Welcome to the latest issue of the Legal IT Insider newsletter – October 2017 – Issue #307 – our top stories include…
Norton Rose Fulbright goes live on SAP with Fulcrum GT
Norton Rose Fulbright has gone live on SAP HANA with Fulcrum Global Technologies, after a project that signed in March 2016 and will ultimately consolidate five profit centres across the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and South Africa.
The US Top 200 DMS table is out!
Our US Top 200 document management system supplement is out today (1 November) giving you the full low down on which US firms are using which system, as well as extensive interviews with clients such as Baker Botts (iManage Cloud) and Littler Mendelson (NetDocuments). Looks like iManage rules in Big Law – and SharePoint remains deader than Monty Python’s parrot!
Ashurst progresses its cloud agenda
Ashurst has instructed IT infrastructure and services provider Softcat and begun engaging a number of key clients on moving much of its data to the cloud as the UK top 10 firm continues to lead a working party that puts Microsoft at the centre of law firm efforts to shift their infrastructure off premises.
Allen & Overy Fuse – an update
Allen & Overy’s tech innovation space Fuse has to date generated a significant amount of interest quite rightly, because it is in the only law firm we know of so far to create this kind of sizeable tech incubator within its own City walls. In October we looked around Fuse and chatted to the current startup and not-so-startup occupants, as well as chairman Jonathan Brayne and Fuse head Shruti Ajitsaria, who unbeknown to many can be credited with getting the idea off the ground.
Leading the field: Taylor Wessing talks cloud
Taylor Wessing has collaborated with Microsoft on a video documenting its journey into Azure, as the top 20 law firm reaches the half-way point in its three-year migration plan. You can watch the 2:50 minute video here, in which chief information officer Kevin Harris and co-head of the international corporate practice, David Mardle, describe some of the wholesale cultural changes that have already resulted from the shift.
‘Machine beats man’ in CaseCrunch lawyer challenge
As several cameramen recorded events at Kennedys’ City office on Friday 27 October, the latest Man v Machine challenge reached its conclusion. But there was no real surprise when the results were announced: the machine, aka CaseCruncher Alpha, won hands down securing victory by a clear 24. 3% margin. Its accuracy rate of 86.6% compared with a more modest 62.3% achieved by the men and women challengers – every one a lawyer.
Reformation: Notes from the Field – an excerpt
The following is an excerpt from our regular contributor Mitchell Kowalski’s new book, The Great Legal Reformation: Notes from the Field which is now globally available via Amazon. We’ll be reviewing the book very shortly; if you’ve/when you read it, let us know your thoughts.
Greg Bufithis on The Panama Papers, Ediscovery and Murder in the Afternoon
If you missed Greg Bufithis’ comment in October, quite frankly where have you been. It prompted an outpouring from our readers online, with Alexandra Dumont commenting: “I’m speechless. I never thought I’d see Panama Papers, ediscovery and murder in the same sentence” and Paul Tannenberg commenting: “Jesus what a story!! Incredible.”
Uh oh, more ILTA fall out
There’s been more fallout at ILTA with four more senior staff set to pursue new jobs.
And let’s not forget your all-time favourites: What’s hot & what’s not: wins & deals AND Movers & Shakers
PLUS here’s a flip-book version of the newsletter offering print, sharing, bookmarking and full-screen viewing capabilities. As it uses HTML5 rather than Flash, it is Android & iOS smartphone & tablet friendly.
• If you are on the email distribution list you will be receiving your copy anytime now
• You can also download the digital edition (NB it is a 3.2 Mb PDF file) HERE free of charge
• If you want to forward on a copy of this newsletter to a friend, please do
• If you use our Legal IT Insider IOS app – that will be live anytime now on your iPhone and iPad
Our next issue (No #308 – November/December) will be out on Wednesday 6 December 2017
Click here to subscribe and see the full archive