Year: 2011
Social media policies for the workplace
In my last article I wrote about the risks employers face from the use by employees of social media and recommended that businesses have a social media policy. Why is a policy necessary? Employers need to manage their employees fairly and consistently and this applies to how they respond to their employees’ usage of social […]
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Family Procedure Rules OK?
The Family Procedure Rules 2010 came into effect on 6 April 2011. The new Rules attempt to provide a single set of rules for all family proceedings in all levels of court, thereby replacing a large body of unconsolidated rules, practice directions, guidance and forms. At the same time, the Rules aim to modernise many […]
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Law publishing – the end of print?
There’s too much in favour of print to bury it prematurely, but we know that particular types of print are under severe threat from the disruptive influences of the internet. The continuing decline of newsprint in the face of free news online has been well documented. Trade magazines also are falling like ninepins as their […]
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DPS hosted systems
Over recent issues, we have covered hosted systems in a number of ways, including reviews of several products and services, with comments from users. In this article, we look at the DPS hosted solution. Founded 25 years ago, DPS Software is one of the UK’s leading providers of case management and accounting software with over […]
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Risks of social media use in the workplace
Employment lawyers seem to spend a good deal of time warning of the risks posed by Facebook, Twitter and other social media perhaps without emphasising enough the opportunities presented by proper use of these immensely powerful tools. Companies large and small are adopting social media in increasingly large numbers. In research published by media agency […]
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Free web resources for property lawyers
This article introduces you to some of the invaluable free resources available online for property lawyers. Legislation The government’s sole online source of UK statute law is now legislation.gov.uk. This continues to be an excellent source of information, although it does have its limitations, highlighted in the FAQ section. In particular it estimates that only […]
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Importing online contacts and data protection
To say that online networking has revolutionised the way we interact socially and professionally with others is a massive understatement. Social and professional networking services, which did not even exist at the beginning of the 21st century, have become the driving force of Web 2.0 and their growth rate is a simply a reflection of […]
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Ten years of BAILII
BAILII (the British and Irish Legal Information Institute) is a non-profit making charitable trust which provides a growing amount of primary and secondary legal material which can be browsed by the user and/or located by using the BAILII search engine. The service is a major tool for legal research and its development is of substantial […]
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Risks of outsourcing and cloud computing
Cloud computing (broadly the same concept as hosted systems and outsourcing) is a new way of expressing what is now a fairly well-established way of delivering applications to the desktop. Charles Christian in the February edition of his Orange Rag comments, “We have moved very quickly from a situation of ”˜if cloud computing ever takes […]
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Microsoft solutions stacking up in legal
Microsoft already “own” the lawyers’ desktop, where lawyers live in Outlook for emails and appointments and produce documents in Word. Microsoft also deliver behind the scenes on infrastructure, software and services in the cloud, operating systems, SQL, reporting services, business intelligence, virtualisation, thin client, SAN technologies … and much more. We believe that the Microsoft […]
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Free web resources for civil lawyers
This article will give you an introduction to some of the invaluable free resources available online for civil lawyers. A great starting place is Her Majesty’s Courts Service website which is incredibly useful when it comes to sourcing forms and guidance. It has a comprehensive database of Practice Directions, Court Forms and guidance, together with […]
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Do law firms need a CRM solution?
Customer (or client) relationship management (CRM) is defined by BusinessDictionary.com as “Information-technology enabled strategy aimed at identifying, targeting, acquiring, and retaining the best mix of customers. CRM helps in profiling prospects, understanding their needs, and in building relationships with them by providing the most-suitable products and a very high level of customer service. It integrates […]
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