Record 15 legal IT companies appear in Law Society's Software Solutions guide

SELECTION PROCESS: product strategy, financial health, and customer feedback whittle down 30-plus applications

A bumper crop of 15 legal IT companies has been included in the 2003 edition of the Law Society's Software Solutions guide, five more than last year.

The new entries in the 2003 guide are: AIM Professional Systems (with its Evolution Client/Server software); Eclipse Legal Systems (ProCLAIM); Laserform International (LegalAccounts/MatterManager/CaseCont); Opsis (Millennium Accounts/Solicitor Case Manager/Millennium Solo); and Pericom (OMS and PMS).

The five-strong selection panel tested product strategy, financial health and feedback from existing users of each company that enters.

Accountants Baker Tilly examined the accounts of each company, while 40 firms were selected randomly from each company's customer database and surveyed by independent market researchers.

The selected companies then had to demonstrate their product to the selection panel.

The ten that have retained their place in the guide, which is supported by the Legal Software Suppliers Association, are Axxia Systems, DPS Software, Edgebyte Computers, Gavel and Gown, JCS Computing Solutions, Mountain Software Holdings, MSS, Quill Computer Systems, Solicitors Own Software, and Videss.

Between them, the 15 companies have their products installed at 4,703 practices and boast 67,084 users.

MSS's AlphaLaw-esprit is installed at the most law firms (681), mainly small ones, while Axxia's Practice Management System has the most users (14,856) by virtue of having a big take-up among larger firms.

Pericom's two offerings - an accounts and practice management system, and office management software - made a big entrance this year, scoring joint highest in the customer surveys for overall relationship with supplier (8.4/10) and highest for overall value for money (8/10).

Quill's Pinpoint Accounting Bureau was close behind with 8.4 and 7.9 respectively.

More than 30 IT companies expressed an interest in being included, but after initial vetting, the applicant list was whittled down to 17, then to 15.

This is the fifth year of the guide, which included just five suppliers in its first edition.

The guide features a run-down on each product as well as a product functionality comparison chart.

It has been sent to all partners at firms with ten partners or fewer, and the managing partners and IT directors of larger firms.

It is also being distributed through the Law Society's law management section and is available on the Society's Web site.

The guide is financed by the companies appearing in it, which pay for its production and distribution.

Praising the guide for its increasingly influential role in helping law firms select their IT, Law Society President Carolyn Kirby said: 'I am pleased to see the growing trend for legal software to incorporate quality management facilities.

'Compliance with Lexcel and similar quality assurance standards has become a key issue for many firms, both from the point of view of general client service and risk management.

'In a world of escalating indemnity insurance premiums, technology that can help solicitors increase their efficiency and profitability, while still ensuring the highest standards of service are maintained, must be welcomed.'

LINKS: www.it.lawsociety.org.uk

Neil Rose