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UK top 150 regional law firm Tees Law is to implement Peppermint Technology’s Microsoft Dynamics and Sharepoint-backed Legal Service Platform after an extensive review.

The innovative Hertfordshire, Essex and Cambridgeshire-based law firm is to substitute its Civica Systems practice management system and DPS Software case management system with Peppermint’s cloud-based single connected enterprise platform, spanning CRM, financials and legal process automation.

“That magic moment when an idea, trend or social behaviour…

The needs of purchasers of legal services are changing dramatically, with a particular emphasis on advisers that offer services beyond legal and make better use of technology, a new survey has revealed.

The needs of purchasers of legal services are changing dramatically, with a particular emphasis on advisers that offer services beyond legal and make better use of technology, a new survey has revealed.

The most recent reports on the future of the legal industry show law firms are in a dire need of fresh talent, and new skills. Future lawyers will have to demonstrate knowledge in project management and legal technology. Such skills will be crucial for firms and attorneys who want to stay in the market.
However, the big question is: Are law schools preparing students for the future of law, and the changes already taking place?

Leading independent Australian law firm Gilbert + Tobin is to roll out NetDocuments across its three sites and 550-plus staff, as NetDocuments also announces support for and integration with Microsoft Office 365.

Gilbert + Tobin, an iManage customer of around 15 years that services corporate and government clients across the APAC region and globally, will upgrade its on-premises DMS to NetDocuments native cloud-based service to achieve greater usability, mobility, and improved security.

This week’s legal IT updates come from across the spectrum as Zylpha launches its new bundling technology, DocsCorp announces that compareDocs is available as a Windows 10 Universal application, and U.S. cloud-based practice management provider Clio releases four new integrations for its UK and European users. We have wins and deals from Quiss Technology, Nuix and Eclipse Legal Systems, as well as all the latest moves and industry news.

DocuSign’s London MOMENTUM’16 conference last week ended with Professor Brian Cox talking about Einstein and ‘thinking about things in a different way.’ While notionally comparing the rise in traction of eSignatures to the theory of relativity felt like a bit of a stretch, everyone I spoke to at Momentum certainly seemed to be drinking the DocuSign kool aid.

DocuSign’s London MOMENTUM’16 conference last week ended with Professor Brian Cox talking about Einstein and ‘thinking about things in a different way.’ While notionally comparing the rise in traction of eSignatures to the theory of relativity felt like a bit of a stretch, everyone I spoke to at Momentum certainly seemed to be drinking the DocuSign kool aid.

Newly-launched alternative business structure (ABS) Wavelength.law, which provides tech-led legal services to the corporate sector, has hired Johnson Matthey legal director Anne-Marie Garner as its chair and non-executive director, having just brought in a computational data scientist as its first full-time hire.

With artificial intelligence headlines appearing daily, making sense of it is hard. I doubt it will disrupt Big Law but believe it can create significant practice efficiencies. To get beyond the hype, it’s helpful to look at specific AI applications. So I was pleased to talk twice in June with Blue J Legal CEO and co-founder, Ben Alarie, about his company’s machine learning software (a type of AI) that answers legal questions. I’ll start with some background on Ben and a bit about the company, then describe the technology, and close with with some business model and general comments.

kCura is among a raft of companies being sued for patent infringement by Blackbird Technologies, a U.S law firm said by its founders to enable powerless individual inventors and small companies to monetise their intellectual property, but which has been accused by a U.S technology and ediscovery blog of being a patent troll; a suspicion expressed more privately by others in the ediscovery market.

Somerset law firm Lyons Bowe has signed up to SOS Connect from Solicitors Own Software (SOS) for practice and case management as it gears up for growth. The firm was only established 18 months ago but already employs 13 members of staff, including its two partners, and has opened two offices in Shepton Mallet, with plans for another office elsewhere in the near future.

A Salt Lake City-based legal tech startup focussed on providing lawyers with an affordable tool for document drafting has completed its beta testing, having also recently integrated with NetDocuments.

iManage has signed up mid-sized Chicago and Minneapolis firm Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg to iManage Cloud for work product management including document and email management, and collaboration. iManage Cloud was formally launched in February at LegalTech New York, enabling firms to securely access iManage’s work product management solutions with no additional on-premises IT infrastructure for a subscription fee.

Allen & Overy has built on its successful online derivatives and data management platform aosphere to launch MarginMatrix, a new digital derivatives compliance system delivered in conjunction with Deloitte’s managed services team.

The new platform codifies derivatives law in multiple jurisdictions such as New York and Hong Kong, with the system now capable of automating documents that are compliant with the law in each of those jurisdictions. The first draft of the document will build in acceptable legal parameters and, because negotiation of the document doesn’t need a lawyer, Allen & Overy has brought in Deloitte’s managed services team to manage the negotiation process.