Information audits - a strategic tool for law firms Posted Monday, April 26, 2004 by admin

Introduction

This document is a guideline on the purpose, value and benefits of conducting an information audit in your firm.

It argues that there is a direct link between best practices in information and knowledge management and the profitability, competitiveness and efficiency of your law firm.

Conducting an information audit is the first step in examining whether the information and knowledge that resides in your firm is working for you and whether improvements are necessary in order to increase your efficiency, profitability and competitiveness and in the legal market place.

The key project steps and components of a typical information audit are outlined - all of which can be tailor-made for the individual requirements of your firm.

What is an information audit?

An information audit is a thorough examination and review of the information and knowledge that exists within your firm. It is an essential component in formulating your firm’s strategy for development and is one of the first steps in formulating a knowledge management strategy.

Why conduct an information audit?

No one doubts the importance of conducting regular audits and reviews of the finances of a law firm. Keeping abreast of your costs and fee-income and looking at ways to increase profit margins is vital in order to compete in the legal market place. Ensuring that your firm has best practices in financial management is an integral component of law firm management.

One common denominator amongst law firms, regardless of size, is that information and the knowledge of your legal staff is your most valuable asset. Without these assets you would not be in a position to offer a high quality service to your clients, to win new business or to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Conducting an audit of the information and knowledge that resides on your network, in your filing cabinets or in the heads of your staff should also be an integral component of law firm management.

The information audit as a strategic management tool

Legal information is the main ingredient in the formulation of up to date, accurate and reliable advice for your clients. Client, marketing and business information is also important as without it you would not be in a position to find and win new clients, or even retain your existing ones!

But it is the knowledge of your staff that is the lifeblood of your firm. While it may seem simpler to concentrate solely on the management of your firm’s finances, to ignore the management of information and knowledge management principles is naïve (at best) and imprudent (at worst)!

Information and knowledge needs to be managed in order to ensure that you are achieving a return on investment in the staff that you recruit and in the information products that you generate internally or purchase from third parties. It is an area that is sometimes overlooked by partners, who may be aware that they should be paying more attention to this area, but tend to concentrate on the ‘bottom line’ ie generation of fees. To ignore the management of information and knowledge is a mistake as there is a direct link between the efficient management of knowledge and information and ‘the bottom line’. By way of example, have you ever found yourself in the following situations?

· You know that one of your legal staff, who left two months ago, drafted a complex piece of advice for a client. You are dealing with a similar issue for a new client and you need to see the advice your colleague drafted before she left. But where is this stored on your network? You may find that you have to start your research from scratch without the benefit of your ex-colleague’s previous research and experience.

· You don’t know where a temporary secretary has stored correspondence on your network that you now need urgently for your client.

· You are tendering for a new piece of work and urgently need access to updated staff CVs and resumes of recent work carried out by your firm. You discover that there is no standardised bank of CVs and that you have to spend valuable time locating information on recent work carried out by your colleagues and updating and standardising staff CVs. (This assumes that you have procedures for alerting you to new tender notices and haven’t missed out on valuable work opportunities!)

· Are you sure that you are up to date with the latest legislation and case law? You find out that one of the cases you relied upon in drafting an advice was qualified or overturned by the courts a month previously, or that a piece of legislation has been amended, exposing your firm to unjustified risk.

· You are unaware that a colleague has been trying to win a new client of whom you have knowledge or have acted for in a previous position.

These are just a few examples of common experiences that can be alleviated through the implementation of sound information and knowledge management practices, thus reducing your risk, and improving the efficiency and response rate of your firm.

Case study

The following case study illustrates how the information audit can assist in improving the finances and efficiency of your firm:

In 1990, a Dublin law firm employed 20 solicitors. Due to an increase in work (as a result of the growth of inward investment in Ireland in the early to late 1990s) its current legal staff has expanded to 70. While the firm has addressed issues such as staffing and financial management systems, it has not addressed the framework within which staff share and manage their collective knowledge. In order to respond more efficiently to client demands, some of the partners realise that they need to manage the internal work product and knowledge of their staff in a more creative manner, so as to reduce duplication of research and promote high quality and consistent legal advice. Two partners are sceptical about the returns on investment to be made from knowledge management and are sceptical about the relationship between knowledge management practices and the ‘bottom-line’ ie fee-income.

In order to demonstrate the value of knowledge management in its most simple form, the ‘believing’ partners decide to conduct an information audit. One of the areas covered by the audit is document management. In a questionnaire to legal staff, they request them to calculate the time they spend (in a given week) locating precedents (such as precedent contracts for sale, warranties, indemnities, share option agreements) in the context of the work underway on behalf of clients.

On analysis of the questionnaires even the ‘believing’ partners are surprised at the time spent by legal staff on this task. They calculate the loss of earnings to the firm on the basis of an average charge-out rate of €200 per hour and a 45 week working year. The aggregate time spent by solicitors locating precedents on a weekly basis amounts to 34 hours (equivalent to 218 working days per year devoted specifically to this task) and represents a loss of fee-income to the partnership in the region of €306,000 per annum.

When the partners present these figures to their colleagues, the ‘sceptic partners’ can fully appreciate the ‘bottom-line’ impact of not addressing knowledge management in their firm. The partnership makes a collective decision to develop a knowledge management strategy within which the processes for sharing and capturing the knowledge of its staff can be managed to increase the efficiency of their firm.

The information audit is the first step towards implementing information and knowledge management best practices in your firm. Regardless of your size, it is a vital and useful tool to gauge how successfully you are managing one of your most valuable assets.

Information audits and IT

Carrying out an information audit or implementing a knowledge management strategy does not mean that you will spend large amounts of money on IT or software. Rather, it will help you to identify what, if any, IT is required. In many instances, simple procedures and new work practices are the first step in remedying any efficiencies identified through the audit.

If investment in IT is required, the information audit will help you to identify the appropriate level of investment, give you increased awareness of exactly what it is you need from IT and where in your firm it should be deployed (a good position to be in when dealing with IT and software vendors). How often have you heard of firms making large IT investments and being dissatisfied with the results? Mostly, this occurs because there is a lack of understanding of the benefits of IT and what exactly it will do for your firm. Make no mistake about it - there is no such thing as ‘knowledge or information management in a box’. It is a myth that has been widely propagated over the last decade (mostly by software vendors), and one that has exploded (expensively) in the face of those who have bought into the proposition. IT simply facilitates information and knowledge management - nothing more. Knowledge management is 99% PPC (people, procedures and culture) and 1% IT.

Fortunately, many firms now use the information audit as the first step to managing their firm-wide knowledge and information assets.

How does it work?

The information audit usually comprises the use of questionnaires, workshops and one-on-one discussions with law firm staff. (All questionnaires, discussions and interviews with staff are confidential to ensure that the results of the audit accurately reflect the situation in the firm).

Before conducting the audit it is vital to decide on its scope ie what areas will it cover and which staff will be included. It is best if the first audit is broad-based and typically will cover the areas of:

· Document management

· Know-how and precedent management

· Client, marketing and business information

· Library and electronic sources of information

The audit looks at the objectives of your firm, the tasks your staff undertake and the information and knowledge they need to conduct those tasks.

It typically deals with the following issues:

· Are there gaps or duplications in the information and knowledge your staff need and/or generate

· Is the right information getting to the right people on time

· How documents and other information are generated, stored and retrieved

· Are there knowledge/information hoarders in your firm?

· Are there areas of efficiency that could be adapted as best practice throughout the rest of the firm?

· Are there information bottlenecks?

· Do your staff process and deal with information efficiently or inefficiently?

· Are you making good use of the internal information and know-how generated by your staff or external information bought in? Are you losing money or compromising your efficiency because of this?

· Are you harnessing the intellectual capital of your staff or does knowledge walk when staff leave?

· Are you sharing and communicating important information and knowledge efficiently within the firm? Do your staff think you are?

· What information should we place on our firm Intranet?

In summary the information audit process will help you to:

· Make the best use of internal and external know-how resources

· Identify priorities in information and know-how use

· Get timely information and know-how to the right people

· Find the simplest and most economic ways of meeting the firms information and know-how needs

· Invest in the right level of information technology

· Make best use of human resources in managing information and know-how.

Project steps

Initial investigation

Assembling key information about the identity of your firm, its aims, priorities, its structure (both on paper and in action) and how it manages its affairs is the first step in the information audit process. This exercise acts as a framework for interpreting findings and assigning appropriate values to information sources and solutions so that they match the overall objectives of the firm.

Planning the audit

· Determine the issues to be addressed by the audit and define its scope (ie should the audit be limited to use of know-how and precedents or should it be a broad audit of all information use and requirements throughout the firm)

· Develop audit plan and timescales

· Identify key users and get them on board the project

· Develop strategy for effective communication before, during and after the audit

· Select and design audit instruments and decide what questions to ask ie survey, interviews, focus groups.

Doing the audit

· Ask questions and gather answers

· Compile and analyse findings

· Record findings and make recommendations for action in a report

Timeframe

The timeframe for conducting an information audit is dependent on its scope and the size of the firm. As a guideline, audits for small to medium firms generally take 3 to 4 months to complete. Ultimately, the information audit consultant and your firm will agree upon the project plan and timescales.

Outputs

At the conclusion of the audit the firm will be presented with an Information Audit Findings Report, which will analyse and make recommendations for action to improve its information and knowledge management practices.

What is required of your firm?

In order for such a project to succeed and produce tangible results the following is required from your firm:

· Support from partnership for the project and a partner who will act as a “champion” for the benefits of the project

· Person with knowledge of the firm to act as liaison with the consultant

· Small project team to co-ordinate and steer the information audit

· Guaranteed access to people and documents

· Clear reporting line

Next steps: knowledge management strategy

The information audit is an important process, which will identify areas where action should be taken. However, as it is a fact-finding exercise it does not set out a plan for implementation of these actions. This is an exercise to be conducted through the formulation of a knowledge management strategy.

Most law firms use the findings of the information audit and its recommendations as a basis for developing a knowledge management strategy. The strategy builds on the findings of the audit, prioritises the issues requiring redress, identifies procedures and information technology that may need to be implemented, how they will be implemented and by whom.

The strategy will act as a blueprint for the firm on how to become a true knowledge or learning organisation over the next 3 years.

Please contact Siobhán Heaney of Infoconsult if you have any questions in relation to information audits or the information and knowledge management requirements of your firm.

Irish law firm sites - developments Posted Monday, January 26, 2004 by admin

A number of Irish law firms have given their websites a face-lift over the last few months.

Four of the country’s largest firms - A&L Goodbody, Arthur Cox, William Fry and Matheson Ormsby Prentice - have revamped their sites. All are well designed, easy to navigate and, in most instances, updated on a regular basis.

Their design is faultless - crisp, clean, easy to navigate and to read online. The only problem with these sites is the fact that none of them have any distinguishing features. What these firms do have in common is a complement of highly qualified and expert staff and impressive premises, but none of them have used their websites as an opportunity to differentiate themselves from their competitors. What results are faultless, well-designed, content-heavy sites with a very high ‘yawn factor’. Their websites have seemed to converge in style to such an extent that these firms could be mistaken as part of the same practice! Has there been a merger between these firms that we don’t know of?!

Unlike some of the large UK firms, none of the bigger Irish firms provide deal room or ‘client only’ access facilities. (Arthur Cox did, at one stage have such a facility, but this is no longer evident on their revamped site). This is no surprise given that there has been a significant slow-down in corporate activity in Ireland in the last year with the consequent reduction in work in this area of practice for the larger firms.

New websites

McAleese & Co is a new Dublin-based legal practice, established in September 2002. Their website is simple and straightforward, easy to navigate and full of content. While the site has a black background, which can sometimes be difficult to read online and to print, it still provides a good example of how a small firm’s site can be effective and eye-catching.

The publicity page of this site has a number of newspaper articles and radio interviews with principals of the firm. This is an interesting feature, and one which makes a lot of sense, given the firm’s wealth of expertise in the area of media law. It provides a good example of how even the smallest of firms can leverage their knowledge base as a marketing tool. The site is full of content such as legal reviews and case digests, but this is hidden away on each of the practice profile pages rather than being made available as a separate link from the home page. One of the most distinctive features of this site is the solicitors’ profiles. Instead of using photographs to complement each profile, the firm have instead used cartoon caricatures. This not only distinguishes the site and the firm as one with a different approach, but also provides a welcome dash of humour with no negative impact on the credentials or expertise of the firm. A round of applause to McAleese & Co for daring to be different!

Hayes solicitors have recently launched their website to coincide with their change of name from Hayes & Sons. Again, this is a content-heavy site with plenty of articles on a variety of legal topics.

Ivor Fitzpatrick have redesigned their website, which is a substantial improvement on their previous site. It is clear, easy to read and navigate and continues the noticeable trend of placing legal news and updates on the homepage.

JA Sinnott of Enniscorthy, a small firm whose site has consistently been updated with legal content, has a new website. They have made the decision to place their legal news updates on the site’s homepage with the facility to subscribe to their newsletter and receive it by email.

Two small to medium-sized firms in Dublin have redesigned their sites in the last year. Both TP Robinson and Kilroys have decided that content is king and place up to date articles on legal developments to the fore of their sites. Both also provide an e-zine or mail subscription facility if you wish to receive the updates by email. Kilroys, like some of the larger firms, places links to recent articles and updates on the site’s home page. Their K-Zine is a newsletter on legal developments relating to e-business and is sent out in html format which is also available in a printable format on the site.

O’Donnell Sweeney has one of the few flash legal websites of which I am aware. (Binchys Solicitors also have a flash-designed site but this hasn’t been updated with any significant content in nearly three years!) There is also an html version of the site. While I am sceptical about the use of flash technology, the site is well designed and easy to navigate. The pages are clear and uncluttered, with pop-up screens. Watch out for the staff photographs which move slightly and can be a little disconcerting! Content-wise it has news and publications which are kept up to date on a regular basis. The ODS for Clients link is not a deal-room facility but instead is the location for storing articles on recent cases and legal developments of interest to clients of the firm. If you stick to the html version of the site you will find it easy to navigate and read.

It would seem that law firm websites in Ireland have reached a plateau with little development in the way of web-based legal services or client-only access facilities. Not surprising given the slow-down in corporate activity in Ireland and the taming of the Celtic Tiger but it would be good to see some firms, particularly larger ones with more resources, using their websites as a means of differentiating themselves to a greater extent than they are currently doing.

(This article appeared in the July/August 2003 edition of Internet Newsletter for Lawyers.To view the article on that site go to http://www.venables.co.uk/n0307irishfirms.htm).

Online conveyancing Posted Wednesday, July 17, 2002 by admin
Dublin and Carlow-based Malcomson Law are soon to offer online conveyancing on their website.

In conjunction with a firm of website developers, Malcomson Law, based in Dublin and Carlow, is to provide an online conveyancing service for the purchase of houses in large developments. Prospective purchasers can view site and house plans for the development, select the house of their choice and enter their details. The system will provide secure login procedures and automatically generate documentation for the conveyance in hard or soft copy, which can then be presented to their own solicitors. Frank Lanigan, Managing Partner at Malcomson Law, cites the saving of employee time, paper, photocopying, a faster turn around time and faster contracting as the main benefits of the system. The system is available for users 24 hours a day for no fee. For the firms’ clients (the builders) it will reduce or dispense with auctioneering costs.

Selling legal services on the web - why are the Irish lagging behind? Posted Wednesday, July 17, 2002 by admin
Why are so few Irish law firms selling legal services over the web? This article appeared in the July/August edition of Internet Newsletter for Lawyers.

Embark on Delia’s Venables’ Mystery Tour (Bright New Ideas for Websites) of law firms selling services on the web. You will encounter many firms, both large and small, who have ventured into this area. But the common characteristic of these firms is that all of them, except for one small firm in Ireland, are based in the UK.

Irish law firms have taken well to the web (see my survey of Irish websites for more details) and quite a few of these have progressed from brochure style sites into those that offer free legal information, some of them excelling in their genre. Others have delved further, by providing online contact forms where details of legal queries may be entered online. But only one small firm, in Fermoy, Co Cork, (Prof. Brian A. Carroll’s wills.ie) has adopted a website strategy for selling legal services over the web.

Why are Irish firms trailing behind their English counterparts in offering legal services over the web? While not all legal services can easily be adapted for the Internet, there are a few areas, such as conveyancing and wills, where clients’ requirements can be relatively straightforward. A number of UK law firms do provide such services, with others selling basic agreements in the areas of landlord and tenant, employment, and even intellectual property agreements from their websites. Yet, in Ireland there are few such services. Why?

Population and market

Ireland’s population of 3.75 million (1999) is tiny in comparison to the 50 million or so citizens residing in the UK. Consequently, the market for legal services in Ireland is smaller. Internet use statistics for Ireland vary, but one recent survey undertaken by Ámarach consultants, estimates that there are approximately one million Internet users in Ireland, with one third of those using the Internet at work. Only one third of Internet users purchase products or services online with non-purchasers citing lack of interest, concerns over security and fear of using their credit cards online. However, research has shown 40 per cent of Internet users (over a three month period) have used travel websites to purchase holidays online. Their main benefits would appear (according to research) to be that they offer consumers tangible benefits over traditional methods of buying holidays such as choice, value, price and convenience. I don’t think it is beyond the bounds of reason to extend all or some of those value propositions to the provision of some legal services over the web. The younger sector of the Irish population, who use the Internet daily for business and leisure (such as buying holidays), are a potential and untapped market for services such as conveyancing and making wills.

Costs

Depending on the type of service and the level of sophistication involved, development and ongoing maintenance costs (both technical and human) will be incurred by any firm of solicitors who venture into this arena. Small firms who operate on tight margins may be deterred by the up front costs of developing online legal services as well as associated support and maintenance costs. However, if you take the development of wills.ie as a case study, Professor Brian A. Carroll points out that the associated costs can be kept to a minimum. Wills.ie, his own brainchild, was developed at low costs with the assistance of a PhD student. The site is hosted and supported in-house with a simple database running at the back-end. Approximately 50 wills per week are made on the site and while most of these are free there has been considerable take-up of more complex wills that are available for generation at a fee. Professor Carroll feels that the project has been successful in terms of the expenditure made and its’ associated increases in productivity. He is confident that use of the service will continue to grow over the next year.

Complexity of the law

Many Irish solicitors would argue that the law is too complex a beast to translate to the web. A fair argument in many ways, but not entirely true, particularly in the context of more simple legal services which can be quite formulaic in their nature e.g. conveyancing and wills. Even developing areas of the law, such as information technology and intellectual property, have translated into online legal services. Briffa, a specialist IT & IP practice in the UK, has set up a shop on their website for the sale of standard agreements according to industry sector. While this does not replace the requirement for professional advice on more complex legal issues, there does seem to be a place for such services that can offer value, choice and convenience to clients.

The personal touch

And what of human interaction with clients? Do online services mark the erosion of the client/solicitor relationship? Again, I would suggest that not all legal services lend themselves well to the web. Some clients (and solicitors) prefer the personal touch and will want to maintain the relationship with their solicitors that may have been developed over generations. Associated with this is the mystique and venerated position of the law, which is still apparent in Irish culture. The over-use of legalese and the reticence of some members of the profession to put the law in plain English only serves to estrange the legal profession from the man on the Clapham Omnibus (or in the case of Ireland - the Bray Dart!). I think that there is a correlation with this phenomena and the dearth of web-based legal services in Ireland. The ready availability of web-based services at the click of a mouse removes this sacred veil with some solicitors fearful of such transparency. I would argue that solicitors can only benefit in the long run through related increases in productivity and a wider catchment market than that which is available in their own locality.

Innovation

The Irish legal market is tiny in comparison to that of the UK and its dynamics are different. Irish law firms have never been trailblazers, with the larger firms looking mainly to UK firms for guidance on matters such as information technology, practice management and websites. Even within the Irish legal community there is a tendency to wait for competitors to make the first move in a new area and to monitor their progress (and mistakes) before embarking on any innovations. Selling legal services is no different. A ‘wait and see’ attitude will prevail until one or two innovative firms have tried and tested such services. Only then, and perhaps in response to client demands, will we see more firms dip their toes into the water.

Developments

Apart from wills.ie, one other firm of solicitors is soon to launch an online service from its’ website. In conjunction with a firm of website developers, Malcomson Law, based in Dublin and Carlow, is to provide an online conveyancing service for the purchase of houses in large developments. Prospective purchasers can view site and house plans for the development, select the house of their choice and enter their details. The system will provide secure login procedures and automatically generate documentation for the conveyance in hard or soft copy, which can then be presented to their own solicitors. Frank Lanigan, Managing Partner at Malcomson Law, cites the saving of employee time, paper, photocopying, a faster turn around time and faster contracting as the main benefits of the system. The system is available for users 24 hours a day for no fee. For the firms’ clients (the builders) it will reduce or dispense with auctioneering costs.

Law Society guidelines

The Irish Law Society has no firm guidelines or policy on website development or the provision of legal services over the web. Neither does it specifically prohibit the development of such services. Regulations on law firm advertising apply to solicitors websites and the yet to be commenced Solicitors (Amendment) Act, 2002 will also apply, with reference to ‘electronic addresses’ being included for the first time in such legislation. Yet, there is little guidance available to practitioners who wish to investigate the provision of legal services via the Internet, apart from the good work and seminars hosted by the Information Technology Committee of the Society. Contrast this to the position of the UK Law Society which (albeit with significantly greater resources and funding) provides a range of publications and guidelines for its members on websites and the provision of legal services over the web.

The future

While the Irish are still lagging behind the UK in the provision of legal services over the web the two innovations mentioned in this article do demonstrate a small shift in opinion. Provided that firms continue to apply the same high standards of legal advice to web-based services as they do in their traditional roles, and comply with any current or future Law Society regulations, there is no reason why any Irish law firm should not consider the web as a tool to provide their services.

(C) Infoconsult, 2002

Cork Online Law Review Posted Monday, April 15, 2002 by admin
The first edition of the Cork Online Law Review went live at the end of March.

The review contains articles written by students at the UCC Law Faculty on topics such as children's rights, consumer protection in electronic payment transactions, email privacy and bankruptcy law.

The review is hosted by the UCC Student Law Society and is available for free at http://colr.ucc.ie.

MOP is European Law Firm of the Year Posted Wednesday, February 27, 2002 by admin
Matheson Ormsby Prentice has been awarded the title European Law Firm of the Year.

In a competition run by the publishers of Legal Business, MOP overtook international law firms Linklaters and Lovells.

Beauchamps enter European Legal Alliance Posted Friday, February 8, 2002 by admin
Beauchamps Solicitors have announced the launch of The European Legal Alliance.

The alliance comprises of five European medium-sized firms with the aim of servicing clients with cross-border operations with a full service in the main European jurisdictions.

With Beauchamps as the Irish partner, The European Legal Alliance includes Field Fisher Waterhouse (London), Harper Macleod (Glasgow and Edinburgh), Buse Heberer (Berlin, Dusseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich) and Dubarry le Douarin Veil (Paris). Beauchamps say that a second phase in the development of the Alliance will involve Spanish and Italian firms.

Commenting on the development, Imelda Reynolds (Managing Partner at Beauchamps) says that the Alliance will offer clients the benefit of a seamless service "with one brand, one bill and one contact". "However with the alliance we will avoid the issues associated with large conglomerate firms which tend to lose the ability to give clients personal service and individual attention".

As part of the Alliance the firms will share knowledge, strategy and resources. There will also be a continual programme of secondment between the firms.

UK cyber-court for debt recovery Posted Friday, February 8, 2002 by admin
The UK's Lord Chancellor's Department has launched an online pilot service for debt recovery over the Internet.

The Court Service pilot will allow consumers, small businesses and solicitors to make claims over the Internet to recovery money owed to them by logging on to the new website at www.courtservice.gov.uk/mcol. Claims of up to £100,000 can be made 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For those who don't have access to the Internet access will be provided through a network of centres in public libraries, schools and community centres throughout England and Wales.

If the claim is undefended there will be no need to step inside a court room. The website has extensive online help and users can pay court fees by debit and credit card and check on the process of their claim over the Internet.

The launch of the pilot project is one of the steps towards meeting the UK Government's target of providing services on-line by 2005.

Presumably, the Irish Courts Service will be watching this project with interest.

A&L Goodbody to update Irish Planning Law and Practice Posted Friday, February 8, 2002 by admin
A&L Goodbody's Environmental and Planning Law Unit have been engaged by Butterworths to provide the annual update of O'Sullivan & Shepherd's Irish Planning Law & Practice.

The Butterworth's publication is probably one of the most authoritative texts on Irish planning and environmental law and has been developed in recent years into a looseleaf publication to facilitate regular updates to this changing area of the law.

A&L Goodbody's annotated version of the Planning and Development Act 2000 was published by Butterworths in 2001 as part of O'Sullivan & Shepherds Irish Planning Law and Practice.

For A&L Goodbody's press release click here

Update to law firm website survey - how does your site rate? Posted Thursday, February 7, 2002 by admin
Irish law firms, both small and large, have taken well to the web. See my analysis of Irish sites.

I have conducted a survey of Irish law firm websites and classified them according to their function:

Information and legal update sites

Sites with client only access

Brochure sites

Sites providing online services

Spin-off sites

NEW CATEGORY!

The main criteria I have used for evaluating the sites are currency of information and level of information provided.

I will be updating the survey on a regular basis. If your site is not included send me an email with details for my next update.

(This survey was last updated on 7 February 2002.)

Sites with client only access

Cafferky Solicitors
Arthur Cox
Gary Matthews
Demot P Coyne (Firstlegal)

Sites providing online services

Brian A. O'Carroll - wills.ieNEW!
Hussey O'Higgins
Patrick J Farrell & Company
JA Sinnott & Co
Connolly O'NeillNEW!
AT Diamond SolicitorsNEW!
Norton SolicitorsNEW!

Information and legal update sites

A&L Goodbody- Dublin

A & L Goodbody is one of Ireland's largest law firms. Its' site is well designed and kept up to date on a consistent basis. The home page provides links to recently added information (4 February, 2002) both in terms of practice developments and legal news. All articles and news features are clearly dated. Techlaw is an area of the site dedicated to legal updates in the field of information technology law, with the most recent addition dated 4 February 2002. It also provides examples of recent transactions in which the firm has been involved - a useful feature for prospective clients. A sitemap and search facility is also provided on the site.

BCM Hanby Wallace - Dublin

This well-designed site provides legal news updates, the most recent of which is the Bulletin dated October 2001. (In the last few days I have received the January 2002 Media Law Digest which has not yet been posted to the website). The Bulletin is divided into sections on company, property, litigation, employment and private client. Users can subscribe to this publication and received it via email on its publication. The site also provides separate updates on employment law (December 2001) and ecommerce (August 2001). An archive of updates is also available with a search facility.

What's New provides an article on the recently introduced Company Law Enforcement Act, 2001. I found the text slightly difficult to read - the site mainly uses Times New Roman font, which can be difficult to read and is visually not as pleasing as some of the more modern type faces such as Verdana.

Otherwise, it is an informative and well-designed site.

Beauchamps- Dublin

The Law Brief and News links are the two updating mechanisms on the Beauchamps website. The News link provides information on the firm and happenings in its practice, such as the appointment of a new managing partner. Articles on legal developments are provided in the Law Brief, the most recent update of which is dated 4 February 2002.
For details of Beauchamps Growonline.ie website see section on Spin-off websites.

Anthony Brady - Dublin
Registered with the generic URL www.probate-ireland.com , this site provides links to practice areas of the firm, mostly in the area of probate and wills.

Conway Kelleher Tobin - Cork

Based in Cork this site provides details of the firm's area of practice and personnel. The Newsletter link provides a pop-up window with details of the Electronic Commerce Bill - somewhat outdated since the Bill became law in 2000.

Liam F. Coghlan & Co - Killarney, Co.Kerry

This site is a deceptive one. When you first go to its home page you could be forgiven for thinking that it is merely a contact card. However, there is further information provided by clicking on the small "next" icon at the bottom of the page. There you will find a great deal of information on business and family law. Again, the major fault is that the "next" icon is only available by scrolling to the end of the page. Much more effective, to place it at the top right hand corner where it is clearly visible to the user. Better still, to divide the article into sections with hyperlinks to each.

According to the site the last update to the site was August 2000, so some of the information does need to be updated.

Duncan Grehan - Dublin

Duncan Grehan's site contains news and information on advertising law, property, litigation and debt collection. It also provides a version of the website in German. The site does not have a news page, but instead includes new items as part of its' practice profile. As an example, the advertising page has an update from May 2001 on recent decisions of the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland. The Litigation and Court Work page has a Questions & Answers feature on enforcement of judgements in Ireland. As the site is updated regularly with some useful information it might benefit if links to the recently added information were provided from the home page. As it is, users have to browse the site and find the new information without being pointed to it.
This site was not available for review on 7 February 2002.

Eugene F Collins - Dublin

The EFC site provides updates via the Dispatch and Bulletins links. Dispatch is described as a monthly journal dedicated to what's new in Irish law, but it seems that it is, in fact, a quarterly bulletin of legal developments, the most recent of which is Autumn 2001. An archive of previous Dispatch editions is also available.

The Bulletin is also tagged as a monthly journal on Irish legal developments, the most recent of which are two articles from May 2000 on dawn raids and another on work permits. There is another link from this section of the site to articles which appear in both Dispatch and Bulletin, organised according to the firms practice areas. For example, if you click on the Litigation practice area of the site there are a number of articles listed. None of these are dated so it is difficult to know whether they are current or not, apart from the fact that some of the articles discuss proposed legislation that has since become law.

The site uses a mixture of Verdana and Times New Roman font.

While the Home Page does tell us that the site was last updated on 23 August 2001 you need to go to the What's Happening link to get details of recently added information.

The site does contain a wealth of useful information but could benefit from some reorganisation and tidying up.

John Glynn & Co - Tallaght, Co Dublin

John Glynn & Co is a small practice based in Tallaght, Co Dublin. It is a well-designed information-based site registered as www.tallaght.com.

The firm's practice areas are indicated from the home page by the provision of information on such topics as road traffic accidents do's and don'ts, employer's liability for accidents at work and making a will.

The site provides updates on the law via the Interesting cases link in which recent cases on the firm's practice areas are summarised.

Clients and prospective clients are invited to submit queries on topics of law of interest to them via an online form contained on the home page.

A simple site that achieves its aims in a user-friendly manner.

Holmes O'Malley Sexton - Limerick
I have moved this site to this section as the firm has recently started to update the What's New page on its site. In November 2001 it added two items to this section - one on the Irish courts system and the other on Limerick Corporation's Housing Strategy.
The site provides background information on the firm and its areas of practice but does not include any details on its partners or staff.

FR Kelly & CoNEW!

FR Kelly & Co are one of Ireland's largest firms of patent and trademark attorneys. Their website offers a wealth of information on the topics of patents, trademarks with the section on copyright still to be populated with content.
A list of FAQs ("Frequently Asked Questions") on patents provides a good introduction to a complex topic. Each section on the site provides a feedback form for the user to request further information.
The home page provides links to information on all aspects of their practice, clearly targeted at the business user, and alerting them to issues for consideration in relation to trademarks and patents. A search engine is also available on the site.
I don't think that the addition of the java script STOP PRESS news box on the home page adds anything to the site. In fact, I think it serves as a distraction from the useful links contained there. Its purpose is to alert users to the availability of the latest edition of Foresight, FR Kelly's client newsletter. Unfortunately the link to the newsletter disappears from the screen and trying to place your cursor on it is as easy as swatting a fly!
It would help if the information on the site were dated, but having said this I found the site to be extremely useful and informative.

Landwell Ireland - Dublin.

This recently established firm, originally known as Evans & Co, changed its name to Landwell in November 2001. It is part of the international network of the Landwell group of law firms.
In terms of information on offer, the What's New section provides a list of articles, the most recent of which is a publication (in pdf) on the Company Law Enforcement Act, 2001. Other information provided is not very topical with features on Budget 2001 (December 2000).
Publications of the firm are also available on the site on topics such as share option schemes and company formation.
A link called Insights is designed to offer users information on legal subjects and basic precedent material. This area of the site is not yet operational although some material is available by clicking on the site map link.
Other information is provided on the firm's areas of practice and career opportunities. An application form is available for downloading but it does not seem to be possible to "apply online" as indicated on the site.

Lennon Heather - Dublin

Lennon Heather's site is a strongly visual one, offering photos and an online tour of their offices in Dublin. It provides legal updates for its readers via the Articles page eg Company Law Enforcement Act, 2001, family home declarations and issues surrounding VAT. Unfortunately, none of these articles are dated.

The News page provides information on recent promotions and appointments to the firm.

In terms of design the site could be enhanced by providing higher resolutions for some of the images and photos on the site. The site also takes quite a while to download.

LK Shields - Dublin

This site is clearly laid out and updated on a regular basis. The home page gives prominence to recently added information such as new appointments and promotions in the firm and recently published newsletters - although it would help to have each of these items dated.

Secondary position is given to links on the firm's practice areas and partner profiles. The site also provides an archive of its publications in pdf format. Users are invited to subscribe to the firm's legal updates which are distributed via email on a regular basis.

A good site, strong on content and updating.

Mason Hayes & Curran - Dublin

The main vehicle for providing legal updates on the MHC site is via the News & Publications link. This provides links to practice news, the firm's client newsletter (MHC Times) and updates on Banking, Ecommerce, PPP, Litigation, Food law and Human Resources law.

The publications section could be improved by providing dates for each article. It is clear that some of these publications are now out of date as they refer to proposals for legislation that have since been enacted into law eg the Ecommerce News section contains an article on forthcoming legislation on Ecommerce. This proposal became law in 2000.

The site is colourful and makes strong use of icons and graphics. (Users are given the option of viewing a Flash page outlining the ethos of the firm) A site map and search engine are also provided on the site.

McCann Fitzgerald - Dublin

McCann Fitzgerald's site is strong on information and timely content. The Home Page provides links to recent additions to the site such as legal news and practice developments. Each link is clearly dated. The Legal Briefing points to new articles from each of the firm's practice areas, most of which have been added in the last few weeks.

This site is easy to navigate and is reliable in terms of current content and like many of the larger law firm sites provides a search facility to find items on the site by keywords.

Malcomson Law - Dublin and Carlow
Formerly known as Frank Lanigan Malcomson & Law, Malcomson Law's website is a good reflection of its specialist practice areas.
The firm has been heavily involved in representing haemophilia sufferers who contracted AIDS and Hepatitis C through infected blood products at the Lindsay Tribunal. The site offers a great deal of information to reflect the firms involvement with a special section of the site devoted to the workings of the Tribunal which finished hearing evidence at the end of November 2001.

The site provides a daily synopsis of evidence given to the tribunal (although the last update available is dated 27 July 2001). It also provides links to newspaper extracts and a chronology of events as well as terms of reference.

Information on the firms other areas of practice such as conveyancing and litigation is also provided although there is little information on the firm itself or its staff.

The firm is in the process of designing an online service for the purchase and selling of houses. I'll keep you posted on that development.

Matheson Ormsby Prentice - Dublin

An attractive and well-designed site, the home page provides direct links to recent legal developments in the Law Watch section of the site (20 January 2002) as well as practice developments (January 2002) and recent appointments. A link to an article on the forthcoming implementation of the Data Protection Directive opens a frame on the home page. This looks a little untidy and clutters the home page somewhat and might look better if it linked straight to the body of the article.
The site also has a page devoted to legal developments in the Information Technology sector, the most recent item of which is January 2002. Much of the information in this section does need to be udpated to reflect changes in the law.

Morgan McManus - Clones, Co.Monaghan.

Morgan McManus Solicitors site is available under the domain name www.borderbizlaw.com.
It is one of a few firms such as Moran & Ryan and Gary Matthews that is placed to offer legal services to clients with activites in the North and South of Ireland.
It's site focuses primarily on the provision of cross-border legal services with comprehensive information for start up and existing companies on the legal regime in both jurisdictions. This information is usefully divided in chapters, available through drop-down menus, with topics such as business start up and registration, insurance, tax and planning and the environment. Each chapter has a comprehensive set of links to government and other agencies. Some of this information does need to be updated though, in light of changes introduced through the most recent budget and the introduction of the Euro in the Republic of Ireland.
A section on Legal News and Articles does not yet have information - unfortunate given that this is the first link provided from the home page.
Secondary position is given to information about the firm and its history and I would recommend that the firm's logo is enhanced or clarified on the site.
Otherwise, this is a very useful and informative site for anyone with business concerns on either side of the border.

Murphy Fagan - Dublin
This site has recently been redesigned and is in the process of being updated. Comprehensive information is provided on the topics of employment, wills, family law and conveyancing amongst others.

The site is well-designed with simple navigation.

O'Donnell Sweeney - Dublin

The O'Donnell Sweeney site provides updates via the News and Publications pages.

The News section concentrates mostly on practice developments such as the appointment of a new partner and the firm's formal opening of its new offices in October 2000. Apart from this the other information is not current.

The Publications page of the site provides link to articles on various legal topics. Only a few of these are dated, the most recent of which I could find was July 2000.

The site could benefit by archiving many of the legal updates and providing more timely legal content. ODS is one of few sites to provide an introduction to the firm in some European languages. A sitemap and search facility are provided on the site.

Orpen Franks - Dublin

The News page of Orpen Franks' site provides links to brief articles in pop-up windows on topics such as liquor licensing, share options schemes and capital gains tax. None of these articles are dated although it does seem that they are listed in chronological order, rather than placing the most recent news item at the top of the list. Dates are placed on the articles in the Archive section, all of which are duplicated in the current news listings.

Apart from this the site is simple, well laid out and easy to navigate.

Quinn & Co - Tallaght, Co.Dublin

Quinn & Co is a small practice based in Tallaght, Co. Dublin. It's website provides regular monthly updates via the Legal News page. The most recent of these is December 2001 with short articles on new legislation. The site is simple and easy to navigate.

Reddy Charlton McKnight - Dublin

This site provides updates on the law via the Articles page on its site. Articles are listed according to topic with the year of publication noted on each. The site has a number of articles, the most recent of which are dated October 2001. One of the articles on online legal issues has not been formatted and is therefore very difficult to read. It appears that the date on each article is the date on which it was added to the site rather than the date on which it was written.

Ronan Daly Jermyn - Cork

Ronan Daly Jermyn, based in Cork, have recently re-launched their site. The Legal News & Publications page provides a link to a page where articles on recent legal developments are summarised with another link to the full text of each article, all of which are dated. A list of articles in the Archive section is also provided. A keyword search facility gives users the opportunity to search for articles on topics of their choice.

Unfortunately the site has not been updated as frequently as it was on its launch. The most recent updates are dated October 2001. It uses colour and imagery cleverly, with most of the text using Verdana font. My only crib is that it doesn't use this font consistently throughout the site.

Kilroys - Dublin

Kilroys provide legal news on the Publications page of their site with links to articles on the Electronic Commerce Act, 2000, selling on the Internet and company law enforcement, amongst others. Unfortunately, none of the articles are dated on this page, with only a few providing date information at the bottom of the article, the most recent of which is an article on hedge funds dated September 2001.
The site is simple, clear and well laid out.

McKeever Rowan - Dublin

McKeever Rowan's website provides legal updates on the Legal News page of the site. The most recent is an article of September 2001 on 3G telecommunications licences. The site is simple and easy to navigate.

Murphy McElligott - Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin

Murphy McElligott is a small practice based in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. It is a simple site with links to information on the firm's practice areas and profiles of its' two partners. The Articles page provides a list of articles on topics such as sexual harassment and gazumping. None of the articles are more recent than 1999.

Philip Lee - Dublin

Philip Lee is a practice specialising in European and IT law. The News page of the site provides an update on EU and IT law developments the most recent issue of which covers changes to EU VAT invoicing rules and the proposal for an EU domain name. Unfortunately, the News page is undated but from the content it would appear to originate circa November 2000. The Legal Reports page provides two articles from 2000 - one on developments in Ecommerce (July 2000) and another on Irish work visas (August 2000).

The site is simple and easy to navigate.

Brian O'Donnell and Partners - Dublin

This firm was established in 1999 and specialises in mergers & acquisitions and corporate law. The News page of the site provides a number of links to Press Releases, Articles, In the Press and a link entitled "up and coming". There is one article in the Articles link on dividend withholding tax (undated) but nothing has yet appeared in the "up and coming" page with no indication of its proposed content. In the Press gives full text of articles about and published by the firm, the most recent of which is dated December 2000.

The site does not give any details of its staff or its size. Otherwise, this is a fairly basic site.

O'Sullivan Barnicle - Dublin

O'Sullivan Barnicle's site is a simple one giving details on the firm and it's partners. The News page of the site hasn't been updated recently, providing details of the publication of the Electronic Commerce Bill (now an Act) as well as plans for establishment of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, now provided for by the Company Law Enforcement Act, 2001.

Peter McDonnell & Associates - Dublin

This firm specialised in personal injuries and conveyancing. Much of its site is devoted to smoking and tobacco related injuries with case studies from the US courts. The Media Coverage page contains Real Audio clips of interviews with Peter McDonnell on the topic of tobacco related claims while the What's New page, last updated in March 2000 provides details of a Californian court decision on the award of damages for a plaintiff's smoking related illness.

TP Robinson - Dublin
This site provides information on the firm's background, practice areas and partners. It also provides a montly Legal News feature relevant to the firm's areas of practice, the most recent issue of which is dated February 2002.

Tomkins & Co - Patent Attorneys - Dublin
This firm of patent attorneys provides information about the firm and its staff. It also provides information on trade marks, patents, designs and copyright, none of which is dated.

Michael Twomey - Partnership Law - Dublin
Dr. Michael Twomey is a solicitor who advises exclusively in the area of partnership law. His website is dedicated solely to this topic and contains useful pages on recent developments in the area of partnership law as well as case law summaries and reviews of books on the topic from other jurisdictions.

Dr.Twomey is author of Partnership Law (2000) and the site provides a link to the publishers where an order can be made online.

Tyrrell Solicitors (Lawyer.ie - Dublin
Lawyer.ie and Solicitor.ie are registered business names of Tyrrell Solicitors, based in Ballsbridge in Dublin. The site is strongly content-based with a wealth of information on the areas of law in which they practice ie Divorce, nullity, defamation, wills. The content is well-drafted in a style suited to the layman. Some areas though, such as the sections on nullity and divorce have so much information on recent cases and legislation that they could benefit by being broken into separate pages with hyperlinks to each. As it is the user has to scroll down through a number of pages. That's no huge complaint though, considering the value of the information being provided. The site also has a comprehensive set of links to useful legal sites, a glossary of Irish legal terms and some lawyer jokes. A search facility is also provided but it didn't seem to be working when I tried it. This is a very informative site from a small practice.

John O'Connor Solicitors - Dublin

A small practice based in Dublin, this site offers a guide to the firm and its' areas of practice. The Articles page at the moment contains two items - the first a table of taxation and PRSI rates introduced in Budget 2002 as well as a more in-depth article on charities and conveyancing. Neither item is dated.

William Fry - Dublin

One of Ireland's largest law firms, William Fry's site is well-designed and provides links from its' home page to recently added news. Irish Legal News provides updates on recent developments (November, 2001) as well as an archive of articles published. The site provides a site map and a search facility.

Sites with client only access

Cafferky Solicitors - Dublin

Cafferky's website offers a mixture of information on its' practice and a number of standard documents and forms for client use as well as a client-only area of the site.

The What's New section of the site provides details of information recently added to the site. But, it only provides links to some of the information so it is unclear where the information resides on the site.

The Journal provides a link to details of a legal news update that Cafferky's plan to distribute via email on a monthly basis. It will have a two-fold approach, the first offering a general update of the law and the second providing articles on legal topics at a charge which can be redistributed to employees or clients.

Some forms can be downloaded from the site so that can be filled in by the client and sent back to Cafferky's via email. Examples include an agency agreement, a wills checklist and a questionnaire on claims arising from road traffic accidents.

Cafferky's also provides a Client-only area of the site where presumably a client can check on the progress of their case.

Cafferky's are attempting quite a lot on their site and are to be congratulated on adopting such a progressive stance. However, I found the site a little confusing in it's layout and navigation with some of the animation a little distracting. There are also quite a few typos and spelling errors, which detract from the site. The links on the site would appear to the user to offer information and updates eg The Journal and Newsletter but when you get to them they don't actually provide information but merely promise it. But, on the positive side the site does offer some useful pages on subjects such as making wills, personal injury claims, buying a house and setting up a company. The site also has a search facility.

Arthur Cox - Dublin

Arthur Cox is one of Ireland's top ten law firms. Their site, which was recently redesigned, provides a Publications page. By clicking on a practice area of your choice you will be brought to an archive of articles published by members of that practice. The articles, which are not dated, are summarised so that users can decide whether they want to view the article in its' entirety.

The new site has the added feature of a client-only Dealroom, where clients, by entering a username and password can presumably check on the status of their cases. However, the site does not offer an explanation of this service.

Visitors to the site can join a mailing list to be notified of changes to the site, which is regularly updated. The site also provides a site map and search facility.

The Arthur Cox site is well designed and informative.

Gary Matthews - Dundalk, Co Louth and Newry, Co Down

A recently launched site, Gary Matthews Solicitors provides a client login area where clients can check on the status of their cases by entering a user-name and password. Users can also submit details of their legal queries via an online form.

Dermot P Coyne (Firstlegal) - Lucan, Co Dublin

Firstlegal is an interactive law firm site offered by Dermot P Coyne Solicitors. The site provides guides, which are available on the site or to download on buying a home, making a will (with online forms) and making a personal injury claim.

The site also offers a client only area for tracking the status of a case as well as inviting users to join the firm's mailing list.

Brochure sites

Binchys - Dublin

Binchys is an attractive, modern site. While it takes a little while to load, the design is simple and straightforward. It contains information on the firm's areas of practice but unfortunately there are no profiles of any of the firm's staff or partners. It does have a link to an Update page but no information has been placed here yet, with a message saying that updates will be available from September/October 2000.

A site that hopefully will offer more in the near future!

Geoffrey Browne & Co - Galw