Associate editor Caroline Hill reports on the latest news and updates from HotDocs, LEAP Legal Software, iboss Network Security, Thomson Reuters, Peppermint Technology; Rekoop; DocsCorp, CPA Global, UnitedLex, Trumpet Inc. NetDocuments and RAVN Systems
US: CIO Review magazine has selected HotDocs as one of its top 20 most promising compliance technology solution providers of 2014. The list focuses on enterprise-class technologies that redefine businesses and is compiled based on each vendor’s ability to “fulfil the burning need of cost-effective and flexible solutions to tackle complex compliance challenges”. Harvi Sachar, publisher & founder of CIO Review, commented: “HotDocs has been on our radar for some time for stirring a revolution in the compliance space and we are happy to showcase them this year due to their continuing excellence in delivering top-notch, technology-driven solutions.”
UK: Jaeva Management Services has announced its appointment as the first independent consultant in the UK for Australian-headquartered LEAP Legal Software, as LEAP extends its case management product into the UK legal market. Jaeva, which was set up this year by managing director Nicola Moore-Miller, offers outsourced management consultancy services to professional services firms. Moore-Miller is a chartered management accountant who between 2005 and November 2008 was finance manager and latterly finance systems manager at Cobbetts, which went into administration in 2013. In December 2008 she joined Norwel Computer Services as client services director. Chris Stock, LEAP’s General Manager said: “As part of LEAP’s launch into the UK, it’s important that we surround ourselves with high quality partners who we can trust to provide our clients with the high level of service their businesses deserve.”
US: In San Diego, Goldman Sachs has named iboss Network Securityfounders, Paul and Peter Martini, among the 100 ‘Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2014’. Announced at the Builders + Innovators Summit in Santa Barbara, California, the prestigious list recognises founders that are paving the way in innovation and leadership across multiple industries. “We felt that the cybersecurity industry was in desperate need of disruption,” said Paul Martini, CEO at iboss. “We are honoured by this recognition and feel it’s a reflection of the dedication of our team to deliver the most advanced security solutions in the industry.”
Canada: Thomson Reuters announced in November the launch of Practical Law Canada, offering legal know-how for Canadian law firms and corporate law departments on transactional law and practice. Practical Law Canada provides corporate, M&A, capital markets and securities lawyers with practice notes; standard documents and clauses; checklists and flowcharts as well as multi-jurisdictional guides written by international and local experts. Rachel Francis, vice president, legal and regulatory at Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business said: “With Practical Law Canada, lawyers will save time, knowing that they can use it with confidence because it is authored and constantly maintained by a team of people who have practiced for many years in the leading firms and corporations in Canada.”
UK: Peppermint Technology has won the best small tech business award at the UK IT Industry Awards 2014 run by BCS, the chartered institute for IT. Peppermint’s marketing manager Barbara Millett said: “This is another great recognition for the Peppermint team who are totally committed to delivering technology that will help legal firms modernise the way legal services are accessed and delivered”.
UK: Time capture specialist Rekoop has become one of the first organisations in the country to achieve IT security standard ISO 27001:2013. ISO 27001:2013 was published at the end of September 2013 and replaces ISO 27001:2005, the international standard for establishing, operating and maintaining an information security management system. The revision has seen much more emphasis placed on management buy-in and a top-down approach to security, rather than responsibility being vested in a single team or individual. Rekoop’s CEO Phil Wedgwood said: “Information security and data handling is a hugely sensitive issue for law firms and early accreditation evidences our respect for – and response to – those concerns.”
US: DocsCorp announced in November that it has partnered with OpenText to offer DocsCorp’s contentCrawler technology to eDOCS DM clients under the name OpenText Image Crawler. OpenText Image Crawler is an integrated analysis, processing and reporting framework designed to enable OpenText eDOCS DM administrators to search and query the database libraries for image-based documents. It can then convert these documents to text-based PDF documents, profiling the resulting documents back into OpenText eDOCS DM with minimal intervention. Once profiled, the OpenText eDOCS DM index server will index these image documents, which had previously been invisible to text searching.
US: CPA Global has joined commercial property and casualty insurance provider CNA’s expanded Lawyers’ allied vendor program for professional liability policyholders, providing the insurer’s law firm clients with access to a range of innovative IP risk control tools. Forrest Porterfield, senior vice president, Americas at CPA Global, said: “With IP practices in law firms facing increased workloads and ongoing pressure on resources, we are seeing greater demand for support with renewals payments and other IP services. We look forward to developing our relationship with CNA and helping more law firms mitigate their IP management risk.”
US: UnitedLex announced in November that it has secured a $30m line of credit with the ability to extend to $60m with Silicon Valley Bank. The discretionary funds will be used for research and development and to accelerate expansion of UnitedLex’s existing global footprint and enable strategic investments in new facilities, partnerships and other revenue generating initiatives. “Rather than go through traditional venture capital channels, we selected Silicon Valley Bank in order to have access to additional capital – if and when we need it – without relinquishing any equity,” said Daniel Reed, CEO of UnitedLex. “This new line of credit provides a material addition to UnitedLex’s ‘war chest’, providing greater financial stability and positioning the company for significant growth and expansion.”
US: Document management and assembly group Trumpet Inc. announced on 24 November that it has built, tested, and deployed its optical character recognition (OCR) software, known as Symphony OCR and integrated it with cloud-based document and email management service NetDocuments. “NetDocuments has very robust search functionality, however, many firms have as much as 50% of their database saved as image-based files which are not found during a text search. By installing Symphony OCR with NetDocuments, firms will be ensured all of their documents are text-searchable,” said Robin Houston, director of sales and marketing at Trumpet.
UK: RAVN Systems has complemented the RAVN Connect for Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Enterprise Search and Knowledge Management solution by adopting the DocAuto Unity components to provide three-tier integration between SharePoint 2013 search and the HP iManage WorkSite document management system. Unity allows users to perform standard WorkSite operations on WorkSite content in place in production WorkSite systems in real time, using the safe and approved WorkSite 3-tier architecture. The solution allows users to work directly with WorkSite documents, not copies, thereby eliminating synchronisation and version control issues and preventing the unnecessary duplication of content across platforms.