The Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Awards 2014 - the winners!

Congratulations to all who took part in the Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Awards on the 15th October at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane in London, headline sponsored by Eclipse Legal Systems.

The awards, which celebrate innovative business and legal service providers, were hosted by Gyles Brandreth and were attended by over 500 guests.

The full list of winners as chosen by a cross-industry panel of high profile judges can be seen below:

• ABS of the year up to 25 employees
  Winner: Richard Chambers
  Highly Commended: Crabtree Law LLP

• ABS of the year 26-100 employees
  Winner: Schillings
  Highly Commended: Convey Law

• ABS of the year over 100 employees
  Winner: Myhomemove
  Highly Commended: Just Costs

• Lawyer of the year
  Winner: Emma Pearmaine – Simpson Millar LLP
  Highly Commended: Christine Thornley – Gorvins Solicitors

• Non lawyer of the year
  Winner: Christopher Mills – Schillings
  Highly Commended: Gladys Swaim-Rutter – Roberts Jackson Solicitors

• Team of the year
  Winner: TUI Travel Plc
  Highly Commended: Kent Legal Services
  Highly Commended: Colemans-ctts

• Rising star of the year
  Winner: Joanna Parkinson – Michael W Halsalls
  Highly Commended: Hendrik Puschmann – Kenneth More Theatre – White & Case

• Innovation of the year
  Winner: Emsleys Solicitors
  Highly Commended: Berwin Leighton Paisner

• Entrepreneur of the year
  Winner: Zoe Holland – Zebra Legal Consulting
  Highly Commended: Geoff Wild – Kent Legal Services

• Client care initiative of the year
  Winner: Bott & Co Solicitors
  Highly Commended: Browne Jacobson

• Compliance office of the year
  Winner: Shirley Rothel – Just Costs
  Highly Commended: Gareth Richards – Convey Law

• Law firm of the year
  Winner: Schillings
  Highly Commended: Winn Solicitors
  Highly Commended: New Bold Solicitors

• Deal of the year
  Winner: Winn Solicitors
  Highly Commended: BLM

• New entrant of the year
  Winner: Burcher Jennings
  Highly Commended: Richmond Chambers

• Best use of technology
  Winner: SmartCredit Ltd T/As SmartSearch
  Highly Commended: Aequitas Legal

• Best marketing campaign of the year
  Winner: Bott & Co Solicitors
  Highly Commended: National Accident Helpline

• Chambers of the year
  Winner: Matrix Chambers
  Highly Commended: Zenith Chambers

• Supporting the industry award
  Winner: Baker Tilly
  Highly Commended: SearchFlow

• Outstanding achievement
  Winner: Martyn Day, Leigh Day Solicitors

• Lifetime achievement
  Winner: Diane Burleigh OBE, Cilex

Bartletts Solicitors implements Proclaim

National law firm to roll out the Proclaim Case Management Software Solution

Liverpool-based law firm, Bartletts Solicitors, is implementing the Proclaim Case Management Software solution from Eclipse Legal Systems.

Established in 1860, Bartletts Solicitors employs over 60 staff at 8 offices across the North West region. Boasting a nationwide reputation for providing trusted legal assistance and superb client care, the firm provides a full range of legal services to both corporate and private clients. To further strengthen this position, and as part of a strategy to continually invest in the latest technologies, Bartletts Solicitors has implemented Proclaim throughout its Personal Injury team.

Proclaim will provide a central secure platform across all 8 offices ensuring a consistent approach to each Personal Injury case. As part of the solution, the Personal Injury team at Bartletts Solicitors will have instant desktop access to Proclaim's A2A (Application-to-Application) tools for processing Portal claims for both RTA (Road Traffic Accident) and EL / PL (Employer Liability / Public Liability).

The firm will monitor and analyse ongoing performance using Proclaim’s integrated reporting toolkit. Its inbuilt functionality will facilitate the easy creation of custom automated management reports - allowing trends to be spotted and empowering the management team to quickly make informed operational and growth decisions.

Mike Craven, Practice Manager at Bartletts Solicitors, comments:

“Client care is our highest priority; it’s at the forefront of everything we do. Proclaim will enable us to meet clients’ expectations, automatically keeping them up to date with the progress of their case. This seamless client journey, combined with the increased efficiencies from the streamlining of time-sapping administration, will be crucial for staying ahead of the competition in this increasingly competitive sector.”

Wakefield and District Housing chooses Proclaim

Property specialist to implement Eclipse’s Proclaim Case Management Solution 

Award winning social landlord, Wakefield and District Housing (WDH), is implementing the Proclaim Case Management Software solution from Eclipse Legal Systems.

Established in 2005, WDH provides affordable housing and related services for tenants in over 31,000 homes. The firm employs 1,400 staff at nine offices across the Wakefield district and owns one in every four homes in the area.

The Proclaim Case Management Software solution will be rolled out across the legal services team, covering conveyancing and litigation. The single Proclaim database will ensure a secure and consistent approach for all users. Eclipse will conduct a full data migration from the incumbent system. WDH will take advantage of Proclaim’s inbuilt adaptability - producing tailored workflows to suit the firm’s bespoke processes and file management practises.

The legal services team at WDH will also be utilising Eclipse’s FileView online matter tracking solution - maintaining transparency by automatically keeping stakeholders up to date with selected data via a secure password system.

Paul Neal, Head of Legal at WDH, comments:

"We are committed to delivering excellent services and seek to improve even further by using technology to maximum effect. The Proclaim solution is a superb fit for our organisation - its automated streamlining of non-value adding administrative tasks will play an essential role in delivering our value for money promise to tenants.”

The shortlist for the Eclipse Proclaim Personal Injury Awards 2014

We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Eclipse Proclaim Personal Injury Awards 2014 which takes place on 12th November at The Grange St. Paul’s, London.

Due to the large number of high calibre nominations received, the panel of judges were faced with many tough decisions to make when whittling down all the entries to create the final shortlist of firms and individuals.

The shortlist for the 17 awards can be seen below:

• Claimant Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year

David Greenwood – Switalskis
Ben Posford – Osbornes Solicitors
Craig Budsworth

• Defendant Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year

Fiona Murphy – Keoghs
Sean McGahan – McKinty & Wright
Rod Evans – Greenwoods

• Claimant Personal Injury Team of the Year

Osbornes Solicitors
Roberts Jackson Solicitors
Switalksis

• Defendant Personal Injury Team of the Year

Geldards
Keoghs
McKinty & Wright

• Barristers’ Chambers of the Year

7BR
Parklane Plowden
Clerksroom

• Mediation Achiever of the Year

Quentin Smith
Tim Wallis – Trust Mediation

• Rehab Provider of the Year

Papworth Trust Rehabilitation
Bush & Company Rehabilitation
Argent Rehabilitation

• Claims Management Company of the Year

First4Lawyers
Atrium Legal
Winn Assist
Rollins UK

• Medicolegal Provider of the Year

Bush & Company Rehabilitation
TLA Medicolegal
Medical Records

• Insurance Provider of the Year

ARAG
DAC Beachcroft
Financial & Legal

• Associated Industries Award

mmadigital
Frenkel Topping
Premex
Trevor Gilbert & Associates

• Young Achiever of the Year

Michael Wolstencroft – Roberts Jackson Solicitors
Katie Rose – Keoghs
Thomas Blackburn – Compass Costs
Jennifer Corris– Roberts Jackson Solicitors

• Practice/Operations Manager of the Year

Krissi Gillingham – Photofile
Gladys Swaim-Rutter – Roberts Jackson Solictors

• Marketing Campaign

Emsleys Solicitors – Review My Claim
Hilary Meredith
First4Lawyers
Media Agency Group for the ‘Claims Through Us’ campaign

• Outstanding Case of the Year

Jane Woodcock – Neil Hudgell Solicitors
Neil Southern – Keoghs
Switalskis

• Outstanding Achievement Award

To be announced on the night

• Lifetime Achievement Award

To be announced on the night

For more details, visit the official Barker Brooks Eclipse Proclaim Personal Injury Awards website.

Client Case Study: Advantage Property Lawyers

Award winning conveyancer sees 200% growth since implementing Proclaim

“Working with Proclaim will enable us to achieve ‘Top 25 Status’ in 2014”
Stephen Coupland, Head of Sales & Marketing at APL

In 2013 Advantage Property Lawyers (APL), with the assistance of a Proclaim Practice Management Solution, won 3 major awards:
- Large Conveyancer of the Year (silver) - Sunday Times Estate Agency of the Year
- Yorkshire & North East Conveyancing Firm of the Year (gold) and
- Conveyancing Firm of the Year (silver) - LFS conveyancing Awards

The Challenge
In 2009, as a new start-up, APL needed a Practice Management solution that focused specifically on residential conveyancing. Software was needed that would allow the firm to offer its clients and introducers an outstanding level of service and customer care, whilst maintaining best practice at all times. The solution would also have to be reliable and offer easy scalability in line with APL’s aspirations to become one of the UK’s biggest and best conveyancers.

The Solution
Eclipse’s Proclaim Practice Management solution was implemented at APL’s inception as it provided a centralised, secure desktop toolkit for every property transaction - utilised by all staff. Proclaim was also chosen for its out-of-the box conveyancing focus and ease of integration with third party complementary software - as most work came from large corporates and major estate agents.

The Results
Proclaim has proved to be an essential ‘enabler’ for providing a superb client experience and reducing turnaround times. Proclaim facilitated APL to achieve over 4,000 completions and increase turnover by 40% in 2013. The financial and reporting toolset is used to provide instant data retrieval with on-going monitoring and analysis of KPIs assisting with the management of systems, processes and risk calculations.

APL is using Proclaim to automate a vast number of administrative processes including document production and hopes to move towards a paperless office soon.

Since implementing Proclaim, APL has grown rapidly requiring an increase in staff numbers by over 200% from 15 to over 50. The firm is now represented on the management board of The Conveyancing Association and was the first conveyancing firm to receive the ‘Legal Eye’ quality standard.