Internet Newsletter for Lawyers |
|---|
Case Study in the series on Case Tracking Online
Stanley Tee is a traditional law firm serving a loyal and well established client-base. We have been in East Hertfordshire since 1915 (now with a further two offices in Essex) and it has been our duty first and foremost to provide a friendly, efficient quality service to our clients. This is why we decided that we should embrace the latest systems technology and internet based communications but without losing our traditional values.
Back in 1994, we realised that conveyancing fee earners had to perform considerable amounts of administrative work which could actually be delegated to support staff, if the right technology was available. Also, due to competitive pressures, conveyancing work was becoming less and less profitable. We first looked seriously at conveyancing case management software in 1996. Our aim was to make the conveyancing process more efficient, with grades of staff performing tasks appropriate to their skills and expertise.
We chose DPS Convey because of its flexibility. After a short training period, we were able to use standard conveyancing templates and convert them into personalised templates to suit our clients and meet their needs.
Re-engineering of the conveyancing process was something that we then felt was needed. It was inefficient for our lawyers to provide conveyancing quotations and produce repetitive standard documents. DPS Convey has revolutionised the way we deal with the conveyancing process. The handling of routine paperwork has changed completely. Our lawyers now oversee the general conduct of a transaction and address key legal issues, while DPS Convey enables routine tasks, such as standard replies to letters, to be delegated to well-trained assistants.
We have found case management and the re-engineering to be so successful that our lawyers have been redeployed to pure legal work and we were even able to recruit two “Client Relationship Managers” to service around 800 of our clients with routine enquiries about their transactions under an initiative we called “Streamline”. This initiative has saved chargeable lawyer-time and now means our lawyers can exercise their legal skills where they are really needed.
In Spring 2002 we took our use of DPS Convey one stage further by adopting a web based approach. We were even more pleased to discover that we were one of the first practices in the country to adopt a system of providing conveyancing information in this way. As well as providing this service to the clients themselves, we also give estate agents access to their own matters provided the client has given permission.
The case reporting web server is currently hosted by DPS. As changes are made here, in our own case management system, the data relating to the change is transmitted automatically to DPS via our ISP, which is NTL (we have a 2 Mbs connection to NTL). There are extracted data fields from our case management system held on the DPS web server which are updated as necessary. Only the changes are transferred, using small packets of XML (encrypted).
To get their reports, clients access the relevant pages of the Stanley Tee website which is hyperlinked to the DPS server, which asks for the client log in code and password. Security is thus handled by DPS and there is no way that our own systems could be compromised, even if there was a security problem at DPS.
As a practice we are now working more efficiently; our fee earners can concentrate on legal work; we can undertake more transactions; and our clients are very appreciative of the slick service we now offer. Our next step is to offer this service from all 3 offices so that all authorised staff have access to real-time information at the press of a button and click of a mouse. We are also now in a good position to embrace the e-conveyancing revolution that is on our doorstep. A strong investment in IT infrastructure coupled with the flexibility of the case management system has been the key – no doubt about it.
As Partnership Secretary, I am responsible to the Managing Partner for the firm’s IT Strategy. We also have an IT Manager and assistant. I would think that, dependant on the size of firm involved, it would be necessary to have at least one IT professional.
Ian Fretwell, iffy@stanleytee.co.uk
Back to Contents.