Ian Brand Solicitors
January 6th, 2010
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Ian Brand Solicitors was founded in early 2004 by Ian Brand, a partner with 20 years? experience at a Top 10 South-East firm. Spurred on by the feeling that he could provide a fresh approach to meeting clients? property needs, Ian decided to leave the practice, forming his own specialist Conveyancing firm in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.
Following extensive research of the marketplace, Ian selected Eclipse Legal Systems as his core IT provider, sourcing his entire structure from the firm: Proclaim Case Management and Accounts software, a web presence, the FileView online case tracking system, and a hardware infrastructure. Proclaim provides a complete desktop solution to fee earner needs, fully integrating a powerful case management database with time recording, financials, diaries, document production and reporting. The system has played an integral role in the success of Ian Brand Solicitors ? Ian himself talks us through how Proclaim has enabled his practice to flourish:
Why did you initially select Proclaim?
Proclaim stood out as having the best blend of features that we required. Its case management and accounts systems are seamlessly integrated (other systems I looked at seemed to be rather ?glued together?), which means that all client and case information need only be entered into the system once and from there is instantly accessible. In addition, Proclaim?s document management and production facilities meant that we would be able to create standard documentation with just a single mouse click, and have complete on-screen case histories available at a glance.
What day-to-day benefits do you see from the system? How have these developed over time?
Right from the off, Proclaim stood out as intuitive and logical to use. Being able to completely centralise all data, and view, at-a-glance, the progress of our cases, proved to be a huge benefit. Workflow steps ensured that we maintained accuracy, and in-built reminders and task lists served to keep case progress on track and rule out error and oversights. These core benefits have served to grow in importance as we as a practice have expanded ? for all our new fee earners to have instant access to such an intuitive tool is invaluable!
What importance would you place on Proclaim in spurring your practice?s growth?
From our initial 2-user start, we now have close to 20 staff, all using Proclaim for their core daily fee-earning work. The system is extremely easy to pick up ? it?s by far the most intuitive piece of legal software I have used. Even when we have employed temporary staff, they have had no problem getting to grips with it.
The way in which Proclaim streamlines case progression is the key to taking on more business. It enables for a far greater case throughput ?per head? without losing overall quality. This quality of service is apparent to our clients, and has enabled us to pitch for more business from referrers and estate agents.
Indeed, tools such as Eclipse?s ?FileView? online case tracking system have helped us to win referrer business, as they not only benefit from the efficiency we can offer, but they are also able to access live case progression details via our website. The upshot is that they feel involved, informed, and confident in what we are doing.
Overall, the practice?s profits have quadrupled since 2004 ? a great statistic, and fabulous testament to Proclaim as a true productivity driver.
Have you been able to expand your services since Proclaim?s introduction?
Absolutely ? our portfolio now includes commercial property work, wills and probate, and landlord & tenant litigation in addition to our core sale /purchase offerings. Proclaim has been exceedingly simple to expand into these areas and is tremendously easy to pick up by the new staff we?re taking onboard.
What range of Eclipse products do you use?
We use everything that we reasonably can! As well as the case management software, we chose Eclipse?s Proclaim Accounts system to provide an all-in ?practice management? suite. All our server and PC hardware is provided by Eclipse, as is our website at www.ianbrand.co.uk and the FileView online case tracking system. The standard of support and backup from Eclipse has been nothing short of fantastic.
What are your future plans? How do you see your practice growing?
We have recently moved to new premises ? approximately twice the size of our original home, and with headroom to permit our planned growth of around 50% in the next 2 to 3 years. By using Proclaim to further streamline our work processes and remove time-sapping administration, we can continue to increase our case throughput, drive efficiencies, and take on more business.
On the 1st June 2007, we went as ?paperless? as is practicably possible. Of course, legislation demands that some paper correspondence is required, but we will be using Proclaim?s document scanning and storage facilities to the full. All incoming correspondence will be scanned into the relevant case history, providing a full on-screen summary of all in-out communications. Not only will this improve our speed of fee earner access to information, it will also reduce stationery, printing, copying, storage and postage costs. Clients and third parties will also benefit, since we will use email for the bulk of all our communications, thus making speed of delivery a core value. In conclusion, I have no hesitation in recommending Proclaim to my peers ? it is a true productivity tool, and stands some way ahead of other legal software systems I have seen.
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