Keystone Law's William Robins argues that when it comes to upgrading law firms' IT systems, a bespoke solution is best

Albert Einstein once said: "If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions." While IT strategy is neither rocket science nor particle physics, the same truths apply. 

The issue of understanding the problem is the main role of today's IT director. And no longer is this solely a question of purchasing technology that satisfies the required technical specifications. 

On the contrary, it is vital to select a solution that both integrates with the firm's IT estate and, most importantly, works well in the context of the firm's culture: an unpopular IT solution is no solution at all.

In early 2011, the management team of Keystone Law sat down to grapple with the challenge of a substantial IT upgrade. It was the archetypal 'nice problem to have'. Strong demand from both clients and prospective lawyers with client followings seeking to join meant that Keystone's small central office team of (then) 12 people was becoming stretched by the demands being placed on them by the firm's (then) 70 lawyers.  

While arguably supporting 70 fee earners with 12 support staff may be regarded by some as a feat in itself, Keystone had two distinct paths it could take. On the one hand, it could continue its use of off-the-shelf packages and increase staffing levels to meet demand. On the other hand, it could invest in technology in order to increase the capacity of its central office staff without increasing headcount.

Understanding the problem

At first glance, the problem Keystone was facing was not unlike those faced by any other growing law firm – and there has always been a series of credible legal IT vendors ready to sell their particular product as the solution.  

However, first glances are too often deceptive and seldom constitute the basis for making a strategic investment to support the next phase of a firm's growth.

Keystone's requirement was for an IT system that would not only allow administration and fee earning to take place more efficiently and in greater volumes across its BYOD (bring your own device) IT estate, but more importantly to ensure that any legal IT solution was aligned to the firm's flat all-consultant structure, progressive attitudes and collegiate culture.

A quick survey of today's legal market reveals variety such as never before. While it is true that the partnership model remains dominant, market forces and client demand have driven an explosion of other business models: virtual firms, alternative business structures, factory firms, multi-disciplinary practices, legal boutiques, franchises – the list goes on. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that none of the established legal vendors offered a solution that met all of Keystone's needs.

When to go bespoke?

The lack of an out-of-the-box option combined with management's desire to create systems that would not just increase the firm's capacity, but would allow Keystone to scale very considerably without increasing day-to-day overheads meant that choosing to grow the central office team was not a viable option. The decision to produce a bespoke IT platform was not just the first choice – it was the only choice.

By definition, bespoke solutions vary in the same way that law firm models vary. Keystone opted for a blend of customising its current practice management package (TikitTFB's Partner for Windows) and overlaying on top of that a completely new intranet created to Keystone's very exacting requirements by a web design agency better known for its work in the consumer space with the likes of McDonald's, Boschendal Wines and British American Tobacco.  

This blended approach was intended to capture the best of both worlds: on the one hand, it built on the industry expertise of TikitTFB's Partner platform and improved that with customised work flows for a series of routine administrative tasks taking place behind the scenes; on the other hand, an extremely user-friendly and intuitive web-based interface ensures that all lawyers have the information they need at their fingertips.

Advantages

The development process of Keystone's augmented practice management system and the launch of its web-based intranet (which acts as the interface with all the firm's systems) took 18 months and Keystone management now have TikitTFB and their web designers on an indefinite retainer to carry out monthly improvements.

The firm has indeed been able to grow as hoped and now stands at 126 partner-level lawyers with its central office headcount rising by only four, of which two have unconnected marketing roles.  

Furthermore, the time taken to conduct administration has been reduced. For example, files can be opened in minutes, with conflict checks and engagement letter creation taking just a few further minutes.

Money movements from the client and office accounts can be made in real time. Lawyers can see live data on everything to do with their own financial performance from billings to cash collections and from time recorded to numbers of clients/matters.

While the focus of Keystone's new IT architecture is very much on supporting fee earners and centralising administration and compliance, some of the more novel features in Keyed-In (the name of Keystone's intranet) show how closely the project has remained aligned to the firm's values: its 'Currently Working on' tool provides Facebook-style internal social media interaction while its 'Polling Station' provides an area where its lawyers vote on a range of matters to them. 

Our management attributes this success to the following factors:

• Central management should drive the project and ensure that nothing compromises the end-user experience. The resulting systems must be intuitive, closely aligned with the firm's culture and genuinely represent the simplest way of performing a task – failure to do so will depress take-up and cause users to circumvent the new systems;

• All fee earners should buy into the result. The best way to achieve this is to take their views into account during the build phase and provide regular updates to all;

• IT directors should not be afraid to consider non legal sector offerings – lack of industry expertise and fresh perspectives are two sides of the same coin;

• It should not be rushed. It is better to produce an excellent bug-free solution in the fullness of time than to launch in beta and have users frustrated by teething issues;

• Build into the system a range of analytical tools and use these and regular feedback requests continually to improve the system;

• Don't be afraid to customise your IT; the benefits of a solution that meets all your needs outweigh the costs of the work and increased maintenance; and

• Keep as much flexibility as possible. The more IT systems, types of software and working styles the solution is ultimately compatible with, the better.

Clients' demands on lawyers to do more with less are here to stay.  Law firm management needs to reduce fee earner and non fee earner administration as far as possible. Using technology to take administration away from lawyers and, in many cases to take it away even from back-office staff, dramatically reduces overheads and drives efficiencies.  

However, it also delivers the double benefit of allowing lawyers to reconnect with the job they trained for, unfettered by layers of administration and in so doing to offer clients a closer, more personal and altogether better service.

William Robins (pictured) is a corporate and commercial lawyer at Keystone Law.