IT: Invest to progress

Law firm IT teams met to share their views on the key industry topics, agreeing IT investment is on the horizon. Caroline Grimshaw reports

IT professionals from the top 50 law firms are optimistic about the year ahead and are looking to make new investments, according to a roundtable discussion on 18 March 2010 looking at the key findings of the Legal Week Intelligence IT Report 2009, in association with Rekoop.

The group of 19 IT chiefs discussed the measures being taken to improve their green credentials and how client relationship management (CRM) systems fared under pressure in the downturn. They also considered the younger generation of digitally-advanced lawyers and how their relationship with IT is dramatically changing.

Budgeting

Many of those at the roundtable had received budget increases that were likely to bring them back on a par with pre-downturn years. Along with increases came the expectation of investment and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) IT director Janet Day observed: "There are only so many years you can stand still and then the cost of catching up will be disproportionate if you don't start re-investing." CRM and client-facing systems came under close scrutiny in 2009 when fee earners had more free time due to the downturn and were under more pressure to generate new business.

At Nabarro, IT director Andrew Powell put in a CRM system "at the bottom of the curve" and uptake has been good. Perhaps as a result of the economic climate, there does not appear to be a culture of secrecy among associates or partners in sharing client information - they generally see the value. Other firms including Travers Smith have re-launched their CRM systems over the last year, and Travers has linked it to Microsoft Outlook with some success.

The big question still remained: how do you sustain this momentum as and when fee earners become more stretched? At Nabarro, as an incentive to use the CRM system, expense claims are not entertained without an accompanying activity report. However, Travers head of IT Ann Cant said that this sort of measure had been discussed and rejected by the firm as a step too far.

The roundtable widely observed a sea change in the behaviour of younger associates who, partly under pressure from clients, are becoming aware of the effort they need to put in to benefit from the firm's systems and processes. At Bird & Bird, head of IT Karen Jacks said that associates are asking how they can achieve better matter profitability, estimating and price modelling. Meanwhile, BLP's Day commented: "Younger lawyers are saying they can't supply a proper estimate on the data they've got and for the first time in my working life they are asking for extra codes to be added to time sheets."

Older lawyers and partners are slower to embrace pricing and client-facing technology, but under pressure from clients to be more transparent or provide different models they are moving in the right direction.

The green agenda

Despite investment in IT taking a plunge in 2009, investment in green technology increased. According to Gartner research vice president Rakesh Kumar, the increase is down not only to political pressure but also to the growing relationship between energy efficiency and lowering costs.

"If you turn your PC off at night you save 35% of your energy consumption over a 24-hour period. Carry it out over a year on one PC and it's about an £800 saving. Multiply that by the number of desktops and PCs you have and it starts to add up," he said.

Pressure is also being exerted by clients, who expect to see a firm's green credentials in pitch documents. Linklaters global head of information systems strategy Paul White said: "Clients want to see not only what you're doing this month and this year but also a plan, and we're getting people together to work out a long-term plan."

As a result, partners are beginning to view the green agenda much more seriously. Clients also need to have a green credentials quote on their annual report and Kumar said: "I think lawyers are smart enough to see that there is cash to be made here."

Firms' green initiatives have galvanised staff but one area of continuing difficulty is cutting back on travel. This was not through lack of trying but from a feeling that, within the professional services arena, relationships have to be made and cemented by meeting in person.

Some international firms are already meeting remotely as it is impractical to fly across the globe for routine meetings. Withers director of operations Peter Gibbons and DLA Piper regional IT service manager Peter Halifax said that video conferencing and telepresence had been installed and is used every day - including for global board meetings - saving a flight a day. Linklaters' White also observed that younger associates are used to building relationships digitally and that the culture may change over time. But perhaps the biggest factor to affect travel is the growing cost, which may end up being prohibitive and forcing a change in culture.

Digital natives

In a Gartner survey conducted in New York among professionals including accountants and management consultants, it was found that technology was viewed as part of life and respondents saw no difference between using their BlackBerry for professional and social purposes.

Day said that the temptation would be to give staff an allowance to buy their own PC together with all associated software and maintenance. "In return we would provide a variety of supportable secure connection options with all the services they would need to function."

It was noted that BT has done precisely this for 85,000 staff. Kumar observed: "The budget will go down but people will be allowed the smart stuff - don't waste time on technical support so the value delivered will go up."

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