Legal Technology Journal

This summer’s hot topic is virtualisation. Replacing physical servers with virtual ones offers almost infinite capability and flexibility as well as more office space, greener IT and reduced costs – less hardware to buy and recycle, and lower power consumption.

First we turn to a unique application of legal technology, which featured heavily at the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Al-Fayed. Martin Smith of Field Fisher Waterhouse, one of the solicitors to the inquest, explains how video links, real-time transcription and electronic document management systems were used to manage the enormous mass of evidence that still hits the headlines.

For law firms, however, technology needs to add value and support collective goals and priorities. We profile Herbert Smith’s CIO, George Kalorkoti, who brings his commercial experience to bear on transforming the firm’s information services to provide a consistent approach that supports and connects the firm’s growing number of international offices. He tells LTJ about MIS, an extremely effective system developed to give partners user-friendly access to management information.

Steve Sumner, IT director at Taylor Vinters, was one of my first interviewees as editor of LTJ. He promised me an update and he has been good to his word! I continue to be hugely impressed by the way Steve – another fan of virtualisation – is continually finding and combining innovative new technology to keep his firm ahead of the game.

Other case studies focus on growth. IT director Tim Dutton explains how the latest technology supports TLT Solicitors’ growing user community and extends the services it offers its clients. Kennedys uses virtualisation to speed up new office openings and Penny Sargent outlines Taylor Wessing’s comprehensive CRM roll-out, which links together an impressive number of useful applications. Chris Petrie, IT director at Stephenson Harwood, has managed an extensive overhaul of the firm’s entire IT system by building and coordinating a team of external experts to extend his relatively small – and hard-working – in-house team.

IT is also about bringing together people and ideas. Web 2.0 has finally hit the mainstream. Another regular contributor, Damien Behan, IT director at Brodies, recently launched his own blog. In our cover story, he outlines his practical approach to social software, which can be even more effective within an organisation than it is on the internet and explains how internal blogs, forums and wikis break down barriers to knowledge sharing in the comparative safe environment of the workplace.

I too have ventured into the virtual community. I recently attended a roundtable debate organised by NetworkMP. There were superb presentations from Phil Walker from Capgemini, Josh Bottomley from LexisNexis and legal technology guru Professor Richard Susskind on how social networking is transforming legal services. But it was strategic consultant and expert blogger Jon Ingham who inspired me to revive my dormant LinkedIn account. I have also joined the Legal IT Professionals Group, so there are now more ways of getting in touch with me if you have projects or experiences that you’d like to share. Of course, I can still be reached by e-mail – it’s always good to hear from you.

Joanna Goodman