Appleby Spurling & Kempe improves productivity through an integrated point of access for all essential information resources and secure content.

 

Background

Appleby Spurling & Kempe wanted to link their attorneys to an integrated point of access for all essential information resources, regardless of location or format through an intuitive interface and a powerful search and retrieval tool, while maintaining security on all content.

Appleby Spurling & Kempe, the first Bermuda law firm to embrace the new possibilities provided by the growth of electronic commerce, is known globally for their ability to offer clients good legal advice in a timely manner.

The Challenge

As a leading provider of sophisticated offshore legal services for high-level clients, Appleby Spurling & Kempe manages client issues from several locations, with the need to communicate with clients and partners around the globe.

Delivering advice on complex legal issues around the globe requires quick access to company resources and information and the ability to deliver client solutions quickly and securely over the Internet. Appleby Spurling & Kempe's resources come from a wide variety of sources: internal network servers, reference and knowledge subscription services, legal libraries and external Web sites. Additionally, Appleby Spurling & Kempe uses a number of software programs to create and manage client and firm information, such as CMS/OPEN, CMS Conflict Search, CMS Time Entry, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Outlook®.

To answer the growing challenges presented by an increasingly tech-savvy and geographically diverse client base, Appleby Spurling & Kempe needed a solution that would enable them to integrate all of their information resources in a single point of access.

The Solution

A Portal strategy to link all of their resources, databases, and applications in a single, integrated point of access for all employees to leverage.

Appleby Spurling & Kempe chose our Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Commerce Solution to quickly consolidate all company resources for immediate access. The firm embarked on the creation of an Intranet portal for all 400 employees. In under two months we planned, architected, built and deployed the entire portal.

Using Microsoft SharePoint™ as a framework, we leveraged our experience in Microsoft .NET™ to create Web parts that displayed critical report data from billing systems. The portal interface was modified to reflect the firm's branding and existing out-of-box Web parts were enhanced to allow the firm to internally support and maintain portal content. Built-in search functionality was leveraged to index ten vast stores of information ranging from Web sites to internally maintained records of precedent law. We built custom connectors to allow the indexing of key legacy data about periodicals and historical case information.

The Intranet portal offered a "Digital Dashboard" giving secure browser access to all of the firm's resources, featuring:

• A single point of access
• An interface simple to learn and adopt with familiar tools, which minimized training requirements
• Integrated resource security based on existing permissions
• A one window "at a glance" view of the firm
• Image-based views and reports for real time display of Accounts Receivable, Billable Hours and Work In Progress (WIP)

Powerful Search and Retrieval Tools:

• Simple, familiar search interface
• Ability to index and search through over a million documents
• Search through multiple internal, network and Web-based locations
• Retrieve specific information based on simple or complex commands

Easy Access to Precedent Files:

• Search through approved precedent file libraries, databases and shared attorney folders to quickly call up common document templates for re-use or reference in other client work