Client extranet services are the focus of many online initiatives by major firms – and even chambers might soon be getting in on the act.
Clifford Chance is set to launch a "major expansion of NextLaw [the firm's online service] and a new extranet service" for its clients in September, according to IT manager Paul Greenwood. NextLaw was launched in 1998 and the firm announced a 'second phase' development of three knowledge-based online services in June. The third phase of product, expected in the autumn, aims to deliver a "broader range of online services".
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain is "half-way through the rollout" of Interaction, an off-the-shelf client relationship solution, said Lea Thompson, an IT consultant working at the firm. Thompson said the main concern was to get the system up and running as quickly as possible. "The project began in February, and now the first users are accessing information from six or seven different sources," she added. "Eventually, Interaction will enable us to provide case management information externally, via an extranet."
Liam Flanagan, marketing director of Tikit, which sells and installs Interaction in the UK, said: "Reynolds Porter Chamberlain is buying the product because of its marketing applications." But Flanagan predicts the full extranet service will not be available to clients until "some time in 2001″.
Masons is set to roll out a client extranet service powered by a content management system, or portal, from iManage. "The key issue as far as client service is concerned is the ability to collaborate and communicate effectively," said Kevin Connell, IT director of Masons. "Our portal will create and manage content so that it can be published to a website such as Masons.com, Out-law.com or a client's extranet site," he said. Out-law.com is a specific Masons initiative, geared to dotcom companies, start-ups and new media organisations. The uptake of its services in the month following its launch exceeded all expectations. Connell added: "What we plan to do in due course is to have iManage manage the content for Out-law." According to Connell, Masons chose the iManage system over its rivals, including Hummingbird, because of its flexibility, ease of customisation and "because we can get it up and running and be collaborating with clients swiftly".
KCH Barristers in Nottingham is the first chambers to develop an e-commerce framework that takes its website beyond "simply providing a brochure on the web", according to practice director Caroline Royston. The site encourages existing and potential clients to contact individual barristers direct by e-mail and to request estimates for work.
"It also provides an online enquiry form for clients to check the availability and book their chosen counsel outside working hours," she explained. "The Bar is in the position that solicitors were in three years ago – we have tended to lag behind on the client care side."
But the booking facility is not yet integrated with the chambers' diary system because of budgetary restraints and the need to change barristers' working culture slowly.
Royston predicts that a London-based chambers could launch such a client extranet within the next year.