Here are your latest #legalit wins, deals, hires and launches. If you want to read about the virtual cat appearance in court click: https://legaltechnology.com/latest-news/im-not-a-cat-texas-lawyer-appears-in-virtual-court-with-kitten-filter/
UK and EMEA
Independent top-tier Netherlands firm Houthoff has partnered with StructureFlow. It is the first Dutch law firm to implement the visualisation tool that helps professionals to model and collaborate on legal structures and transactions.
Houthoff’s lawyers are using StructureFlow to visualise complex structure diagrams as well as to conceptualise the strategy of legal projects, like M&A transactions, tax projects or litigation processes.
“Not every lawyer is a PowerPoint hero. StructureFlow has helped our team think fast and visualise complex structures “on-the-fly” to achieve a professional chart without spending an afternoon aligning squares and connecting lines. And the fact that you can share the work product across teams in one click makes the entire workflow from idea to end-result exceptionally smooth and efficient,” said Steven ter Horst, Head of Innovation & Knowledge at Houthoff
To learn more about StructureFlow and demo their software, please visit https://www.structureflow.co/
Spitfire Network Services Ltd, which provides telecoms and IP engineering solutions to UK businesses, has announced details of its deployment of 3CX as a solution for law firm, DPP Law.
Since 2016, DPP Law Ltd have been using Spitfire Network Services’ 3CX PBX phone system, which was originally adopted when the firm was relocated.
Fast forward to 2020, DPP Law like many other law firms faced the challenge of making the shift from having the majority of its employees working from offices to remotely. However, as Financial Controller Roger Posener explains, DPP Law was well prepared.
“We actually preempted this shift when we put new systems in place to ensure people could work from home or anywhere, they wanted. With fee earners needing to meet clients or attend court or police stations, this ability to ensure connectivity at all times was critical. Employees were able to access 3CX via their smartphones and we had no issues whatsoever. Once the lockdowns came, this transition had already taken place, so the shift was seamless. The only difference was that more people were using 3CX from home,” he said.
3CX is an IP telephony solution originally developed for Windows but now also available on Linux distributions. Spitfire is a 3CX Titanium Partner and supplied the 3CX system hosted ‘in the cloud’. The 3CX system uses SIP trunks for Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony instead of conventional ISDN phone lines.
Online deal platform Legatics has appointed former head of software engineering for BBC News, Steve Wheeler, as CTO.
At the BBC, Wheeler was responsible for leading the BBC World Service and BBC Weather online products. Prior to this he was head of technology at CrowdBnk Ltd during the company’s high growth stages.
Legatics said that Wheeler will lead its efforts with its commitment to delivering a best-in-class transaction management platform. This strategic decision to bring Wheeler’s level of experience to the company is the first in a move to expand the engineering team so Legatics can accelerate feature delivery for its clients.
Legatics CEO, Anthony Seale, said: “Delivery of an exceptional product has always been critical to the success of our business, as well as our customers’ who depend on us every day to deliver their legal work. I’m delighted to have such a brilliant engineer who has had such a prominent career at the BBC leading our technical team.”
ClauseMatch has launched a Policy Portal for employees and says that the number of users of the portal has already hit 170,000. The number of users is forecast to hit 250,000 by the end of the quarter.
ClauseMatch automates policy management and regulatory compliance at financial institutions and other regulated organizations.
Speaking about Policy Portal, Michael Rasmussen, GRC analyst from the US says: “In today’s dynamic and distributed work environment it is absolutely essential that organizations have a single portal for employees to access and interact with all of the organization’s policies. This portal needs to be highly intuitive and engaging to the employee and presents policies in their particular context in the organization.”
Anastasia Dokuchaeva, Head of Product at ClauseMatch, commented: “The current crisis has shown that consistency and a single view into policies is absolutely essential for any organization operating at any level. Across the world, new rules and regulations are constantly being introduced by financial regulators, and it has become even more complicated to stay on top of all of the changes communicating them to employees in a timely manner. Business continuity plans, disaster recovery policies are being updated almost weekly. Policies scattered in different templates, portals, are confusing and can be misunderstood. This may lead to a lack of awareness and compliance exposure. We’re absolutely happy to be of help to our clients introducing this product module as it provides a consolidated and comprehensive repository enabling a proactive approach to managing regulatory compliance. We’ll be enhancing the Portal functionality throughout this year. Stay tuned for updates.”
Legal due diligence data provider SearchFlow has shared the key findings of a roundtable looking at technology transformation in rela estate and trends that lie ahead in 2021 thanks to new technology innovation in the sector.
The virtual roundtable event included talks from Paul Tostevin, Director of World Research of Savills who provided a big picture view on technology’s role in the global real estate markets in 2021; Geraldine Pigot, Special Counsel – Real Estate at Covington & Burling LLP; and Senior Real Estate Lawyer and Consultant Brian Kennedy, who discussed LegalTech and AI in legal practice. Adam Groom, SearchFlow’s Head of Product also discussed the integration of property data to support further advance AI, machine learning and risk management innovations for property lawyers.
Talking about the acceleration of technology adoption in the real estate industry since Covid-19, Geraldine Pigot said: “The trend is more towards a digital way of working and lawyers are no exception. I have certainly found that the use of the Land Registry Portal, Automated Documents and Automated Land Registry Forms, for example, have made working remotely possible. Technology, when used well, frees-up lawyers for the more interesting and complex work and I encourage lawyers to get involved in trials of new technology to help shape future developments.”
Adam Groom, Head of Product for SearchFlow, said: “There is no doubt 2020 changed the real estate market. Technological innovation and adaptation are transforming land and property transactions on a global scale. Now, more than ever, it’s important to take the time to reflect on and plan for what lies ahead; we were all in agreement that in doing so, we can work together in accelerating transactions, enhance workflows, reduce business costs and deliver efficiencies all round. I would like to extend my thanks to everyone who participated in our discussion.”
To download a copy of the roundtable sessions, visit: https://info.searchflow.co.uk/tech-roundtable-0
North America
Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox has implemented DocSolid’s Airmail2 Digital Mail Room and companion Digital Records Room for direct delivery of daily mail and matter files to the firm’s document management system, iManage Work 10.
DocSolid’s Airmail2 Digital Mail + Records Suite digitises a firm’s paper-based Mail Room and Records Room. It provides scanned delivery of sensitive and time-dependent mail and file requests via the document management system (DMS), enabling firms to govern, secure, and distribute information efficiently, per policy and individual client guidelines.
“We have re-vamped our scan capture solution set with DocSolid and Airmail2,” said Shawn Mitkowski, CIO at Stern Kessler. “The operational productivity, tight iManage integration, and innovative roadmap of the Airmail2 system drives our firm’s digital transformation.”
“To be efficient, secure and always-on for our clients, Sterne Kessler needs attorneys work-ready at home or back in the office,” said Robert Burger, COO at Stern Kessler. “That means we need to be digital. DocSolid’s new Airmail2 solutions are built for these times, to move paper into our digital processes and disciplines.”
And Buying Legal Council has released its Guide for Buying Legal Services. The Guide is aimed at procurement professionals who are engaged in, or seeking to be engaged in, buying legal services.
“Legal services used to be outside the sphere of activity of procurement in many organizations,” says Dr. Silvia Hodges Silverstein, CEO of the Buying Legal® Council. “But it is a category in which procurement professionals can add tremendous value and competitive advantage for their employers.” Legal procurement’s corporate mandate is to better manage legal spend and support the legal department in data-driven decision-making. “Any organization with significant external legal spend that does not involve procurement today is not practicing best practice,” says Silverstein.
The Guide was composed and is based on research by the Buying Legal® Council, the only dedicated source of education and research for professionals tasked with sourcing legal services and managing supplier relationships.
A preview version can be downloaded on www.buyinglegal.com/QUICKGUIDE; the complete QuickGuide is available for Members and Friends of the Buying Legal® Council.