There is a very strong legal and
financial accounting element. There is an equally strong billing,
budgeting and credit control system, including onscreen time
recording, various permutations of WIP reports, support for
composite fee billing rate tables and all the features we now
expect to find in a fee earner workstation. In fact if you are
a fee earner, who can access all the information you will ever
need about your clients and their matters from within the utilities
sitting on your desktop, thereby removing the need for a firm
to invest in training staff to use multiple applications. I
would also add that the user interface is particularly clear
- unlike some systems where additional time recording clocks
open up with every fresh matter a fee earner works on, the LAWMAN
system keeps things nice, simple and uncluttered with only one
clock on screen at any one time.
Underlying all this is client and matter management built around a
single Microsoft SQL Server database - and being a single database, you
can rest assured that this really is an integrated system. There is also
a comprehensive case management system - called Matter Manager that is
flexible enough to support ad hoc cases, as well as volume work. (User
defined workflow templates are now available for most work types.)
Matter Manager can also be used to implement quality standards and
controls such as Lexcel, as well as routine workflow-type administrative
applications, such as cheque requisitioning. In addition, given the
system’s strong accountancy background, there is a fully integrated
trust and probate management facility. And, for firms carrying out legal
aid work, there is support for both Legal Service Commission franchises
and Criminal Defence Service activities.
Reflecting current market |
demands, there is also a web tracker
facility offering clients online access to their accounts records
and matter progress reports via a secure extranet link, as well
as one of the best marketing modules, short of a full-blown
CRM (client relationship management) system, available in the
legal sector today. And, by way of further icing on the cake,
LAWMAN also has an integral document management system (supporting
both Word and WordPerfect files) and extensive report generators
and ‘data mining’ tools, so every item of information stored
within the database can be extracted and analysed.
On the other hand, if you want best of breed, then the LAWMAN software
architecture is sufficiently open to also support this alternative
approach.
For example, at the time of writing LAWMAN is compatible with
Solicitec’s SolCase case management software, Interface Software’s
InterAction CRM (client relationship management) system, the Carpe Diem
time tracking system, Whitehill Technologies bill formatting and both
the iManage and rival Hummingbird document and knowledge management
applications. In other words: all the main products and applications
that most firms are looking for when they opt for best of breed. And, we
are not just talking technology here. It is also worth complimenting the
Timeslice management team for being sufficiently open minded and forward
thinking to be prepared to enter into partnership arrangements and
collaboration deals with other system developers to make all this
happen.
Since Timeslice was acquired by City Computers in the mid-1990s, the
business has been through some tempestuous times. |
Starting with a shell of a company that had apparently
lost its sense of direction, a legacy system and a declining
user-base, Timeslice has been turned around.
It now has modern software compatible with the latest infrastructure
platforms. (It should be also noted that as the current LAWMAN family
was launched in 1999, we are talking about a stable leading edge system
benefiting from ongoing enhancements, as distinct from some
just-out-of-beta-testing bleeding edge product that is so new that it is
still riddled with bugs.) Plus it has management, support, marketing,
sales, training and R&D teams who have a commitment to the company’s
growth and future. And, it also has a user base that is not only growing
but has even seen firms opting for LAWMAN in preference to some better
known rival products, when up against them in competitive tender
situations.
It is however this ability of LAWMAN to deliver a choice of either a
fully integrated solution or the basis of a best of breed platform that
really gives Timeslice the edge - not least because it effectively
future-proofs a law firm’s IT investments by leaving open the option of
adding third party products, as and when the need arises, at some later
stage in the future.
If you are a firm looking for a ready-to-run practice management system,
and catering not just for accounts and administrative staff but also fee
earners and practice managers, LAWMAN should definitely be on your
short-list. If you are a firm exploring your best of breed options -
again LAWMAN should be on your list. And, if you are a firm looking for
a ready-to-run, integrated system today but unsure where your IT needs
will be taking you tomorrow - then LAWMAN should also be on your list. |
