 2.0 for lawyers), that they are changing the name of their bi-monthly newsletter to Internet Newsletter for Lawyers & Law 2.0. "Web 2.0 is not new," says Nick Holmes, "but many lawyers have yet to recognise its potential and its implications for the Law. However, many others have grasped the nettle and Law 2.0 is in full flow."
• There are more than 130 UK law blogs by firms and individual solicitors, barristers, academics, legal IT experts, trainees, pupils and students. • There are many examples of in-house wiki projects for knowledge sharing and document creation, one of the best publicised being at Allen & Overy. • Serious attempts are being made to fulfill Richard Susskind's public law wiki dream with the creation of law wikis in specific areas of law such as WikiCrimeLine, Wiki Mental Health and the prospective IP law wiki. • Social networking on Facebook and other networks is seen as a time waster by many firms, yet others are encouraging its use by establishing workplace networks, including Linklaters (with 895 members), Allen & Overy (846), Baker & McKenzie (669) and DLA Piper (623). • Virtual worlds are places to do real business and real legal problems will arise. Field Fisher Waterhouse established the first virtual UK law firm on Second Life earlier this year. • DivorceOnline recently became the first firm to market its services with an advert placed on the video sharing website YouTube. These are just some of the Law 2.0 developments already described and discussed in the newsletter, which is both a traditional print publication and an online site. Delia Venables believes the need for the newsletter is as strong as ever: "Initially, people subscribed to the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers because they wanted to know more about the workings of the internet and in particular what email and the web could do for them. Everyone now accepts that these are part of normal practice and perhaps some people now think that they have 'done' the internet. Yet the pace of change is as fast as ever and Law 2.0 is already transforming legal practice. The newsletter seeks to explain these developments and the surrounding issues to readers so that they can stay with, and move ahead of, the game." • The Internet Newsletter for Lawyers & Law 2.0 costs £45+VAT pa for six bi-monthly print issues plus full online access. See the newsletter website at www.infolaw.co.uk/newsletter Tuesday, September 11
Tikit publishes its results for the first six months
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 11 Sep 2007 17:51 BST
The AIM-listed Tikit Group plc today published its Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2007 – the figures are another record high. Highlights from the Chairman's report include...
"This is the first set of results announced under IFRS with comparisons against re-stated 2006 interim results. The company is pleased to report that the performance in the first half has produced results in line with the Directors’ expectations. Good organic growth in revenues combined with our continued focus on improving margins has resulted in the planned profit growth over the same period in 2006. "Total Group revenues of £13.2 million in the first half of 2007 represent organic growth of 16% compared with the first half of 2006. The group has again increased its operating margins, achieving 12.1% in the first half (2006: 11.7%), primarily as a result of better management of overheads. Despite lower utilisation than planned in our consultancy operations during the first half of 2007, the Directors believe that there is scope for further improvement in overall margins as utilisation levels improve. "Good progress has been made in many areas of the business, with continued solid growth in recurring, contracted support revenues. In addition, customer response to the release of new Tikit-developed software, particularly the enhanced version of Tikit e-marketing suite and the Tikit Template Manager System for Microsoft Word (TMS), indicate potentially higher sales of these products in the second half. Our European subsidiaries based in France and Spain had a good first half with new customer wins and increased market share. "Turnover for the period was £13.19 million (2006: £11.41 million), representing a 16% increase on the same period last year. Our services businesses, in total, increased by 11% to £8.78 million (2006: £7.92 million), with contracted recurring revenues showing strong growth of 15% to £4.94 million (2006: £4.29 million) contributing 37% of total group revenues. Operating margins continue to improve towards our target of 12.5%, achieving 12.1% in the first half (2006: 11.7%). "The profit before taxation and share option charges was £1.62 million, an increase of 19% over the first half of 2006 (£1.36 million). The provision for share option charges, as required by IFRS, was £118,000. This is a non-cash charge to profits based upon the fair value of the options assessed at the date of grant, and subject to vesting criteria being met. In order to eliminate the potential dilution effect of share options and to meet the anticipated future liabilities associated with share options, the Group has purchased 200,000 Tikit Group shares and hold them in treasury. The average price paid for these shares was 245 pence per share. "The profit before taxation was £1.51 million (2006: £1.29 million), an increase of 17% over the prior year period. Earnings per share before the charge for share based charges were 9.3p (2006: 8.2p), an increase of 12% over the prior year, reflecting the increased tax charge relative to the prior year. "Cash generated from operations was £0.95 million. In the first half, £1.27m of the Group’s cash resources were used to satisfy final earn-out payments due to LecSoft, our Paris-based subsidiary, under the terms of their earn-out agreement and £0.26m was used to purchase 100,000 shares into treasury, resulting in net cash of £2.81 million at 30 June 2007 (2006: £3.06m). "Continuing our successful strategy of providing the highest level consultancy and products into the large law firms and accountancy practices we have made further inroads into our target market with more new wins of our leading CRM and DM products – LexisNexis Interaction and Interwoven WorkSite. In addition, we have also secured new clients for our Redwood Business Intelligence and Metastorm eWorks workflow applications. Both the Redwood and Metastorm products require significant business consultancy and this has further established Tikit’s reputation as a true business consulting partner to law firms looking to exploit their investment in information technology. "Whilst our technical consultancy utilisation and revenues were slightly lower than we had planned for in the first half this was compensated for by the increase in recurring revenues from our contracted onsite support operations. The reason for the lower consultancy was partly down to the reduced number of new sales of Interaction and WorkSite in the mid tier firms although we expect this to change in the second half with the introduction of our fixed price cost of ownership offering for these applications to customers. "Two new Tikit written and owned software products were launched in the first half of the year to provide an out of the box workflow solution for client matter inception process and a more efficient interface to manage Microsoft Office templates. Both of these products have been well received. Our operations in France and Spain continue to progress and there have been significant new business wins further increasing our presence in these markets. "Our overall operations continue to show good progress with good pipeline of new opportunities and high consultancy visibility for the first part of the second half of the year. We expect that our continued investment in the managed support operation will mean that we continue to experience high retention of existing clients whilst adding new clients over the remainder of the year. "The second half of the financial year for the Group has traditionally been stronger than the first half. With a healthy backlog of consultancy and support, combined with a number of opportunities to secure major projects with some of our larger clients, we believe we are in a good position to continue this profile in 2007. "Whilst business activity levels remain high and there are currently no indications that the current uncertainty in the financial and M&A markets is resulting in lower confidence levels amongst our clients, we will be somewhat more cautious about our expectations for 2008 and beyond with regards to organic growth opportunities and manage our cost base accordingly. Our experience is that any tightening of project spend by our clients will lead to greater managed services opportunities for Tikit..." Monday, September 10
Lexis research says CRM users must collaborate more
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 10 Sep 2007 15:09 BST
Research published earlier today by LexisNexis InterAction highlights the importance of collaboration across all job functions within law firms when capturing, storing and analysing contact information. Using a series of group discussions, interviews and surveys of 68 business development, marketing and IT professionals within UK law firms, LexisNexis InterAction found that the main concerns of using a CRM (client relationship management) system were the same regardless of the functional role or size of an organisation.
According to indepedent consultant John Rogers, of Tandem Management: "The challenge is to gain the active cooperation of fee-earners, and that will only happen if they see a direct benefit to themselves. This means that the CRM system must actually be easier to use than their current method of recording information about their contacts. Appeals to lawyers' good nature are doomed to failure; anything which makes their lives easier is likely to be a success." The following statements were made during the course of the research which highlights this need for a working collaboration between all levels of staff within an organisation: • “CRM records that don’t get updated regularly have low credibility within the organisation” • “Fee-earners don’t recognise the value of putting information into the CRM system that might be of use to someone else in the organisation.” • “CRM software has to be a seamless part of the user’s normal working practice.” • “Fee-Earners will not use a CRM system which is not easy to use.” • “We don’t have the involvement we need from fee-earners to ensure the successful implementation of our CRM system.” • “Fee earners in my firm don’t update the CRM system.” Daniel Von Weihe, Sales & Operations Director for LexisNexis InterAction commented: “Whilst the technology and demand is clearly there to support the client development of today’s businesses, we must ensure that stakeholders from all areas of the business are trained not just how to use CRM software but on how the technology is to be used in order to achieve their business objectives. “The use of CRM in the legal sector is becoming more prevalent, but buy-in throughout the organisation is required to ensure every client interaction becomes an opportunity to meet the short-term tactical needs and further the long-term strategic outlook of an organisation. We have plans to transform the end-user experience by investing in further development of the product and introducing more unique features that will fit into the day-to-day workflows and process of lawyers.” Friday, September 7
Brokers say next few months could be a rocky ride for HIPs suppliers
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 07 Sep 2007 21:28 BST
Investment analysts Scotia Capital have issued the following equity research paper in relation to the UK HIPs market and solution providers such as MDA... According to Paul Steep, the director of software & IT services research "We have conducted a series of interviews with various market participants to assess initial acceptance, pricing and experiences with Home Information Packs. Our discussions support the expectation that HIPs will continue to full deployment in the U.K. despite some early growing pains in the first phase of the roll-out. We anticipate that HIP providers will be tested in earnest starting Monday, September 10, when the roll-out expands to three bedroom homes (covering 65% of U.K. housing stock). Our view is that over the next several months issues relating to the next phase of the roll-out are likely to be highlighted in the press by HIP detractors creating the potential for volatility in the stock."
The report goes on to say... • We believe the HIP market remains in the development stage with market participants (eg estate agents, EPC inspectors, HIP providers) all still in the learning process as a result of limited market experience from the launch of 4+ bedrooms. Early feedback indicates the transition to the new scheme has been relatively smooth given the small initial market size (~18% or 340,000 home sales on an annual basis). • Our view is that UK government’s recent announcement (August 17, 2007) to expand the scheme to include three bedroom homes as of September 10, 2007 represents the real test for HIP providers. This expansion will result in over 65% of the U.K. housing market coming online (~1.2 million homes sales on an annual basis). This significant expansion should test providers’ ability to deliver a higher volume of HIPs in a timely manner to meet market demand more closely reflecting full scheme conditions. Some market participants have cried foul over the rapid roll-out schedule raising concerns that the government has not taken sufficient time to review how the HIP supply chain is adapting to the 4+ bedroom implementation. The feedback we received did not highlight this as a major concern but estate agents were surprised by how quickly the government was moving (expectations were 3+ bedroom roll-out a month later). The latest data indicates almost 3,500 assessors are now accredited, meeting the government's original requirements of 3,000 to cover the entire market. Distribution of accredited assessors remains soft in two of ten regions (London and South East regions) but appears to be more than sufficient to support the 3+ bedroom rollout. • Our view is that the accelerated implementation timeline for 3+ bedrooms signals the UK government’s focus on fast-tracking the roll-out of HIPs to ensure that the EPC component of the scheme is deployed. We believe the factors driving the government’s move relate to European Union energy savings directives and the government’s desire to ensure that the trained EPC inspectors have employment. • Our view is that HIP providers are insulated from some of the volatility of retail pricing but have limited pricing power. Our research indicates that the HIP market consists of a wide range of retail pricing and marketing strategies. We found pricing for HIPs to generally be within the range of £300 to £400 but climbed to as much as £750 for larger or more expensive homes (ie +£1 million). The marketing strategies for HIPs to consumers also varied widely with certain estate agents offering a free HIP as part of their service to win the listing of a home while others advertise variable HIP pricing dependent upon a variety of factors (eg listing price, size of home). Our expectation is that retail pricing for HIPs will settle over the next six months as the HIP providers consolidate and as estate agencies standardize around how the cost of HIPs will be passed on to clients • Our view is that over the next six to twelve months the market will consolidate with a large number of the marginal HIP producers exiting the market. We believe that given the tight margins and competitive nature of the business that the HIP provider market is likely to consolidate down to a handful of leading firms with MDA expected to be among the market leaders. At present, a consumer can obtain a HIP from an estate agent, a solicitor, a conveyancer or a dedicated HIP provider. There are a large number of HIP providers in the market with the Association of Home Information Pack Providers listing over 65 members ranging from small start-up operations to established firms such as MDA or LMS. • Our discussions with estate agents indicate that some are still in the process of evaluating HIP providers. Our view is that the key factors in selecting a HIP producer will be: speed of HIP turnaround time, financial stability, and pricing of the offering. Thursday, September 6
2008 Legal Technology Awards launched
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 06 Sep 2007 16:59 BST
Legalease, the publishers of The Legal 500 and the Legal Technology Journal (whose launch editor was Charles Christian of this parish) has opened up nominations for the 2008 Legal Technology Awards. There are a total of 27 awards categories for law firms, IT teams, IT directors, inhouse legal departments and suppliers – including the award for the supplier of the best integrated system, which this year is being sponsored by The Orange Rag. Hooray!
Nominations close on 31st October, so you’ve got just under 8 weeks to submit your entries – the nomination forms can be downloaded from the awards website. (And if anyone would like to nominate Legal Technology Insider for the Outstanding Contribution to the Legal Market category – feel free to do so.) A shortlist will be published in mid-November and the awards gala dinner will take place at the Marriott Grosvenor Square on Thursday 31st January. www.legaltechnologyawards.co.uk Wednesday, September 5
Changes at the top at Thomson Elite
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 05 Sep 2007 16:32 BST
Thomson Elite has just announced two key management changes that have been made to support the increasing growth and drive the expansion of its global business. Jitendra Valera, previously Vice President of International, has been appointed to a new role within Thomson Elite as Vice President Global Strategy & Planning, and Kaye Sycamore, previously Regional Director for UK, Ireland & Asia Pacific has been promoted to Valera's previously held role of Vice President International.
Steve Buege, President & CEO of Thomson Elite said "Both these roles will be part of our newly created Strategic Marketing & Business Development function. These structural changes not only strengthen our management talent, but they also ensure a strengthened focus on both strategic business development and operational execution for our increasingly global business." Valera's new role, which will be based in the UK at the London office, will focus on developing Thomson Elite's global strategy and driving growth on a global scale. He will also take on new responsibilities for senior level co-ordination between Thomson North American Legal (TNAL) and Thomson International Legal & Regulatory (TILR) in the key growth area of software and services. Sycamore will provide a dedicated focus on operations in the UK, Continental Europe and Asia Pacific regions, while continuing to boost the growth of the International division. Sycamore will join Valera on the Thomson Elite executive team and will be fully supported by the various functional and management teams in the US. Sycamore says the sales success Thomson Elite has had outside of North America has spurred the need for leadership positions that address the macro planning needs of the region and the day-to-day operational challenges. "These changes will ensure that we continue to drive growth forward, whilst at the same time ensuring that our level of customer service to new and existing clients is local and relevant to the various regions we serve." Valera and Sycamore assume their new duties with immediate effect. Tuesday, September 4
IRIS join FAST - but don't they own it?
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 04 Sep 2007 13:58 BST
Confusing story here as it has just been announced that the UK's sixth largest software group has joined the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST). Glossing over the fact that, as FAST has been around since 1984, this is not exactly a ringing endorsement that it's taken the sixth largest player in the UK 23 years to get around to joining, the more confusing aspect is the identity of the new member. It's the IRIS Software Group.
Haven't we heard of them before? Yes, IRIS acquired Vin Murria's CS Group (and with it the legal software suppliers AIM, Laserform, Mountain and Videss) in July this year. And? Oh, and in May this year the CS Group bought FAST. So that means the IRIS Software Group, which has just joined FAST, actually owns FAST. Er, yes. Coming soon... Roman Catholic Church announce the Pope is a Catholic and the US Parks Department announce findings on the toilet habits of bears in Yellowstone National Park forest. |
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