No option for Law Firm

On Friday I got a simple explanation of how IDOL fits together with other applications (like WorkSite and Zantaz). I was so simple and obvious that after a few days mulling it over I can’t believe I’d got confused. But for those new to world of IDOL I hope this little video of the explanation I got may be a light bulb moment for you too!

Also it may be worth mentioning that this video was put together in about 10 minutes! Take a look at the site http://www.xtranormal.com/ it’s a great tool for quickly putting together an animated video to explain things.

Workspaces. They’ve been around for quite a while and I’ve thought about doing a post on what they are since starting the blog. The aim being to try and easily explain the concept of workspaces and libraries within the Autonomy iManage WorkSite document management system (DMS). So basically removing the tech speak and explaining what they are in “real life” terms. I was going to title this post “The Dummies guide to Workspaces”, but apart from possibly getting sued for copyright infringement I figured the concept of Workspaces and libraries are terms that to be fair aren’t that easy to grasp. So, here it is. Let me know in the comments if it hits the mark.

Let’s start at the top. That green blob in Outlook under FileSite or the application called DeskSite on your desktop. The document management system (DMS) itself, think of this as your firm. In a paper world this is where everything is stored. DMS = Your firm

The Office = The DMS

Now inside your office or firm you can have many of Filing cabinets. This is the place where your documents are stored. In the DMS these are pretty much what are known as the libraries. Library = Filing cabinets

You can group these in logical ways just like filing cabinets, a row for Litigation, a row for Real Estate or maybe you just have a bank of cabinets for all the firms clients. It’s exactly the same for your libraries in the DMS. You might have one way of grouping them, you may have many. e.g. Litigation Library = Litigation filing cabinets

Filing Cabinets = Libraries in the DMS

Right what’s in the cabinets? Yes, files and typically lots of them! In the DMS this is known as a Workspace. Workspace = File

Workspace = Matter File

Your firm will probably have hundreds or thousands of these files. Some of which you’re working on, some of which are just stuck in the filing cabinets (let’s not touch on those in archive today!). How do you organise those you’re working on? This is where your desk comes in! Your desk, the place where you put your files. In the DMS this is like the list of files under “My Files” (you may have it labelled My Matters or My Woirkspaces). My Files/My Matters/My Workspaces = Your desk

My Desk = My Files/My Matters/My Workspaces

This list can be changed by removing files or adding new ones. Remember though you’re just using these files, they aren’t just yours. Update them and all the office can see the updates. To add these in the DMS you would use a search to find the workspace (file) and add it to your My Files, in the real world you would go and get it from the filing cabinet and put it on your desk. Same concept.

Back to the file. Within the paper file you can arrange the documents with tabs and/or folders. Within the workspace (file) in the DMS  you can do the same. Tabs = Tabs, Folders = Folders

Tabs and Folders

Within tabs you can store folders, within folder documents and emails.

Finally that thing called “Subscribe” what on earth is that? This is basically the ability to look at your colleagues desk and see their files!

For those that struggle with the concept of workspaces, hopefully that will make some sense. From here you can read on and learn about how you can apply security to these workspaces (files) (worksite security pt1 and worksite security pt2).

Such a dull title, but that was the title of one of my final year modules at University. The textbook is probably in the loft somewhere. It was all about designing applications to be intuitive and easy to use (a much harder job when everything was DOS based!).

A couple of things over the last week got me thinking again about the design of applications from a user perspective and how important this is.

First off was the launch of Windows Phone 7 Series.

Clearly Microsoft finally “got it” with this release. They went back to the drawing board and designed something from a users perspective. Grouping things together in a logical human way (rather than technical grouping). Take a look at the video over at MSDN.

Second though was the interface with the most potential, Microsoft Live Labs Pivot.

Basically it is an interface into huge amounts of information. It allows you to slice up information in different ways, allowing you to go from huge amounts of data down to small amounts and back out in logical and connected ways.

It’s quite difficult to explain how this works using text, so take a look at the video over at the Microsoft Pivot site – http://getpivot.com/

In a law firm the possibilities for this are huge.

Law firms have huge amounts of data in documents and emails that this kind of interface would be perfect for. Imagine this being the main interface for Outlook or your document management system. You could slice up your emails quickly to find the information you were after. Or slice up your documents to collect together specific types of agreements, in specific jurisdictions etc.

On the developer page there are a number of challenges. One of which is a front end to SharePoint. I’m going to put my own challenge out there for any legal software developer to front end Autonomy iManage’s WorkSite, imagine this being the user interface of DeskSite!

Is the recession over? From a UK perspective I guess the answer is “just about!”

So as we are now on a slow road to recovery when will the good times return? Well I’m going to put my neck out and say never!

At least not in a return to what seemed to be the halcyon days between 2006 and 2008. My thoughts are these will be seen as the pinnacle of law firm revenue and profits per partner and I honestly think they’re gone for good.

Agree/Disagree? Let’s take a look at the graphs for big law UK (the figures are an average pulled from the top 20, to give a better picture of BigLaw firms generally). *click the images to get a larger size*

BigLaw

The growth is starting to slow, but is probably dipping in real terms. Due to the top 20’s truly global nature, their growth will probably look as if it is continuing for a few years as they receive greater revenue due to their size increases and global markets.

A better picture of the plateau being passed is to look at the picture for the mid sized firms. 2008 being the peak, the revenues are starting to fall.

Mid Size

But this is just a small dip isn’t it? Once we’re out of the recession things will move upwards again. Hmmm, if you look at the Profits per partner, the picture is much worse. And after all isn’t profit the real indication of the “good times”.

BigLaw

Mid Size

But again isn’t this just a dip until the markets pick up again?

I don’t think so. There are a number of factors why I think this drop off post 2008 isn’t just a dip which law firms will bounce back from.

• The move from the old style bill by the hour and for those that continue to bill by the hour, the pressure to keep costs low. As one IT Director put it “Yes we’re looking at alternatives to billable hours… but only because we have to”. I can’t see us not having to, clients will continue to make us!
• The UK (and US) markets are pretty saturated. There isn’t much room for growth. The introduction of the Legal Services Act 2007 as well as further commoditisation of legal work will put more pressure on fees.
• The costs were slashed across the board in most firms through 2008-2009. And still profits were down! All those expenses that have been deferred (and I bet there is a fair bit) will start eating into future years revenues.

And there are many challenges of the recession and economic downturn yet to come.

• Although many firms this recession have been sensible and avoided over enthusiastic job cutting, there have been plenty of pay freezes. This could be a drain on costs in the coming years as staff want that raise! The problem will happen first in the support depts., the staff there have a market for their skills outside legal. So the market could dictate a rise in salaries even if legal would ideally like to keep wages low.

As the graphs above show it’s having less of an affect on BigLaw at the moment, but as competition grows fierce in the mid sized firms, the BigLaw could see their home markets coming under more and more pressure. It’s only so long before BigLaw can rely on the non-UK revenues to keep the growth going, eventually you run out of places to grow!

So what’s my point? That Legal is a basket case and lawyers will have to get used to smaller pay packets?

No, I’m not saying is that Legal is a basket case, just that the peak has been reached. From here on in the competition will start to hot up, but as with any mature business this is good news for the client and good news for innovation. There will be winners and losers, but we’re not going to see all the top firms continue to grow. Overall the average will plateau, but within there will be firms that really increase revenue and profits and there will be those that really drop!

We’re in for a really interesting time in legal, seeing how firms change, how they innovate and from a personal point of view whether they really embrace IT and start using it as an enabler of change rather than a utility.

After a lot of talk of this happening and a few false starts, I think we’re now in for interesting times!

A lawyer sits in an airport lounge, pulls out the iPad and connects to the firms document management system (DMS) through the Autonomy iManage App in the AppStore. She flicks through the correspondence folder, checks her teams filed emails and reads up on the clients comments to the agreement draft. She then decides to dictate some amendments to her secretary using the built-in microphone. Launching the agreement from the DMS, she highlights the paragraph needing amendment and also launches the BigHand dictation app ……

<Fail> No multitasking on the iPad!

There have been plenty of posts why the iPad falls short some I agree with some I don’t. But as a device for lawyers or other business usage I think it’s a case of “not there yet”.

As well as lack of multitasking, I think for a tablet to be a great tool for a lawyer it would need to replace the touch keyboard with a stylus/pen and good handwriting recognition. Marking up a document on a tablet with a pen surely is the “revolutionary” vision Mr Jobs?

It’s not far off and to be fair to Apple I never thought it would be a business tool, it’s a consumer device. But as a consumer I’m personally not convinced there is a gap between the smartphone and the netbook. I prefer the former on the move and if I wanted something a little more the later would be more convenient (and less tied into the Apple eco system!)

So after all the hype, the multitude of blog responses (including this one) I’m left with the feeling that with the iPad Apple have maybe left us with another :-

The Apple Newton

“magical truly revolutionary product” – Steve Jobs on the iPad

Perhaps it’s just too early for the technology that will make the tablet a real killer device. I think there is a gap (especially in business) for tablet PC’s, but the revolution will only come when it’s as convenient as a pad of paper or a paper magazine!