A&O's research tool rips up paper labour

Litigation: easier access to disclosure documents

Magic circle firm Allen & Overy is taking the legal fight on-line with a radical litigation initiative which allows some of the most painstaking research jobs to be done at the push of a button.

The firm's new Caseroom2 software - developed by Australian company Ringtail Solutions over a two-year period - replaced A&O's old Intranet case management system last year.

The new software has now 'bedded down' and the firm said it is pleased with the results.

Every piece of information and disclosure relating to new litigation files is scanned by secretaries when it arrives at the firm, and placed into the relevant Intranet file.

The system allows lawyers in the litigation department to access all documentation relating to a case, including subsidiary documents.

Fee-earners - given access only to the files that they are working on - will be able to follow the immediate progress of cases by reading new documents, and crucially will be able to conduct on-line searches through all disclosure documents using a sophisticated search engine.

Searching through disclosure was traditionally a task that might take trainees or junior assistants several hours or even days.

Guy Henderson, the A&O litigation partner who has led the project, said: 'Caseroom2 will not be a substitute for reading and thinking.'

He said that despite time savings, there would not necessarily be a big cost saving, because of the price of scanning and computerisation.

But he said it would reduce paper flows dramatically over time, even if it would not create a paperless office.

He added: 'The aim is to make what our lawyers do much easier and better.'

Jeremy Fleming