Briefing April 2021: Uncompromised access, by Access Legal
In order to achieve efficiency and obtain better business intelligence, law firms need a new way to navigate disjointed tech solutions. Doug Sawers, managing director at Access Legal, a new division of Access Group, says unlocking the true benefits of legal technology requires a holistic approach.
Summer 2020 was a busy time for Doug Sawers, managing director at Access Group’s newest division, Access Legal. Putting the pandemic aside, Access Group acquired two law tech companies in quick succession: case and practice management provider Eclipse, acquired in June, and SaaS practice management provider DPS Software a month later.
As Sawers explains, Access Group has long had law firm clients using its HR, learning and finance solutions, but it had plans to service them in a more comprehensive way. This stemmed from the realisation that firms often had to make an excessive number of tech-buying decisions. “There are some outstanding point-solution providers out there, but they need to work with and in the context of other systems to get maximum benefit from them,” he says.
Sawers also notes the increasing importance of case management systems (CMS) and practice management systems (PMS) to firm growth and profitability: “If your firm has any scale at all – or an intention to scale – you really need some automation in these key areas.” The combination of Eclipse and DPS – both best-in-breed solutions – was a chance to lay down the core of a solution to help firms answer this problem while also offering a more comprehensive approach to a tech ecosystem.
A chance for change
Together with compliance and risk management solution Riliance and e-learning solution Socrates, this new law tech suite was the final component needed for the creation of Access Legal, finalised in July 2020. Another key law firm challenge the new division intends to support is the need for better business intelligence. Sawers says a fragmented tech experience makes it impossible to get a holistic view of data across a firm: “The quality of your employee, partner or client data might be best-ofbreed in isolation, but those solutions don’t easily marry up. Different providers also update at a different pace from one another, so it’s unlikely to be all of the same quality.”
He also stresses the importance of having a single, accessible system for users to access relevant data and all their solutions. Access Legal’s fix is Access Workspace, a single-sign on platform that hosts and connects all aspects of a law firm’s operations and improves the user experience: “We will be bringing together the recently acquired core CMS and PMS with Access Legal’s other legal-specific solutions but also our people management, finance solutions, payments technology and CRM software. Our goal is to make everything as low maintenance as possible,” Sawers explains.
Giving busy lawyers more time to work on the matters that mean most is still key to improving efficiency, he adds, saying this is part of the inherent value in having Access Legal’s various products and modules on Access Workspace.
“Lawyers and managers want to compare new business alongside financials or productivity and opportunity pipeline on a single screen and have those things talk to each other better. It’s all about being able to answer questions quicker and anticipate priorities,” he says.
But there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. The business now serves firms of all sizes, and its modular approach makes it flexible to fit a firm’s current stage and strategy: “As your firm grows, and when the time is right, you can simply switch on the solutions you need.”
The same is true of hosting. The acquisitions of Eclipse and DPS, Sawers says, were crucial because the two solutions – the latter primarily cloud-based – complement one another. While on-premises solutions are still needed, Sawers sees increasing enthusiasm for cloud among law firms – a view echoed in Briefing’s Frontiers Legal IT landscapes 2021 research, which found 72% of firms now think their PMS will be in the cloud by 2024 (in 2020 it was 48%).
As remote working becomes embedded, Sawers believes cloud will become “magnetically compelling” for firms: “The Covid-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call around the need for flexibility and well-maintained cybersecurity. With many suppliers developing software updates primarily for cloud, that momentum will continue to build.”
Future focus
Sawers expects more solutions to join the Access Group soon. It also plans to develop its core offerings and, given client feedback that technology providers have often failed to communicate around functionality and development plans transparently, he says this is a high priority. The roadmap will be communicated through digital showcase events like Access All Areas, held earlier in 2021, and will continue to take on feedback through its customer advisory group, Access Legal Minds.
Ultimately, Access Legal’s “modest ambition”, Sawers says, is to transform the legal sector’s efficiency and experience of technology – albeit while respecting the specific needs of law firms. “The stars have finally aligned: the technology has caught up, we have the core solutions in place and the willingness to adopt cloud is there – we’re all quite excited about what’s possible.”
This sponsor comment was taken from Briefing April 2021. To read the full report, click here.
