Access Legal Systems, Station House, Station Road, Sandbach, Cheshire. CW11 3JG

Tel: 01270 766774   Fax: 01270 766701

THE LAW SOCIETY SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS GUIDE

Introduction and explanation of the scheme

The Software Solutions Guide is designed to help law firms make more informed decisions about legal IT suppliers. Each year, the Law Society invites specialist legal software suppliers to apply for inclusion in the Guide. The Law Society is happy to recommend the suppliers featured in the Guide, which have met the criteria outlined below.

Selection criteria

Suppliers need to demonstrate the following:

  • Financial stability
  • Satisfactory customer feedback research
  • An integrated practice management system

Financial assessment

The accounts of each company are examined by independent accountants, who analyse profitability, liquidity, cash flow and turnover and assess the ability to pay creditors. Suppliers must meet a defined minimum score to be included in the Guide.

Customer feedback research

Approximately 40 customer firms per supplier are selected at random and are interviewed by independent market researchers. Customers are asked to rate their supplier against a range of factors such as ease of use and quality of training and support and the overall rating for each factor is published in the Guide.

Software and company assessment

Suppliers are asked to attend a meeting with the selection panel, where they demonstrate their software. The selection panel pays particular attention to specific features, which this year included email integration, money laundering checks, client conflict checking and compliance in general.

Final assessment

The selection panel makes the final decision on which suppliers should be included in the Guide, based on the selection criteria outlined above.

Access Legal Systems Assessment

Access Legal Systems were invited to submit an application for inclusion in Software Solutions 2008 and have been accepted. Ratings gathered from Access Legal System customers by the independent market research company are as follows:

Key Company Attributes

Provides innovative solutions

78.2%

Professionalism of sales approach

82.1%

Ease of doing business

86.8%

Keeps clients up to date with changes/pressures in legal practices

78.7%

Genuine concern that firm is gaining maximum benefit from using PM system

83.5%

Quality of training offered

83.0%

Understanding of legal business

83.8%

Quality of service support

87.5%

Key Product Attributes

Range of features

80.3%

Comprehensive range of functionality

80.5%

Total cost of software/maintenance

77.9%

Appropriateness for size of law firm

85.0%

Ease of configurability

79.2%

Improves efficiency and effectiveness of Law Firm

84.7%

Apparent ease of use

83.5%

Ongoing support offered

87.2%

Reliability of system

89.0%

Overall Rating

Overall reputation of the Company

82.6%

Overall satisfaction with practice management system

83.0%