The Insider has learned of the recent death from cancer of UK-based legal IT innovator Denis Corr. We first encountered Corr in the early-1990s, back in the days when Wordperfect still ruled the world, with his DACS and DocMan document automation and file management systems – a forerunner of today’s matter management systems. Born and educated in Melbourne (Australia), he spent the Swinging Sixties as a partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth before moving on to pursue other ventures.
In fact Corr was responsible for Insider founder Charles Christian’s hair turning white, when he was given a lift in Corr’s vintage Aston Martin (Denis was a big fan of classic cars) from the old Avenue Legal Systems offices in Fareham along the M27 to the Eastleigh railway station. Time was tight, so Corr put his foot down, with the needle on the speedometer seldom falling below 130 mph. “Probably,” say Christian, “there again my head was wedged up against the neck-rest by the G-forces. I caught my train and by Basingstoke I was breathing normally again.” On that same journey Denis also recounted how he’d recently been driving up the A1 late at night only to discover that a roundabout had been constructed in the middle of what had previously been a straight section of road. Unprepared and travelling a just little bit over the speed limit (ahem), Corr said his only option was to go straight over the roundabout, adding “and when I rejoined the tarmac, the Aston was still doing 80mph!”