Legal Technology Journal

Eclipse Legal Systems has landed global law firm giant DLA Piper and top 150 UK firm Harvey Ingram as new clients after being selected ahead of a number of competitors for its case management software.

DLA Piper, with over 3,700 lawyers in 25 countries, selected Yorkshire-based Eclipse’s Proclaim case management software for its expanding insurance team of around 105 staff.

After further analysis DLA Piper has also decided to roll the software out to its 40 fee earner financial litigation team, and is in the process of looking at similar requirements for its 12 fee earner post-completion real estate team.

The exact value of the deal is undisclosed but it was confirmed by DLA Piper that it is a six-figure sum.

The win is particularly significant for Eclipse, which recently announced a record first quarter of its 2008/9 financial year, as it would not normally count a global firm of DLA’s size among its client base.

DLA applications manager David Eaglesfield said: “The big difference for Eclipse is that we are a much larger law firm than they would usually see and the challenges of integrating with our practice management system are that much greater.”

Case management systems are new to DLA Piper, which more often deals in large cases and transactions that do not fit within a predictable pattern. However the firm’s insurance team deals with higher volume and lower margin work and the firm hopes the new software will significantly improve margins as well as the service to clients.

Eaglesfield said: “We found Eclipse very good to deal with in so much as if there are aspects of functionality of the product that don’t meet our requirements they have taken the time to enhance the product.”

Eclipse was chosen ahead of a number of suppliers and DLA Piper’s chief information officer Daniel Pollick said: “We followed a rigorous selection process which focused on functionality and value. In addition, we also had to be confident that the chosen vendor could demonstrate both ability and commitment in developing their product and supporting DLA Piper into the future.”

Meanwhile, Eclipse announced this week that Midlands-based top 150 UK law firm Harvey Ingram has also selected the Proclaim case management software for its personal injury team.