CONNECTING LAW FIRMS
“That’s why many law firms employ on- site AV experts and invest in automated systems that continuously check the status of equipment so a problem like a faulty camera can be identified and fixed swiftly, oftentimes before anyone else has even realised there’s a problem.” These problems don’t just have to be technological. As with all jobs, employees have to be able to provide a service wherever they are. Gareth Preece, Chief Operating Officer of Doherty Associates, and former Clyde&Co CTO, said that a lot of law firms are focussing on how to get the most out of the “business support staff” that run the day-to-day operation of the business, rather than practice law. “If you look at the lawyers, there have been mechanisms in place to record their activity in six minute chunks for a long time. The question is: How can law firms do that with business support staff, who traditionally sat in an office five days a week. “That’s not an unusual challenge, most organisations have said that they’ve been faced with this problem. What has happened is law firms have started forcing the handle on returning to work, so it’s not unusual now to see business support teams three days a week because the perception is they’re not as productive as they used to be. “It was great when the accounts department were there when I was in the office, I could just go and see them. It was great when the IT department was there when I had a problem because I could go and see them.” Although the “business staff” are drawing the attention of IT departments throughout the legal industry, that doesn’t exempt Lawyers from the problems that arise from remote working. Preece added that, depending on the type of law, working from home can be difficult for those in the legal industry, due to the security measures they need to put in place. “From a system point of view, lawyers can work almost anywhere because they’ve relied on things like Citrix and VPNs for years. Where they’ve had problems is when they’ve modernised to Cloud, they’ve started enabling BYOD, but giving me the ability to enrol my home computer on the corporate network is a problem because the security posture changes overnight. “Nobody has been ready for that, particularly law firms who tend to be fairly risk
averse. Now VPNs are far more prolific than before because employees have laptops, whereas only the lawyers tended to have them before. Even then, lawyers are used to practising law face to face, what they want to do is spend time with people they are not used to working remotely. “It has been quite a hard job for lawyers to practise law remotely, but I would say the productivity of the business support teams is their biggest concern.”
CONTINUED
James Green Managing Director
oneadvanced.com
Broaching the subject of technological change can be a tricky thing to do, but the advantages for the law firm are large.
Modernising Broaching the subject of technological change can be a tricky thing to do, but the advantages for the law firm are large. Now that pretty much everyone is in a hybrid working model, those face-to-face meetings are becoming less regular, the binders full of documents have been replaced by an iPad, and ultimately, employee lives are improving. These improvements have come in the form of cloud technologies, as Stout explains, the benefits suit the image-driven nature of the industry, as well as the practical necessity of the work that needs to be done. “Law firms are increasingly interested in cloud-based applications,” said Stout. “Whether you’re trying to connect with an SME from another location or you’re trying to connect remotely with a client, the ability to have those clear video and phone calls over the internet without the packet loss and jitter, streamline the process. “It not only makes it a better experience for the client or for the legal professional but also just adds credibility to the firm if your technology works seamlessly.”
Alex Crewdson Director of Sales for Stratgic Accounts
kinly.com
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