Legal Technology Journal

17 October 2008  - London - Wilson Browne, one of the largest East Midlands law firms, has become one of the firstlegal practices in the UK to link LexisNexis Visualfiles M2 matter managementsolution deployed at the firm, directly with the LexisNexis Butterworths (LNB)online service.

M2 LNB, this new, innovative and integrated solution, has streamlined file management around research, document management and time recording. It is providing fee earners at Wilson Browne immediate access to business critical information and up todate reference material, delivering speed, efficiency and productivity benefits. This solution has also reduced the need for dictation by fee earnersto secretaries.

LexisNexisButterworths is the largest, most accurate and comprehensive online legal, taxand research library in the UK.

With eight offices, over 64 lawyers spread across five practice areas, Wilson Browne's reliance on disparate online research systems and a traditional library, comprising hundreds of textbooks and periodicals, was no longer practical.  The amount of time previously spent on accessing different research systems and getting hold of the print titles has been dramatically cut by this move to comprehensive online services.

The LegalLibrary is now fully integrated into the firm's working practices and fee earners are able to access all the information they need from one site and almost immediately, without the need to leave their desks to find books. The installation of M2 LNB was so simple that took only five minutes.

According to the firm's ICT Director Gavin Harding, "In the past, our fee earners had to log-off from Visualfiles M2 to log-on to another system, and then vice versa," he says.  "It was complex, inefficient and slow. Now, with M2 LNB, they can easily jump from one system to the other because they are seamlessly integrated. Just as important, they can save the information they find into history as a precedent, meaning that it becomes a permanent element of a file for thebenefit of future users.

"In addition, when appropriate they can rapidly integrate the information into the documents they send clients, improving both the efficiency and the quality of the service they provide. This is resulting in cost efficiencies for clients too as fee earners are able to better utilise their time on more important case matters.

Tim Cheadle, UKGeneral Manager, LexisNexis Practice & Productivity Management, added, "All the feedback we have received on this new solution has been extremely positive. Whilst very simple, this integration provides immediate value to our customersby making legal content readily available to fee-earners at the point of need. This is the first step towards our vision of delivering a comprehensive, seamless, 'practice area-specific' working environment for lawyers, by combining our matter and case management solutions with our deep legal content and expertise"