Not the most dynamic 12 months for IT innovation in legal services but a handful of cases stand out. An outstanding example from the buy side of the profession comes from National Grid, which has established itself as one of the most successful UK companies at using technology to manage adviser relationships. While a number of companies have looked at similar initiatives – often with very mixed results – National Grid is way ahead of the pack, with its Microsoft Sharepoint document management system not only more sophisticated than rivals but fully operational.
From the spiritual home of technological innovation, Silicon Valley law firm Fenwick & West has produced a purpose-built e-discovery (e-disclosure) software tool dubbed FIND that has attracted attention beyond California. FIND has proven its worth in the discovery phases of several high-profile trials – dramatically cutting down the number of documents involved in discovery and enabling users to review documents more efficiently.
