Legal Technology Journal

BigHand’s third generation mobile has won 49 new firms as clients since its release in September of this year. The total number of new individual users is 4348.

BigHand Mobile (Blackberry Edition) was formally announced by the digital dictation company only at the beginning of December after around two months of piloting it with existing clients.

Of the 49 firms 40 are law firms, with the results being heralded by the company as evidence of a shift in the industry from remote hardware to mobile technology.

BigHand’s client solutions director Jonathan Carter told Legal Technology Journal that the latest mobile edition aims to replicate the experience of working in an office. “What people are looking to achieve is a mobile desktop and want as close an experience on your phone as you could have on your PC”, he said.

The phone’s new capability includes live status updates on whether work is in progress, who is working on it and whether it has been completed. Users also have unlimited send options, enabling lawyers to send dictation to anyone from a secretary to a remote word processing department. Other workflow features mean the phone will remember multiple numbers already used to send transcripts, meaning lawyers no longer have to remember them.

All existing BigHand mobile customers will shortly be upgraded to the latest edition. Law firms to have signed up to the 2nd generation mobile include North West firm DWF, Australian firms Russell Kennedy and Arnold Bloch Leibler, Holland based KienhuisHoving, and Lind Jensen Sullivan & Peterson in the US.

Whereas digital dictation used to be the territory of criminal law firms, the latest indication is that commercial firms across the board are seeing the advantages of mobile dictation technology, including for their most junior members.

Carter said: “Some firms are actively trying to encourage fee earners and train trainees to use their voice, including using it as part of their induction course.

“Nearly the entire fee earning population [within our client firms] are using it; everyone who has access to secretarial support will be able to make use of it to a greater or lesser degree.”