2005 WINNER
Nick Williams of Eversheds with Geoff Hornsby of Interwoven
Eversheds used technology to boost client service to new heights with a trio of innovations.
The "Competition Law Online Toolkit" teaches directors, managers and employees of clients about statutes that can impose severe criminal and civil. To familiarise client workforces with competition law, Eversheds devised an online bespoke training product that teaches with tailored case studies. One client said, "The toolkit is an extremely cost effective solution to our training needs."
The firm created its online "HR Document Builder" to spare their clients’ HR staff hours of manual work or expense in creating forms, contracts and handbooks. With HR Document Builder, clients fill in an easy Web questionnaire, press a button and a pre-approved document is generated. The Times wrote, "This service will surely be attractive to clients."
Eversheds created an online reference tool called "Directors’ Law of Europe" that helps multinational companies overcome Europe’s many languages and separate legal systems.
RUNNER UP
Shoosmiths' nominated its "Business Game," a bespoke educational tool created in-house by combining advanced features of Excel with business rules derived from industry standards embodied in PricewaterhouseCoopers' Benchmarking Survey. The game challenges lawyer teams to set up a new legal office, requiring the team to make commercial decisions and understand the risks associated with a new venture. Shoosmiths’ lawyers have embraced the Game, finding it equips them to understand the fundamentals of the way a business is run. This in turn translates into improved client service as lawyers position themselves as business advisors to their clients.
One partner stated, "The Business Game achieved a deeper understanding amongst junior members of staff about the realities of running a business…enabling a greater understanding of the pressures on our clients…and enabling them to understand our (own) business." The Game proves that common technology combined with a creative, innovative idea can give lawyers a competitive edge.
3RD PLACE
Kennedy’s entry was a tailored litigation support system for the Hatfield Rail Disaster trials. They said "The trial was a massive, document-intensive case involving highly complex factual, technical and legal issues. The trial is a very high profile matter, regularly described as the biggest case of its type ever in the UK, and possibly the world: it involved the calling of hundreds of witnesses and the documentation is absolutely immense."
They put together an impressive litigation support system and on-site support for a trial team. The solution was a pragmatic response to urgent case needs; flexible, low cost and true "best use of technology" for the situation resulting in distinct competitive advantage in that case. However, there was little innovative in the technology or the solution as the suite of services is one that almost any top international litigation firm ought to be able to muster in similar circumstances.