By James Boxell
Legal publisher Butterworths is teaming up with British Telecom (BT) to develop a combined Internet service that will offer secure document exchange and a single point of access for a wide range of online legal information.
The two companies are hoping the joint venture, Legalconnect, will be the first step in creating a substantial 'virtual legal community' on the Web, which will operate under the Butterworths and BT brand names.
Brian Green, business manager of BT's Internet and multimedia services division, said the decision to join forces with Butterworths was made after a series of nationwide focus group meetings had revealed an unmet demand among small- and medium-sized firms for packaged online legal services.
"Lawyers were crying out for a secure document transfer system, which is what BT brings to the equation," Green said. "We have the technical expertise and customer support to provide this. They also wanted a good integrated way to access legal information."
According to Green, BT and Butterworths plan to expand the service into other areas once the system is fully operational. Other focus group requests included online conferencing tools for interest groups in the legal community and electronic document archiving and storing.
Butterworths electronic publishing director Ivan Darby said the service was "just the beginning".
"This is about getting communities together to share information easily between themselves. Lawyers are culturally ready for this – anybody who is serious about business must see that the future is on the Internet," he said.
Darby said the system would give smaller and medium-sized firms access to similar library, know-how and communication resources as the big City firms.
The secure document exchange system will use 128-bit encryption technology, which is used by banks for commercial and credit card transactions. Currently, US arms smuggling legislation only allows the export of 56-bit encryption tools, while hackers can reportedly crack a 90-bit encryption code in a day for $2,500.
The Butterworths/BT Legalconnect service will also provide
digital certificates on documents that guarantee the identity of the sender.
Legalconnect will initially be piloted by a number of personal injury firms in West Yorkshire, and should become nationally available in the second quarter of 1999. Pricing details are not yet available.