Internet Newsletter for Lawyers
July/August 2006, by Delia Venables

I am one of four partners in Cleggs Solicitors, www.cleggssolicitors.com, a niche private client and commercial practice in Nottingham. We have 2 offices linked by a broadband-based terminal services network, and we think that the investment we have put into hardware and software over the last few years has paid real dividends in terms of efficiency and productivity. The equipment we now have is both cheaper and more effective than ever - the laptop I'm typing this on is half the price and many times faster than the one it replaced. The choice of IT solutions available means that it is possible to put together a package to suit virtually any budget, from sole practitioner to multi-national partnership. So why doesn’t the same principle apply to buying the legal information we all rely on?

This brave new world of legal IT seems to have bypassed library providers; the choice appears to be either the immense expense of a subscription to a web-based source such as LexisNexis Butterworths or to do the best you can by other means. Like many firms of our size, our library consists of a rather ad hoc assortment of textbooks, some works in both text and CD-ROM format, and (until recently) a subscription to LexisNexis.

As I'm sure you know, LexisNexis has recently revised its services. Undoubtedly it is an extremely powerful tool and much easier to use than before, but the costs are equally formidable. Our subscription to LexisNexis used to be approximately £6,000; we have now been quoted £6,000 for our four practice areas but it will be nearly £10,000 if the Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents is included. This has prompted us, like many other firms I imagine, to review our library strategy and to undertake a cost/benefit analysis of the various options open to us.

Criteria

1. Cost;
2. Negligence exposure - the risk of basing our professional judgments on inadequate information;
3. Compatibility - the ease with which information sources, and particularly precedents for commercial transactions and probate work, can be integrated with our IT system;
4. Usability - how easily our end-users can actually use the information to do their jobs.

Resources available

Much is available online - for instance the Civil Procedure Rules and Court forms can be found at the Court Service website, and many other practice forms are available on-line from other government sources. These resources are up to date - and free.

Fee earners range from those who are entirely comfortable with a computer-based data source, to those who barely know how to turn a computer on. Fortunately the free services I mention above are both system-compatible and relatively user-friendly, with most providing data in the form of pdf files, but it is not possible to manipulate these documents (and in particular to save the contents) without upgrading to a professional version of Adobe Acrobat, networked across the firm. This would increase the usability of this option but as yet the cost is unknown.

Books on CD-ROM have the advantage of being relatively cheap, easily networked, and can also be updated relatively easily. We have found that some (but not all) the needs of our company/commercial and property departments can be dealt with by publications such as Kelly’s Draftsman and the like. The “books on screen” system employed to access the data is, with some experience and training, an effective means of searching for and retrieving information and compatibility with our IT system is not an issue.

It would be a relatively simple task to build up a comprehensive precedent library using Microsoft’s Sharepoint for instance. This would form a networked and searchable database of Counsel’s opinions, commercial agreements and so on. Over time, this could build into a highly efficient source of information, and the set up costs would be minimal in terms of software and hardware. The major issue would be the human input required to maintain it - essentially an in-house librarian would be needed.

However, none of these sources can provide an effective alternative to Halsbury’s Laws and the All England Law Reports, or (most importantly for us) the Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents. The major advantage of an online database is the ability to allow a fee earner to deal with issues of which they have no existing data or precedent, for instance to ensure that a commercial precedent incorporates the latest statutory amendments.

By their very nature, the suppliers of these databases must constantly update them, and hence access to them is expensive - almost prohibitively so. But the risk of not having such access is equally alarming. Ideally, we would like to be able to access these databases on an “as needed” basis, without being committed to the immense expense of a full subscription. The obvious alternative would be a time charge, perhaps also factoring in the amount of data downloaded, which could then be billed to the file in question. I'm sure we aren’t alone - who can help?

David Vaughan-Birch is a partner in Cleggs solicitors, www.cleggssolicitors.com, in Nottingham.

Email dvb@cleggssolicitors.com.

Contributions and suggestions are invited!

Back to Contents.