Start-up firm Integral Law selects Proclaim Practice Management solution from Eclipse

Start-up law firm Integral Law is implementing the Proclaim Practice Management solution from Eclipse, the Law Society Endorsed legal software provider.

Established in 2019 as an Alternative Business Structure (ABS), London-based practice Integral Law specialises in Conveyancing services, and has chosen to utilise Proclaim to offer a high-quality, efficient service to clients throughout the UK.

As a new firm, Integral Law required a scalable solution that could facilitate growth in the business – and determined the Proclaim Practice Management software, with inbuilt accounting toolset for seamless billing procedures, was in the best position to meet their needs.

The software will be utilised throughout the firm, enabling a more efficient processing of Conveyancing transactions to allow for greater profit margins at Integral Law. The additional resource this creates will permit new business opportunities that will prove crucial for the growth of the practice.

Jon Carroll (pictured), Managing Director at Integral Law, said:

“Proclaim has proven to be the standout Practice Management solution on the market, and we’re extremely pleased to be experiencing the benefits of the system within our business since its implementation.”

“As a new law firm it’s important for us to deliver an excellent service to our clients, distinguishing us from the established competition whilst still processing each property transaction efficiently. Proclaim is the tool we need to enable this.”

The Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Conveyancing Awards 2019 – the winners!

We’re delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Conveyancing Awards!

Taking place on Thursday 18th July, the prestigious awards ceremony was hosted by comedian Tom Ward, and saw hundreds of influential figures within the industry attend.

The full list of winners, as chosen by a panel of high profile judges, can be seen below – congratulations to all!

Conveyancing Firm of the Year – North of England
Winner – Birchall Blackburn Law
Highly Commended – Stephensons Solicitors LLP

​Conveyancing Firm of the Year – MidlandsWinner – PM Property Lawyers
Highly Commended – Sort Legal

​Conveyancing Firm of the Year – South of EnglandWinner – Adams & Remers LLP
Highly Commended – AVRillo LLP & The Partnership

​Conveyancing Firm of the Year – WalesWinner – Countrywide Conveyancing Services
Highly Commended – Newbold Solicitors

​Search Provider of the YearWinner – SearchFlow
Highly Commended – Searches UK Limited

​Innovation of the YearWinner – Mullis & Peake LLP Solicitors
Highly Commended – Fletcher Longstaff

​Rising Star of the YearWinner – Jordan Tunnicliffe – Sort Legal
Highly Commended – Luke Neale – PCS Legal

​Service Provider of the YearWinner – InfoTrack
Highly Commended – Perfect Portal

​Client Care AwardWinner – Bell Lamb and Joynson Solicitors
Highly Commended – Rowlinsons Solicitors

​Best Use of TechnologyWinner – Stephensons Solicitors LLP
Highly Commended – Ramsdens Solicitors LLP

​Outstanding Commitment to TrainingWinner – My Home Move
Highly Commended – Countrywide Conveyancing Services

​Property Team of the YearWinner – Stephensons Solicitors LLP
Highly Commended – Kuits

​Conveyancer of the YearWinner – Jonathan Achampong – Wedlake Bell LLP
Highly Commended – Claire Wright – Countrywide Conveyancing Services

​National Conveyancing Firm of the YearWinner – PM Property Lawyers
Highly Commended – Birchall Blackburn Law

Outstanding Achievement of the YearWinner – Yvonne Hirons

Lifetime Achievement AwardWinner – Peter Rodd

Start-up firm Forever Legal partners with Eclipse to implement Proclaim Practice management solution

Eclipse Legal Systems, the Law Society Endorsed legal software provider, has today announced that new start-up law firm Forever Legal is implementing the Proclaim Practice Management solution.

Established in 2019, Altringham based Forever Legal specialises in equity release, residential conveyancing and probate law.

As a new legal practice, Forever Legal required a scalable Practice Management system that would facilitate growth and provide an inbuilt accounting toolset for efficient billing procedures. The firm selected the Proclaim Practice Management solution to roll out firm-wide, across all departments including Conveyancing and Probate.

Forever Legal will utilise TouchPoint+ Eclipse’s unique self-service platform enabling a higher level of client care, helping to differentiate from established competition.

The inbuilt visual dashboards within the KPIs reporting suite will provide Forever Legal with key financial performance information at glance for individual fee earners, departments and the firm as a whole – crucial for an ambitious new start-up.

Steve Dicks (pictured), Director at Forever Legal comments:

“Proclaim has an excellent reputation in the marketplace, I see it as the system of choice for new start-ups like us, Proclaim will provide an excellent platform for Forever Legal’s continued growth and success.

“It will enhance the service we deliver to clients whilst boosting our internal efficiencies and allow us to meet our goals as a business. We’re very excited to start working with Proclaim.”

Proclaim integration with Legal Bricks enables Conveyancing searches at the click of a button

Law society Endorsed legal software provider, Eclipse Legal Systems, has announced integration with leading Conveyancing search supplier Legal Bricks.

Legal Bricks provides Conveyancing searches, anti-money laundering ID checks and company reports. The firm has extensive experience in partnering with Conveyancing law firms throughout the UK.

Proclaim, Eclipse’s Case Management solution, will embed Legal Bricks functionality – which is itself integrated with the Land Registry – to provide faster and more efficient Conveyancing searches.

Unique to this innovative integration is the ability for users to be able to access the full suite of Legal Bricks Conveyancing searches directly from within Proclaim – removing the requirement to be redirected to an external website. Users simply select the required number of single or bundled searches from the onscreen menu.

This secure connection also brings the added functionality of enabling fee earners to see the total number of searches requested and for notifications to be issued when they are complete.

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

“Proclaim is all about boosting efficiencies and saving money for law firms. We’re constantly striving to create better outcomes for clients. Our latest innovation with Legal Bricks adds a new layer of usability for fee earners, reduces the time spent processing property transactions – lowering costs for Conveyancers and further enhances their customers’ experience.”

The Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Conveyancing Awards 2019 – shortlist

We’re delighted to announce that the shortlist for this year’s Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Conveyancing Awards has been released!

Taking place on Thursday 18th July at The Rum Warehouse in Liverpool, the event promises to be one of the most prestigious for the conveyancing sector.

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!

Conveyancing Firm of the Year – North of England

Bell Lamb and Joynson Solicitors
Birchall Blackburn Law
Ramsdens Solicitors LLP
Rowlinsons Solicitors
Stephensons Solicitors LLP
Winston Solicitors LLP

​Conveyancing Firm of the Year – Midlands

Beswicks Legal
Brethertons LLP
Fletcher Longstaff
MJP Conveyancing
PM Property Lawyers
Sort Legal

​Conveyancing Firm of the Year – South of England

Adams & Remers LLP
Adams Kaye
AVRillo LLP
PCS Legal
Spratt Endicott
The Partnership

​Conveyancing Firm of the Year – Wales

Countrywide Conveyancing Services
Harding Evans
Howells Legal Ltd t/a Howells Solicitors
JCP Solicitors
Newbold Solicitors

​Search Provider of the Year

GlobalX
InfoTrack
Legal Bricks Searches
Searches UK Limited
SearchFlow

​Innovation of the Year

Countrywide Conveyancing Services
Fletcher Longstaff
inCase
Mullis & Peake LLP Solicitors
Muve
SmartCredit Ltd T/As SmartSearch

​Rising Star of the Year

Charlotte Osborne – PCS Legal
Daisy Dagnall – DC Law
Gemma Barkhouse – Countrywide Conveyancing Services
Jordan Tunnicliffe – Sort Legal
Luke Neale – PCS Legal
Sidraa Razaq – Winston Solicitors LLP

​Service Provider of the Year

Beswicks Legal
DevAssist Ltd
inCase
InfoTrack
Perfect Portal

​Client Care Award

AVRillo LLP
Bell Lamb and Joynson Solicitors
Beswicks Legal
Birchall Blackburn Law
Rowlinsons Solicitors
Winston Solicitors LLP

​Best Use of Technology

AVRillo LLP
Bell Lamb and Joynson Solicitors
MJP Conveyancing
Ramsdens Solicitors LLP
Stephensons Solicitors LLP
The Partnership

​Outstanding Commitment to Training

Birchall Blackburn Law
Conveyancing Direct Limited
Countrywide Conveyancing Services
My Home Move
PM Property Lawyers
SearchFlow

​Property Team of the Year

Bell Lamb and Joynson Solicitors
Countrywide Conveyancing Services
Kuits
Newbold Solicitors
Pinney Talfourd LLP
Stephensons Solicitors LLP

​Conveyancer of the Year

Claire Wright – Countrywide Conveyancing Services
Gavin Hek – Countrywide Conveyancing Services
Jonathan Achampong – Wedlake Bell LLP
Paul Adams – Adams Kaye
Paula Lee – Acumen People
Stuart Forsdike – PCS Legal

​National Conveyancing Firm of the Year

Birchall Blackburn Law
Countrywide Conveyancing Services
Fletcher Longstaff
Howells Legal Ltd t/a Howells Solicitors
PM Property Lawyers
Stephensons Solicitors LLP

Proclaim software earns long-term loyalty from QualitySolicitors Lockings

Proclaim’s evolution has led to long-term loyalty from QualitySolicitors Lockings

QualitySolicitors Lockings is part of a national network of law firms dedicated to customer service excellence. Covering Hull, Beverley, Hessle, Hedon and the surrounding areas, Lockings offers a range of legal services to both individuals and businesses, from Conveyancing and Wills through to Employment and Litigation. The firm prides itself on responsiveness and making access to legal services easier. In 2005, after reviewing internal IT processes, Lockings made the decision to implement the Proclaim Practice Management Software Solution, and over a decade later, the firm remains a satisfied Eclipse client. Richard Swaine, Operations Director at Lockings, explains the reasoning behind the firm’s long-term loyalty to Eclipse.

Lockings has been an Eclipse client since 2005 – why was Eclipse your chosen provider?
 We undertook an extensive selection process, which included demonstrations, product reviews and meetings with our chosen shortlist of suppliers. In the end, we opted for Eclipse for many reasons, but two of the standout aspects were Proclaim’s feature-rich toolsets and its user-friendliness. At the time, we had a growing need to maintain high service levels and client retention rates due to stiff competition, and Proclaim’s features, including the reporting and the ability to send text messages, not only helped our team to achieve these high standards, but also enabled us to offer transparency – both to our clients, and our internal teams. Additionally, Proclaim stood out as being easy-to-use, which meant our staff were able to get to grips with the software quickly, and were therefore able to maintain large volumes of cases. Over 10 years on and Proclaim’s adaptability, and its ability to move with the times has meant we are more than equipped to deal with the changing demands of the legal industry, whilst also developing the system for our firm specific requirements.

How configurable do you find Proclaim?
 Very configurable – and I think that particular feature of Proclaim has been one of the key elements in terms of its longevity within the legal sector. When we initially implemented Proclaim, we opted for Eclipse’s out-of-the-box Conveyancing case management system, which was – and still is – well suited to our wide range of clients. An important factor for us was to ensure that our standard of work was kept in line with our brand at all times, and Proclaim’s flexibility has meant we can build workflow steps, documents, calendar entries and reminders to suit our staff and our clients, and at any time. As a result of this flexibility, and following the successful implementation of the Conveyancing system, we extended Proclaim’s use into our other teams. We’re also able to develop the system further based upon staff suggestions and requirements. As an example, we’ve been able to adapt and streamline our retainer process for our Conveyancing team, and we’ve created an entirely new system for Service Charge Debt Recovery. This would have been more difficult without Proclaim. Crucially for us, we have been able to build the system around our way of working.

How has Proclaim evolved over the years?
I think Eclipse has faced many expectations to develop Proclaim and create a system that can fit most areas of law. Over the years it has become more intuitive and increasingly advanced in dealing with the ever-changing legal sector, and therefore the ever-changing needs of clients. Eclipse has managed to simultaneously build a robust platform, but with room for flexibility so that it’s by no means a ‘one size fits all’ solution. It’s adaptable to fit in with businesses’ bespoke requirements. It’s no longer purely an office-facing platform, but has evolved into something that our clients can understand and benefit from.

What are some of the benefits you see day-to-day?
For a busy firm like ours, one of the biggest benefits is the adaptability of Proclaim – whether that’s to accommodate different work areas, or changes in existing work types. The in-built toolsets available to us mean that we can develop the system in-house to suit the needs of our business and clients. Additionally, Eclipse is regularly rolling out updates or upgrades to Proclaim, which makes maintaining the software so easy. Proclaim’s user-friendliness is also good. Since implementation, we’ve rolled the system out over a number of departments, equating to over 80 staff, but its logical layout of screens and case stages, coupled with its ease-of-use has meant our staff have always been able to continue delivering a high standard of work with minimal disruption. Another benefit is that Eclipse is used in a large number of firms so when we recruit it means many of our new staff members have previously used Proclaim in other roles which in turn makes our staff induction process easier.

How well does Proclaim suit your ongoing needs as a business?
 Very well – it’s a good fit for our firm and has evolved with us as we’ve developed our service offering, as well as enabled us to mold it to our changing and practice-specific requirements.

Download Case Study

How to keep your clients coming back for more

Darren Gower (pictured), Marketing Director at Eclipse spoke to LPM Magazine to discuss how law firms can better engage with clients.

Few firms look closely at ways to shift how a service is delivered, as long as they feel they’re keeping up with the status quo. That’s especially true for SME firms who don’t have the enormous resources that big, international firms have to throw at innovation initiatives or business development. And, the sector being what it is, the shadow of regulation is a constant threat. Taking a more proactive stance towards delivering the very best service for your customers can become a matter of self-preservation, because one cost-effective way to tackle uncertainty is to get existing clients into the repeat business loop. But ultimately, it’s about improving services for clients.

There are plenty of things your firm can do to keep clients coming back. A few tweaks to the way that things are done when onboarding and looking after clients can actually make a law firm stand out from the competition to a surprising extent.

To start, you need to take a look at whether your systems are up to scratch. I tend to see too much underachievement in SME law firms – many opportunities aren’t taken. For example, firms aren’t taking advantage of how clients interact with them online. The vast majority of experiences with a law firm are manual, whether you’re buying a house or making an injury claim – it can be like wading through treacle. Making things easy and reliable for clients is key. Unfortunately, very few firms in the SME space have fully embraced some of the basic tools that can make their services slicker and simpler. These may not necessarily be cutting-edge, but they aren’t hideously expensive. Put the destiny of the client’s case file in their own hands and enable them to see what’s going on with their matter online. Uploading documents to a portal rather than posting them through a letterbox can make a world of difference for clients – as well as cutting down time taken to respond.

To better engage with clients, you should be collecting as much data as you can, which will help you to spot opportunities and better cross-sell. But to achieve that you need someone within the practice, whether that’s a partner in charge of growth or someone similar, who can take on these responsibilities. It’s up to that person to know which information is relevant to the business, how it’s stored and can be used going forward, and to make sure it’s accurate. The best time to collect data is during onboarding, but don’t just rely on an over worked paralegal or whoever is dealing with the case to collect it. It should be approached as a key exercise – you need people who are trained to do it, with the proper tools to get that information in a useable format.

Once the right questions are being asked and the correct data is being gathered, the next step is to have that data recorded in a centralised location. You can’t have silos of information where you’re asking the same questions but storing the information in separate places – that’s messy and terrible for your strategy; keeping one, central source of truth to work from is crucial.

After data is collected, the firm should have a clear strategy for how it’s used and, if possible, apply it to your processes. The objectives need to be quite tight and well-defined, whether you have a routine review to try to support opportunities, or a technological solution – it’s important to make the most of the clients you have.