cloud

How are lawyers using mobile technology?

5 June 2017 By LEAP

LEAP undertakes survey of solicitors to find out the importance of mobility when running a successful legal practice.

The demand for access to business information has grown dramatically. Over 80% of the UK population has a smartphone and over two thirds of adults have access to a tablet. Current estimates predict over 75% of internet use will be on a mobile device in 2017, with this increasing to 80% in 2018.

The legal sector needs to adapt to keep up with the mobility trend. Clients are transforming their business processes and lawyers need to change accordingly. Forward-thinking practices have made the move to mobile and others run the risk of being left behind.

This is reflected in a recent survey with responses from 50 legal firms using LEAP legal practice management software, results found that almost half of respondents use the available mobile app regularly to manage their matters, correspond with clients and work with colleagues via their smartphone or tablet.

The survey also provides insight into how solicitors are making the most of cloud technology and all that it offers. 96% of respondents that are using the LEAP Mobile app do so to review and append documents on matters, and to access matter and contact information, including making phone calls with associated time recording. 42% of users use the standalone time recording feature, almost 25% use the integrated scanning functionality and 15% use the devices dictation capabilities to add dictated notes and letters to LEAP.

What features are most popular to solicitors when working from their mobile device?

Feature	Percentage
Viewing documents	96%
Viewing matters	84%
Viewing cards	54%
Time recording	42%
Emailing correspondence	42%
Viewing financial data	40%
Viewing key dates	24%
Adding notes	22%
Adding documents	16%
Dictation	15%
Disbursement posting	8%

John Flanagan, ‎Product Manager at LEAP UK comments: “Adopting a mobile strategy means that devices, and associated applications and software, can be capitalised to make it easier for lawyers to collaborate without being tied to their desks. Real-time communication with the office delivers significant business benefits, including more efficient use of staff time, driving an increase in billable hours. This flexibility changes where work can be done, be it home, commuting or at court.”

LEAP 365 is a suite of software capitalising on LEAP’s true cloud technology. With apps available across the Windows desktop, iOS (for both iPhone and iPad), Android and the browser.

Two LEAP clients comment on the Mobile App: “The app is easy to use. Information can be obtained instantly and whilst away from the office. No need to sit waiting by the office based computer!” comments a representative from Auriga Advocates. “The mobile app has driven greater productivity, ensuring chargeable items dealt with whilst out of the office are not overlooked.” comments On Demand Lawyers.

Case Management in the Cloud – Cloud Computing, its benefits and pitfalls

2 October 2014 By LEAP

You’re sitting in your office drafting a lengthy affidavit and you remember you have a great precedent stored on your server. You triumphantly double-click on your shared drive only to discover it won’t open. You notice that the dust covered server in the corner of your room has ceased making that odd ‘whirring’ noise it had been making for the last 6 months, that noise you had subconsciously blocked out. A chill runs down your spine.

You call your IT guy and your fears are confirmed, you need a new server. £4k, £5k, £6k… £25k… Each quote gets bigger and bigger. But you are just a small law firm and hadn’t planned for this in your budget, how can you solve all your server problems, keep costs down and keep working? It’s time to look at the cloud….

What is the cloud?

The cloud is quite simply data that is stored in a different location from where it is accessed.

Many of us use cloud technology every day. In fact we have done so for years without even knowing. Whilst ‘the cloud’ is a relatively new term, the concept has been in day to day use for much longer.

Hotmail, Gmail, Dropbox, iCloud, Internet Banking are all commonly used cloud-based technologies. In fact, based on the above definition, if you have ever viewed a website, you have used the cloud.

So why then are people so concerned about the cloud? There are now more and more providers asking you to store your data with them. As with any competitive market, fear is often used as a marketing tool to differentiate between products.

The Benefits

1. Lower infrastructure costs
You can do away with the huge expense of managing your own server infrastructure. It’s not only the upfront cost of purchase but the ongoing maintenance expenses. Thousands of pounds spent on a machine that is effectively a data repository can now all be spent on other, more important things.

2. Accessibility
The cloud can be accessed from anywhere. Someone once told me they didn’t want to be able to do work from home as this is family time. I asked them what time, on average, they leave the office each day. The answer – 10pm every night. In a world where businesses run around the clock, accessibility is the new key to a work/life balance.

3. Mobile workforce
Having a flexible, mobile workforce is becoming the norm. There is no need to lose good staff anymore due to reasons like travel. Implementing cloud technology allows all kinds of possibilities such as working from home and subcontracting administration work.

In a country where inclement weather is known to cause havoc, you have the ability to weather-proof your business. Flooding and snow no longer need to prevent your staff from coming to work.

4. Backups and Recovery
Backing up your data is a crucial part of your business. In fact, your data is the only tangible source of good-will your business owns.

The cost of backing up data properly can be quite high and as a result risky, inexpensive (and often ineffective) options are sometimes used.

Over the years, I have lost count of the number of firms I have met where everything has been lost in either a fire or burglary and nothing could be recovered.

A great example of this was a firm I met who backed up their server every day to a USB drive. At the end of each day, the USB was locked in a fire proof safe… directly next to the server. One day they were burgled, they lost their server and naturally the safe, given that is where valuables are usually kept. Imagine the burglars shock when the safe was opened to reveal a USB drive. Worthless to the thief, priceless to the firm.

Even in situations where data can be recovered, you still need to arrange for a new server. Once the server arrives, it can take several days for any data to be fully restored.

The cloud means that not only are your backups taken care of for you, but in a disaster, your data can be recovered instantly.

The Pitfalls

1. Data location
Regulatory bodies for lawyers around the world generally have the same concern – where is your data hosted?

It is important to ensure your cloud provider complies with the rules and regulations as set down by your local regulatory body.

As a general rule of thumb, if your data is stored in compliance with US-EU and US-Swiss Safe Harbor Principles, it is safe.

2. Unscrupulous providers
I remember working with a firm that had outsourced all of its IT to ‘the local IT guy’. They had been sold on a ‘cloud’ solution which involved them logging in to a computer environment hosted by him.

The firm ran into regular performance issues and eventually this lead to a bill dispute. The ‘IT guy’ simply reached under his desk and pulled the cable out of the machine that had been hosting the small law firms’ entire business environment. Not only had he brought the business to a standstill, he had no security at his house and a poor internet connection. Little wonder this poor firm had so many problems.

Thankfully they found a reputable provider and have now been working seamlessly in the cloud ever since.

3. Reliance on Internet connection
Cloud products rely almost entirely on the Internet. Naturally when data is stored in a different location from where it is accessed, this is to be expected.

Unfortunately some areas have either poor connection speeds or suffer from intermittent performance problems.

A colleague of mine once told me of what he called the E36 cloud test. This was his test for determining whether a cloud product was worth purchasing.

The E36 is the name of the bus he catches to work. This bus traverses a number of mobile phone towers between his house and the office. He would launch the product on his laptop while still at home and commence using it. He would then take it with him and continue to work on the bus, right up until he arrived at the office. If he was able to work solidly from desk to desk, the product received his tick of approval.

Great cloud products accommodate a lack of a good Internet connection.

Avoiding the Pitfalls

1. Research your Provider
Research your providers’ history. How long have they been in business? Are they a big business with lots of resources?

Always ask where your data is kept. The location should always comply with your regulatory bodies requirements.

Ask what security mechanisms are in place. Is the data in a secure facility? Is the data encrypted? Is there banking level security? The only suitable answer to all of these questions is YES.

Most providers can provide you with statistics on uptime. Great providers will make these available to the public as a show of confidence.

For real peace of mind, ask you provider if your data is stored in compliance with US-EU and US-Swiss Safe Harbour principles.

2. Use a product with a Local Cache
Great products will store data locally on your computer so that you can continue to work when you are offline, also known as a local cache.

This is a safeguard against Internet outages or poor connections.

3. Use a reputable Internet Service Provider (ISP)
The best cloud software is designed to work with a modest Internet connection. In this day and age, there is no better substitute for an unreliable ISP than finding a good one.

Unplanned Internet downtime is very costly. Be sure to research your ISP and check its service maps. Such maps are usually available on a good ISP’s website.

The money you save on your server would be well spent on investing in a great service from a great ISP.

4. The E36 test
If you’re still unsure, take the E36 test!

You can also visit www.leap.co.uk for more information.

It’s not the size that counts – the future is bright for small firms

4 September 2014 By LEAP

In my experience in practice, there is a relationship between a person’s wealth and their concern for their own and other people’s rights as citizens. The poorer people are, the more important their rights are to them. In some cases it is all they have. And who do they turn to help them? In most cases they will turn to a lawyer in a small law firm on the corner or above the dry cleaner or near the station. Random selection it may be, but looking to the only profession that can offer real help.

This presents a huge challenge for those lawyers who must walk the tricky path between financial sustainability and the natural feeling that so many lawyers have that they owe something back and should spend some of their training and skill for the betterment of society at large in the form of pro bono or legal aid.

It is one of the oddities of our societies that the annual Pro Bono law awards always seem to be won by the well-funded pro bono firm of a large law firm, rather than to one of the thousands of lawyers in small law firms around the country doing ‘coal face’ pro bono work every day of the week. This huge contribution to society goes largely unheralded.

Some are able to get legal aid funding for some of the work, but legal aid budgets are shrinking and it will become progressively harder to maintain financial viability relying on the legal aid – it will become essential to have a good flow of private work too.

So what is the answer for small law firms? They need to be efficient, do fairly from all private work, and to have a sensible informed discretion about what they can afford to give back to society.

Small firms are very different to large firms. Whilst a large firm can often be rewarded for inefficiency because it can record and bill time so easily, small firms must be efficient to survive and prosper.

Great technology is actually the only way to achieve this.

A lawyer recently commented to me that she did not think that technology provided much productivity advantage. The question I posed to her was how many typists she thought she would need if the firm did not have Microsoft Word. Of course she had never thought about it that way because she has never practiced law without Microsoft Word. But those of us who can remember the day, and have observed progress over the years, know that 20 years ago a busy partner in a small firm kept 3 typists busy, whereas today it would probably take 3 busy lawyers to keep one para-legal busy. This is solely attributable to technology.

The need for small firms to be efficient grows daily. Many firms are stuck using old inefficient technology because in their word it ‘does the job’. Well actually it doesn’t. They are running inefficiently and have to work harder to survive and prosper. It is more difficult for them to give back to society. The truth often is that it is easier to continue doing what we have done, than to go through the disruption of pain.

So if you are a firm that wants to have balance, you will find it much easier if you also have the technology that allows you to. Cloud practice management is now cheaper than ever before – you no longer have to spend money on servers, backups and security as all of these concerns will be the responsibility of your software provider. With great document production systems, access to the proven intellectual; property contained in pre-configured matter types suitable for small law firms, all integrated with the record keeping systems you need you can get up and running profitably. Because proper cloud software also provides mobility you will find that practising law can be less stressful because of the confidence you will have that you are increasing your income and lowering your costs.

Click here for more information about cloud technology.