Monday, 17 December 2018
Proclaim provides personal injury giant Hudgell Solicitors with a decade of adaptability
Established in 1997, Hudgell Solicitors has been in business over 20 years, and has forged its way to become one of the top 150 law firms in the UK.
Specialising in all aspects of personal injury law, from medical negligence and road traffic accidents, through to civil liberties and illness abroad, Hudgell Solicitors is able to provide nationwide legal advice and services to clients from its offices in Hull, Leeds and London.
The firm has seen rapid expansion over the years, now employing a team of over 100 staff, and provides an unrivalled compensation claims service.
Following the success of the firm, and its recent celebration of two decades in business, we spoke with Steven Hinchcliffe (IT Executive) on Hudgell Solicitors’ use of Proclaim and how it’s aided the firm in its expansion since 2007.
Why has Hudgell Solicitors remained an Eclipse client for so long?
The longevity of our relationship with Eclipse speaks volumes, and for us specifically, one of the main reasons for this has been due to the level of customisation available within Proclaim. We haven’t needed to look elsewhere for a practice management system because Proclaim was built to suit the changing needs of the legal sector, and has continued to do so over the years.
Proclaim has also given us the ability to analyse our data much more forensically in order to drive our performance as a firm over the years, and as such we’ve been able to identify key areas for improvement, which means we are able to continuously enhance our already high levels of customer care.
Has Hudgell Solicitors developed Proclaim to suit new areas of work?
We initially took the out-of-the-box personal injury case management system. It’s such a comprehensive solution, and has truly been built with law firms in mind, so much so that we’ve only had to make adjustments to suit our firm-specific requirements – for example, we’ve reorganised screens, and made changes to the costs and disbursements process.
Essentially, the system is shaped around our day-to-day procedures and it fully supports our service offering, but it’s also able to adapt to the wider legal industry. The personal injury sector in particular is extremely dynamic and constantly changing – it’s a testament to Eclipse and the strength of Proclaim that it has been able to keep up effortlessly.
What’s changed over the years and how has Proclaim aided the business?
We’ve grown considerably over the last 20 years, and have recently expanded into new offices across Hull, Leeds and London. As such an ambitious firm, the ability to grow both organically and through acquisition has always been very important to us and thanks to Proclaim’s inherent scalability, we’re able to achieve this goal seamlessly.
It’s also important to note how much Eclipse and Proclaim has changed over the years. Eclipse is constantly introducing new capabilities, features and toolsets, all of which are aimed at streamlining processes as much as possible.
As an example, when we initially implemented Proclaim back in 2007, one of our aims was to become paper free, and although that will always prove a difficult task for law firms, thanks to Eclipse’s innovation and Proclaim’s capabilities, we’ve made significant steps towards paperless operations.
Taking this further, the fact that we’ve been able to streamline all of our processes with the click of a mouse – from scanning medical reports into Proclaim through to document production – has increased the speed of case progression. Do you use Proclaim to monitor business operations?
For a firm of our size, reports play a crucial role in providing transparency for all of the teams.
We tend to use Proclaim’s MIWH (Management Information Warehouse) for its reporting facilities for a truly detailed analysis and it allows us to drill down into statistics of our choice. It also means we can schedule reports to be run in real-time, and without interrupting processes that may already be taking place within Proclaim.
For the most part, using the MIWH for its reporting functionality means that the management team has a holistic view of the firm in terms of productivity and general operations, readily available to further drill down into should they wish – including statistics on specific teams or fee earners, as well as comparisons of targets. Additionally, our marketing team makes good use of the daily reporting facilities in order to provide a comprehensive overview of incoming enquiries, new clients and the ROI we’re receiving from Proclaim. Without it we’d have to do all of these reports manually, and that wold have huge time and cost implications!
Does Proclaim help to link with your business partners?
One of the great things about Proclaim is that it’s widely used throughout the industry so as a result, we find that many of our business partners also use the system. With the capabilities that come with Proclaim, it means we can benefit from a kind of ‘virtual contact’ with our business partners, and significantly reduce paper usage whilst increasing the speed of service and remaining secure.
This is also true for our clients as we’ve implemented Eclipse’s online document delivery and acceptance tool, SecureDocs, and this has proven vital in enhancing our client onboarding process as it’s all done with the click of a button. It’s meant we can be instructed within a matter of minutes, but it’s also gone a long way towards our goal of operating as a paper free firm, whilst providing our clients with peace of mind. We now offer a completely secure, yet transparent service, allowing clients access to action important documents, whilst increasing the speed of case progression.
For our business partners, we often use Proclaim’s exporting abilities to share files. Where we previously had to export individual history lines, we’ve now sped up this process greatly because we are able to export and send files with the click of a mouse. Further, the ‘zip’ feature within Proclaim’s workflow toolset enables us to send one large file, rather than numerous documents.
Essentially, Proclaim has saved us hours that would have been spent completing time-sapping tasks, and continues to increase our efficiencies!
How well does Proclaim suit your ongoing business needs?
Very well – we’ve been an Eclipse client now for a decade so that in itself goes to show Proclaim’s suitability!
Importantly for us, Eclipse recognises the ongoing need to develop Proclaim in order to continually drive efficiencies, and thanks to the intuitiveness of the system, we’re more than confident in its ability to effortlessly adapt to the changing needs of the legal sector, and Hudgell Solicitors.
Thursday, 13 December 2018
The Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Awards 2019 – shortlist
We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Awards 2019, which takes place on Thursday 31st January at the Victoria Warehouse, Manchester.
After facing a number of tough decisions to whittle down all of the high-calibre entries, the judges have created a final shortlist of firms and individuals, which can be seen below.
Congratulations to all!
ABS of the Year
360 Law Group
Beacon Wealth Legal Ltd
Cleveland & Co Associates Limited
DAS Law Ltd
ESP Law
Forum Chambers
Law Firm of the Year
Anthony Collins Solicitors
Excello Law
Goodwin
Newbold Solicitors
Oakwood Solicitors
Weightmans LLP
Boutique Law Firm of the Year (1-10 Employees)
Consilia Legal
Donoghue Solicitors
ESP Law
FD Law trading as Hayes Connor Solicitors
Kemp IT Law
TMP Solicitors LLP
Boutique Law Firm of the Year (11+ Employees)
Anthony Collins Solicitors
Bridge Law Solicitors Limited
Croftons Solicitors LLP
Fox & Partners Solicitors LLP
Latitude Law
The Family Law Company
Managing Partner of the Year
Catherine Hartland – Newbold Solicitors
Helen Moore – The Specialist Law Group Limited
Laura Clapton – Consilia Legal
Neil Wilson – Chadwick Lawrence
Steve Eccleston – Kuit Steinart Levy LLP (Kuits)
Trevor Worth – Portcullis Legals
Lawyer of the Year
Ann-Marie Bowman – Rothera Sharp Solicitors
Bahar Ata – Duncan Lewis Solicitors
Gemma Roberts – Goodwin
Julie Davis – LCF Residential
Lucy Lewis – Lewis Silkin LLP
Toufique Hossain – Duncan Lewis Solicitors
Chambers of the Year
1 Crown Office Row
3 Paper Buildings
Hardwicke
Outer Temple Chambers
Park Square Barristers
Wilberforce Chambers
Barrister of the Year
Brie Stevens-Hoare QC – Hardwicke
John Whitting QC – 1 Crown Office Row
Lizanne Gumbel QC – 1 Crown Office Row
Matthew Hill – 1 Crown Office Row
Philip Havers QC – 1 Crown Office Row
Phillippa Kaufmann QC – Matrix Chambers
In-House Team of the Year
Co-op Legal Services
Lewis Townsend LLP
MVF
National Grid
Peninsula
University of Manchester – Legal Advice Centre
Paralegal of the Year
Aileen Avenet – Lewis Townsend LLP
Katie Vann – Lewis Townsend LLP
Lily-Rose Scargill – Lewis Silkin LLP
Lottie Hume – Duncan Lewis Solicitors
Rebecca Carr – Duncan Lewis Solicitors
Rising Star of the Year
Catherine Ann Haworth – GABBS Solicitors
Lewis Kett – Duncan Lewis Solicitors
Morag Ofili – Mishcon de Reya LLP
Shimon Goldwater – Asserson
Simarjot Singh Judge – Judge Law
Sophie Murgatroyd – Bridge Law Solicitors Limited
Innovation of the Year
Co-op Legal Services
inCase
Luminance
Ridley and Hall Solicitors
Shieldpay Ltd
The Link App
Marketing & Communication Strategy of the Year
Excello Law
FBC Manby Bowdler LLP
FD Law trading as Hayes Connor Solicitors
First4Lawyers
Ridley and Hall Solicitors
SFE (Solicitors for the Elderly)
Client Care Initiative of the Year
Instalaw Solicitors
Lewis Townsend LLP
Milford & Dormor Solicitors
Newbold Solicitors
Ridley and Hall Solicitors
The Specialist Law Group Limited
Outstanding Commitment to Training
Bailoran Solicitors
DC Law & JS Law
High Court Enforcement Group Limited
JMC Legal Recruitment
My Home Move
Ramsdens Solicitors LLP
Best Use of Technology
Farewill
iManage
inCase
Luminance
The Link App
Weightmans LLP
Business Growth Award
Barrister-Direct
Farewill
Ignition Law
Instalaw Solicitors
Newbold Solicitors
Unpaid / De Groote — De Man
Combatting Fraud Award
iovation
Keoghs
Shieldpay Ltd
SmartCredit Ltd T/As SmartSearch
The CS Partnership
Diversity & Inclusion Award
Goodwin
Mishcon de Reya LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Sterling Stamp Law Firm
University of Manchester – Legal Advice Centre
Wedlake Bell LLP
Supporting the Industry 1-25 Employees
Curian Medical Limited
DMR Collation Ltd
inCase
LexRex Communications Ltd
The Link App
Trevor Gilbert & Associates
Supporting the Industry 26+ Employees
CILEx Law School
First4Lawyers
Mobile Doctors Limited
ProMediate (UK) Limited
SearchFlow
tmgroup
Monday, 3 December 2018
The Eclipse Proclaim Personal Injury Awards 2018 - the winners!
We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Eclipse Proclaim Personal Injury Awards 2018!
The event took place on 28th November at The Hilton Hotel, Manchester, the prestigious awards ceremony saw hundreds of influential figures within the PI sector attend, and were hosted by comedian Justin Moorhouse.
The full list of winners, as chosen by a panel of high profile judges, can be seen below – congratulations to all!
Claimant Lawyer of the Year
Peter Garsden – Simpson Millar
Defendant Team of the Year
Forbes Solicitors
Claimant Team of the Year
Simpson Millar
Clinical Negligence Lawyer of the Year
Kashmir Uppal – Access Legal Solicitors
Clinical Negligence Team of the Year
Lanyon Bowdler Solicitors
Catastrophic Injury Lawyer of the Year
Warren Collins – Penningtons Manches
Catastrophic Injury Team of the Year
Slater and Gordon
Barristers’ Chambers of the Year
St John’s Buildings Chambers
Mediation Achiever of the Year
Paul Balen – Trust Mediation
Rehab Provider of the Year
STEPS Rehabilitation
Claims Management Company of the Year
First4Lawyers
Medicolegal Provider of the Year
Speed Medical
Insurance Provider of the Year
Allianz Legal Protection
Supporting the Industry
Trevor Gilbert & Associates
Young Achiever of the Year
Alice Robinson – Slater and Gordon
Marketing Campaign of the Year
Irwin Mitchell
Outstanding Case of the Year
Irwin Mitchell
Lifetime Achievement Award
Brian Gardner
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