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You may have heard of the new clerking service called "Clerksroom". This was formed after a review designed to answer the question - what is the most cost effective way to operate a traditional chambers, providing all the usual services at a lower cost?
The first part of the answer is to provide high quality accommodation for the common parts of chambers such as waiting areas, meeting rooms, clerksrooms, fee collection or credit control teams, I.T. staff and libraries. This we have done at our Taunton, Somerset, offices and we also use Regus centres around the UK for further reception and conference facilities.
The next part of the answer is to set up a system by which barristers work from home rather than needing expensive offices in city centres. This is made possible by using telecom links between all the individuals and premises involved and also by using other aspects of new technology like Intranets and online libraries.
Our network management company is Freedom2000. They provide all the hardware and the Microsoft Office software for us and they also look after all technical aspects of the system including virus updates, firewall protection, data backup and hardware upgrades. In addition, they work with Meridian Law to host the chambers software.
This new way of working has enabled us to reduce our overheads so that we only charge tenants a 10% flat rate of their fees. The charge covers:
* Full access to digital library (inc Butterworths and Lawtel)
* Meridian Law chambers software
* Remote office facilities, 24/7 telephone support and I.T. helpdesk
* Full clerking, including diary management, billing and fee collection.
For the technically minded, the system is based around Meridian Law and Microsoft Office 2000, hosted on a remote data centre (Worldcom UK6) at Kings Cross, London. Our Taunton staff have high-speed access to all 12-mirrored servers via a permanent fibre optic link. Barristers and home-based staff can also access the server farm using the web server to create the link. All servers are running Microsoft NT Terminal Server allowing the client to log into the system with a simple download. Citrix technology means that the central server is doing all the processing so the speed of the remote working is quite stunning.
We also work with Consilio to provide a range of articles, discussion groups and recorded lectures on current legal topics and to provide a wider legal community for Clerksroom members - the viewer enters our site via the Consilio web page. Consilio also provides the route to CPD direct, jointly owned by Semple Piggot Rochez and Butterworths LexisNexis, which now has 175 online CPD courses available for practitioners.
The Bar Council agreed at the early stages that any barrister over 3 years call, registered with the Data Protection Registrar and up to date with all subscriptions to the Bar Council and Bar Mutual, could join Clerksroom. Incidentally, the structure of Clerksroom means that any barrister who joins has no responsibility for chambers management, staff or the liabilities of the company - and does not have to attend any chambers meetings!
We have just over 100 barristers who rely on us in full as well as special arrangements with several chambers such as ADR Chambers.
However, I should stress that we are not a chambers as such! We are a collection of individuals or groups of individuals who outsource their administration and clerking.
We also offer a number of other services to members (and indeed to non-members) such as marketing, website design and hosting, Cars4Lawyers.com, Pleadings-Direct.com, and Rooms4Lawyers.com.
Stephen Ward is Managing Director of Clerksroom.
Email ward@clerksroom.com.
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