The Scottish Legal Awards 2019 - the winners!

Congratulations to all who took part in the Scottish Legal Awards 2019, proudly sponsored by Eclipse. The event took place on the 21st March at the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow.

The prestigious awards which bring the best and brightest in the Scottish legal profession together celebrate and reward outstanding contributions being made by solicitors, teams and organisations across Scotland.

The glittering ceremony which saw hundreds in attendance was hosted by comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli.

The Legal Technology Award was presented to the winners DWF by John Keane (pictured), Sales Consultant at Eclipse.

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


Firm of the year
Digby Brown Solicitors

Lawyer of the Year
Jill Sinclair, DWF

In-House Lawyer of the Year (Public sector)
Maree Allison, Scottish Social Services Council

In-House Lawyer of the Year (Commercial)
Kenny Robertson, Royal Bank of Scotland

Commercial Property Team of the Year
CMS

Community Contribution Awards
Digby Brown Solicitors
Scullion LAW

Corporate and Commercial Team of the Year
Shepherd and Wedderburn

Criminal Defence Firm of the Year
Livingstone Brown

Employment Team of the Year
Blackadders

Family Law Team of the Year
Livingstone Brown

Commercial In-House Legal Team of the Year
Royal Bank of Scotland

Public Sector In-House Legal Team of the Year
The City of Edinburgh Council – Legal Services Division

Legal Technology Award
DWF

Litigation Team of the Year
Allan McDougall Solicitors

Paralegal of the Year
Fiona Anderson, MacPhee and Partners

Residential Property Team of the Year
Coulters

Rising Star of the Year
Jamie Apted, MBM Commercial

Support Team of the Year
ESPC

Managing Partner of the Year
Johnston Clark, Blackadders

Lifetime Achievement Award
Professor Lorne Crerar

Eclipse strengthens position in Scottish legal sector with the launch of a regional hub

Eclipse Legal Systems, the UK’s leading case and practice management software provider, has responded to the increased demand for its Proclaim solution within the Scottish legal sector with the launch of a dedicated Edinburgh office and region-specific sales and innovation teams.

Eclipse’s in-house subject matter experts, which include The Society of Law Accountants in Scotland (SOLAS) qualified consultants, have enabled Proclaim to be tailored for use specifically in Scotland. The growing number of law firms in Scotland replacing their incumbent systems with Proclaim includes heavyweights Drummond Miller and property specialists DJ Alexander.

The Proclaim practice management and Scotland specific accounting platform provides a fully integrated system, equipping senior management with robust reporting facilities and access to live financial data and operational performance. As part of the solution’s core flexibility, law firms are also provided with Proclaim’s configuration toolset, facilitating practices to easily create their own unique system workflows to suit individual business requirements.

Chris Buckle (pictured), sales director at Eclipse, comments:

“Eclipse’s ambitious ongoing growth and innovation strategy has led us to meet the needs of forward-thinking Scottish law firms keen to adopt the best technologies to streamline activities and improve the all-important client experience.

The launch of the Edinburgh hub and our commitment to continuous development of both preconfigured and bespoke Scottish law specific solutions will provide Scottish law firms with more immediate access to an unequalled set of efficiency and productivity tools.”

Eclipse’s new Proclaim MTD toolset officially recognised by HMRC as Making Tax Digital compliant

Law Society endorsed legal software provider, Eclipse Legal Systems, has announced new functionality in its Proclaim Practice Management solution to enable law firms to remain compliant with HMRC Making Tax Digital requirements.

Making Tax Digital is a key part of the Government’s plans to make it easier for individuals and businesses to get their tax right and keep on top of their affairs – meaning the end of the annual tax return for millions. From 1st April 2019 all businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold will be mandated to use the Making Tax Digital service to keep records digitally and submit their VAT returns using compatible compliant software.

The new Proclaim MTD solution has been rigorously tested by HMRC which has officially recognised the system as being compliant with the Making Tax Digital regulations. The Proclaim MTD toolset is additional functionality to be utilised within the Proclaim Practice Management solution and is immediately available for new and existing Proclaim users.

Tracy Blencowe (pictured), Business Solutions Director at Eclipse, comments:

“The Proclaim MTD functionality is Eclipse’s latest innovation designed to empower law firms to easily remain compliant with the new VAT regulations. This time saving technology is easily utilised with minimal effort required from the user – freeing their time up to concentrate on what really matters to them, delivering a great service to their clients.”

The Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Conveyancing Awards 2019 – nominations open!

The Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Conveyancing Awards are taking place on 18th July at The Rum Warehouse, Liverpool.

Eclipse is proud to be headline sponsor of the event, which celebrates conveyancing trailblazers and property pioneers by recognising those taking the lead in innovation; those who have achieved successes as teams or individuals; and those championing client care.

The winners will be chosen by an esteemed panel of judges, who have been carefully selected based upon their knowledge and experience within the industry.

Click here for a full list of the award categories, and to make your nominations before the deadline of Wednesday 5th June, don’t forget you can nominate yourself!

Going Green

Darren Gower (pictured), Marketing Director at Eclipse spoke to LPM Magazine to discuss why law firms should be going green.

For law firms, direct environmental impacts may be small in comparison to companies in sectors such as extractives or energy, but increasingly stakeholders, clients and employees expect firms to minimise their impacts and report on their environmental performance – and firms may begin to lose out to competitors who do. There’s most certainly a business case for law firms going green: it reduces costs by using fewer resources, requiring less energy and generating less waste. This keeps firms competitive as environmental credentials become a bigger part of clients’ buying decisions, and improves employee attraction and retention.

For many law firms, office waste and travel are often among the first areas to come under the spotlight to drive down costs and carbon emissions. It seems that many organisations still underestimate just how much office waste is actually costing – Waste and Resources Action Programme reports that it could be as high as 4% of turnover. It has been estimated that the average office worker in the UK uses 45 sheets of paper a day and I suspect this figure is much higher in our sector, so it follows that going paperless is a key step that a law firm can take in its environmental journey.

Cut out paper – cut out cost. I’ve worked with mid-sized law firms that have gone paperless, one of which makes a conservative estimate that it’s now saving £65,000 per year. Others tell me how time-sapping manual document production has been eliminated thanks to going paperless, and associated costs of secure storage and expensive DX services are eliminated too.

Today’s technology functionality can drive you closer to a paperless office at pace. Several law firms I work with take pride in operating with no physical documents and virtual mail rooms. Yet, in saving natural resources and reducing a firm’s carbon footprint in this way, business value is also created from what this automation brings to communicating and collaborating with clients: more efficiency, via selfservice technologies, creating auditable automated workflows, and the like. Such technology innovations not only enable the paperless office but bring efficiency, improved case progression and transparency, and also significant reductions in staff time spent on administrative tasks.

Minimising the need for staff and client travel is also important when law firms set about reducing their environmental impact. Accessible conference venues and locating new offices near public transport can help. But, encouraging and supporting employees to use technology to collaborate anywhere at any time – way beyond email and mobile phones, with cloud services, SaaS models, videoconferencing and distributed case management systems, and self-service tools for clients – can help decouple environmental impact from revenue growth. Enabling working from home in this way delivers significant savings in the form of commuter carbon. But again, the planet’s not the only winner. I’ve spoken with firms where it has helped with staff retention because their people can relocate to different cities, working entirely without paper or at least working at home part of the week in harmony with their domestic needs. And, of course, they no longer need to transport heavy physical files backwards and forwards.

So, from what I’ve seen, using technology to support your environment strategy is absolutely the right thing to do: it’s good for your people, your profit and the planet.

The Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Awards 2019 – the winners!

Congratulations to all who took part in the Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Awards on the 31st January at the Victoria Warehouse, Manchester, headline sponsored by Eclipse.

The awards, which offer the perfect opportunity to showcase best practice across the diverse landscape of law, were hosted by comedian Rod Woodward and saw over 500 guests attend.

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

ABS of the Year
Cleveland & Co Associates Limited

Law Firm of the Year
Anthony Collins Solicitors

Boutique Law Firm of the Year (1-10 Employees)
TMP Solicitors LLP

Boutique Law Firm of the Year (11+ Employees)
Croftons Solicitors LLP

Managing Partner of the Year
Catherine Hartland – Newbold Solicitors

Lawyer of the Year
Julie Davis – LCF Residential

​Chambers of the Year
1 Crown Office Row

Barrister of the Year
Brie Stevens-Hoare QC – Hardwicke

In-House Team of the Year
National Grid

Paralegal of the Year
Rebecca Carr – Duncan Lewis Solicitors

Rising Star of the Year
Shimon Goldwater – Asserson

Innovation of the Year
Shieldpay Ltd

Marketing & Communication Strategy of the Year
Excello Law

Client Care Initiative of the Year
Instalaw Solicitors

Outstanding Commitment to Training
High Court Enforcement Group Limited

Best Use of Technology
Weightmans LLP

Business Growth Award
Ignition Law

Combatting Fraud Award
SmartCredit Ltd T/As SmartSearch

Diversity & Inclusion Award
Shearman & Sterling LLP

Supporting the Industry 1-25 Employees
Trevor Gilbert & Associates

Supporting the Industry 26+ Employees
CILEx Law School

Outstanding Achievement AwardKaron Monaghan QC

Lifetime Achievement AwardRodger Pannone

The Scottish Legal Awards 2019 – shortlist

We’re delighted to announce the shortlist for the Scottish Legal Awards, taking place on Thursday 21st March at the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow.

The prestigious Awards celebrate excellence in Scottish Law bring together the best and brightest in the legal profession.

Eclipse is proudly sponsoring the ‘Legal Technology’ Award.

The full shortlist can be seen below – congratulations to all the finalists!

Firm of the year
Dentons
Digby Brown Solicitors
MBM Commercial
Shepherd & Wedderburn
Thompsons Solicitors

Lawyer of the Year
Aamer Anwar, Aamer Anwar & Co
Jill Sinclair, DWF
Stephen Trombala, Shepherd and Wedderburn

In-House Lawyer of the Year
Maree Allison, Scottish Social Services Council
Kenny Robertson, Royal Bank of Scotland
Jane Valentine, Wheatley Group

Commercial Property Team of the Year
Blackadders
CMS
Shoosmiths
Wheatley Group

Community Contribution Award
Digby Brown Solicitors
DWF
Faculty of Advocates
Families Need Fathers Scotland: Both Parents Matter
Glasgow Caledonian University Law Clinic
Macnabs
Scullion LAW
University of Strathclyde Mediation Clinic

Corporate and Commercial Team of the Year
Dentons
Shepherd and Wedderburn

Criminal Defence Firm of the Year
Aamer Anwar & Co
Beltrami & Co
Livingstone Brown
Martin Johnston and Socha

Employment Team of the Year
Blackadders
Clyde & Co

Family Law Team of the Year
Elizabeth Welsh Family Law Practice
Gilson Gray
Livingstone Brown
Macleod & MacCallum

Commercial In-House Legal Team of the Year
Edrington
Royal Bank of Scotland
Skyscanner Limited
The Weir Group
Wheatley Group

Public Sector In-House Legal Team of the Year
Scottish Social Services Council
The City of Edinburgh Council – Legal Services Division
University of Strathclyde Mediation Clinic

Legal Technology Award
Amiqus Resolution
Blackadders – Blackadders Employment Team
DWF
Millar & Bryce and DUAL Asset Underwriting
Nalytics
Property Searches Scotland
Registers of Scotland – The Digital Discharge Service
SnapDragon Monitoring

Litigation Team of the Year
Allan McDougall Solicitors
Clyde & Co
Dentons
Digby Brown Solicitors
Halliday Campbell
Shoosmiths

Paralegal of the Year
Fiona Anderson, MacPhee and Partners
Donna Clark, Macleod & MacCallum
Bilaal Shabbir, MBS Solicitors

Residential Property Team of the Year
Coulters
Innes & Mackay
McDougall McQueen
Neilsons Solicitors and Estate Agents

Rising Star of the Year
Jamie Apted, MBM Commercial
Kelly Fraser, Harper Macleod
Emma Guthrie, Shepherd and Wedderburn
Amy Mackenzie, Harper Macleod
Shawn Wood, Watermans Legal

Support Team of the Year
ESPC
Millar & Bryce
Moore Legal Technology
Property Searches Scotland