Today’s legal market is competitive, demanding and complex to operate – legal practice are expected to face and overcome challenges such as the need to stay ahead of the competition, gain and retain clients and run a smooth and profitable practice. Success means that practices must have access to solutions that can keep all processes, people, and information working together, not separately.
According to Thomson Reuters Elite, its Legal Practice system LawSoft can help legal firms to manage their entire practice. LawSoft – who’s launched in South Africa recently, is a comprehensive front-and back-office business tool that can be accessed seamlessly through Microsoft Office™ or via a user-friendly Web portal. LawSoft’s web interface makes it easy to support and administer. It also means that users can do their work from wherever they are.
LawSoft has in its core a strong, solid financial management module that is already used by top 100 firms throughout the UK. The central Microsoft® SQL Server database that powers the financial system delivers sterling performance in matter management, case management, document management and marketing management solutions. LawSoft lets lawyers perform their daily project management functions in the programmes in which they feel comfortable, such as Outlook™ and Word™. They can record and view time, maintain and manage contacts and clients, and perform end-to-end billing directly from within Outlook and Word.
Work offline, away from the office, then synchronise
Fee earners can also use Microsoft Exchange™, to work offline without a network or an Internet connection, and then use automated synchronisation when they reconnect to the corporate network. Firms who want to take advantage of the significant cost savings of cloud computing, can use LawSoft in the cloud, and save on infrastructure and specialist software, operate with fewer IT resources. In addition, with cloud computing, no upgrading is required.
With LawSoft Partners have instant access to the performance of the firm, its people and its departments and use the system’s analytics to assess above or below expectations performance. Fee earners can use desktop tools to monitor their own performance, record time, draft bills and collect cash. Cash room staff will have at their disposal facilities such as multi-period accounting, electronic postings and bank reconciliation, and inbuilt Excel integration. Finally – the marketing team will find LawSoft’s contact management and event handling capabilities second-to none.
Automating legal work
LawSoft’s Electronic Workflow features are used for the automation of legal work in a full blown Case Management deployment (e.g. debt collection, personal injury etc.) and also as a Matter Management System to streamline administrative functions within the firm. LawSoft’s workflow tool, its intuitive graphical interface, is used to automate a range of practice tasks – from client/matter inception and compliance process, to controlling postings or authorising and approving draft bills. This – Thomson Reuters Elite says- will transform the practice.
The Thomson Reuters Elite and LawSoft products are available and supported through DVT Emerald Consulting — a world leader in Practice Management Solutions. Emerald’s legal clients in South Africa include Bowman Gilfillan, Webber Wentzel, and Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs. In the UK and Europe they include Olswang and Gomez Acebo & Pombo. Emeralds Westlaw clients include most Universities in SA and Africa, the African Union, the Competition Commission of South Africa, and the Attorney General’s Office in Mauritius.
For details, visit DVT Emerald Consulting’s website: http://www.e-c.co.za/site/home
