Who's Buying What

On-line competency testing company Skillsarena has entered the legal market by signing up national firm Pinsents, which aims to use its product to give job candidates an independent test.

Pinsents HR assistant Emma Martin said: 'We have been looking to invest in a skills-testing system which provides a choice of tests adding value to our recruitment process.'

Top ten City firm Norton Rose has selected iManage's WorkSite suite for document management, collaboration and e-mail management, accessed by fee-earners through an Internet solution.

WorkSite provides an integrated and historical view of documents, events, tasks and contacts and allows access to client matter and collaborative projects from any location at any time.

Norton Rose's IT director, Jeff Roberts, added that iManage's development plans met the direction set by a strategy compiled for the firm by consultants Baker Robbins & Company.

Two wins for Interface Software after City firm Withers and Nottingham-based Browne Jacobson selected customer relationship management solution InterAction 5.

Both cited the lack of a centralised system as a hindrance to practice development.

AIM Professional Services has announced five wins for its Evolution practice and case management system: two-office Essex firm Bright & Sons for conveyancing; 25-user Sheffield practice Watson Esam; Lytham's Senior Calveley & Hardy, which concentrates on property, wills and trust work; 35-user JR Jones, a legal aid firm in London; Croydon-based Gowen & Stevens, which has 25 users and a property focus; and Torquay firm John Darby & Co.

Three-partner, four-office Somerset and Devon firm Milford & Dormor has upgraded its accounting system to Technology for Business's Partner for Windows Accounting Partner solution.

Southport firm Barnetts and Colemans-ctts, which has offices in Kingston-upon-Thames, Walsall and Manchester, have both gone live with practice-wide intranets created by Eclipse Legal Systems.

South Yorkshire firm Beresfords has chosen Oyez Legal Software to deploy its Osprey case and practice management software to 200 users.

In Ipswich, Prettys has signed a contract to implement Out of the Box, Elite's pre-configured practice management system designed for small and medium-sized firms.

Prettys has more than 150 staff.

On the digital dictation front, City firm SJ Berwin is rolling out BigHand's TotalSpeech system to 560 staff firm-wide following a 120-user pilot in the property group, making it one of the largest digital dictation sites in Europe.

Manchester and Leeds firm Cobbetts is rolling out SRC's WinScribe system to 300 staff after a successful pilot in the employment group.

After a pilot at London firm Payne Hicks Beach, nFlow's DictaFlow package is being rolled out to all 100 users.