Doncaster firm invests in the latest Legal Software & Hardware Technology from Linetime
21st August 2006
Dickinson Wood the well known Doncaster law firm has invested in the Liberate Legal Software System from Leeds based legal software specialists Linetime, following a first meeting at the Law Society's Legal IT exhibition in London.
Dickinson Wood’s client services and accounts were first computerised in the mid 1990’s, however it was evident to the partners and to Linda Baughan (Practice Manager) that their existing system, while satisfactory in many respects, did not provide them with the ability to grow and in particular did not allow them to take advantage of the many, rapidly developing, e-conveyancing opportunities, restricting their ability to take on new business and hence constraining their overall profitability.
While at the London exhibition Linda and her team had five individual demonstrations of potential new systems from which they short-listed three that met their requirements: AIM, Norwell and Linetime. The result was unanimous and an order was placed with Linetime for a complete IT solution including the Liberate Practice and Case Management systems, plus additional modules and a range of new hardware including servers, PC’s and flat screens for all 35 users.
Dickinson Wood intends to take advantage of as many of the latest developments to come out of Linetime. As Linda said, “Remote web access is critical to the growth of our Conveyancing department and hence to the firm, so to have installed Liberate Online, possibly the best e-conveyancing system on the market, is obviously a big advantage. In addition, the Linetime interface to the Solicitor’s Tracking and Reporting System (STARs) has enabled the firm to gain massive benefits as we improve our conveyancing case workload whilst reducing costs. This virtuous circle ensures that as we become more efficient by improving the manner and speed of reporting to the various mortgage providers, we automatically improve our chances of being allocated more cases.”
Other future developments within Dickinson Wood include the implementation of a Liberate Family Case Management system as well as a similar system for Probate matters.
Linda also mentioned the fact that “We are keeping a close eye on the whole area of the proposed introduction of Housing Information Packs (HIPs) and how this will affect our business. Fortunately the Linetime Development Director is also at the leading edge of this potential new development within the market and we are confident that if any firm has their ‘finger on the button’ so to speak, then it’s Linetime.”
Linetime has a reputation for an excellent and comprehensive accounts package and I’m pleased to say that it has. This element of modern legal software systems is often overlooked as being rather mundane, but if Liberate hadn’t had an integrated solid accounting module with associated easy to produce reports we wouldn’t have even short-listed it. Another great benefit of choosing Linetime was the ease and simplicity with which they achieved all the data conversion that was necessary to move us to the new system. We closed down the old system on the Friday evening and were up and running with Liberate by Monday morning, with all the data transfers and conversions being done at their Leeds support centre over just one weekend. You can imagine just how important it was that we experienced absolutely no interruptions to our business. Once again Linetime proved what a thoroughly professional company they are.
While I’m talking of professionalism I must mention their attitude to training. When I obtained their initial quotation I did question whether they had ‘over egged the pudding’ with respect to training. However upon re-reading the Law Society’s Software Solutions Guide and talking it through with the Linetime people I came to understand that it was only by experiencing a period of extensive training that we were going to be able to get the maximum benefit from our investment. Once again Linetime’s advise and guidance has proven to be of great benefit as we gain more and more benefits from the system in terms of improved efficiency as the days and weeks pass by.”
Background
Formed in 1990 Dickinson Wood employs over 30 staff and specialises in services for the fee paying individual, split approximately 75% Conveyancing, 17% Matrimonial and 8% Wills & Probate.
New business is generated primarily from past clients, referrals and from the firm’s excellent reputation throughout the region.
For more information contact:
Keith Hutton
Linetime Limited
Moorfield Close
Leeds LS19 7YA
T: 0113 250 0020
F: 0113 250 0524
www.linetime.co.uk
E: info@linetime.co.uk
Liberate from Linetime is a complete suite of products consisting of:
Practice Management
Case Management
Debt Recovery Software
Contact Marketing
MyView.Net
Liberate On-Line
ImageRouter
Liberate Express - Matter Management