The expensive customary organisational structure of equity partners, associates and support staff has been swept away, and in its place a network of experienced solicitors are linked together using the very latest technology.

The adoption of the very latest business software and services has delivered not only tremendous flexibility for its lawyers but also high cost savings, which can be passed on to its clients as reduced fees.

Virtual Legal Services

Marcus J. O’Leary, the Managing Director of NetworkLaw, commented: “We are a new type of law firm with an innovative business model which allows our staff and consultants to be able competently to work on client matters from any location at any time.”

Their aim of being able to deliver specialised, top-class legal services via a virtual team is a radical departure for a sector often seen as highly traditional in its thinking and modus operandi. To be able to achieve their aim the company had to have a first class IT solution that would enable the virtual team to be connected seamlessly.

Marcus continued: “We needed a system that would really empower everyone, enabling them to work from multiple locations with easy access to exactly the same functionality and performance as is available in a traditional office working environment. That was an enormous challenge. We wanted to create a professional culture of work as an activity, and not just an office location.”

To host or not to host

Given the overwhelming business imperative to become a virtual operation, the option of implementing and managing its own IT was never really an option for NetworkLaw. “The traditional outsourced IT models traditionally available also failed to live up to our initial expectations,” added Marcus. “Such alternatives were hugely expensive, and simply not viable for an operation such as ours – dedicated to passing cost savings on to its clients. We were convinced that there had to be another way, and thankfully we discovered Intercept’s subscription computing solution!”

NetworkLaw searched the market for the various centralised IT options available. However, it rapidly became apparent that the choice of partner was crucial. They needed a solution that not only matched its needs, but also manage its IT infrastructure, provide technical support, product upgrades and ongoing maintenance.

“One thing was also clear: any solution had to be scalable to meet our rapid growth expectations while keeping a tight reign on costs,” added Marcus.

Bespoke, hosted and subscription based

OnlineDesktop from Intercept is ‘pay-as-you-go’ or subscription computing, an outsourced model with Intercept hosting, and delivering all applications and data centrally from its servers based in two secure data centres.

Intercept not only installed the entire server infrastructure for NetworkLaw, it also hosts the software applications and data in a safe, secure and robust environment. These servers are then accessed securely through a direct connection via the Internet to the data centre.

NetworkLaw now has a highly flexible, powerful solution for its employees to access applications and data remotely, from an office, home or from a remote location over the Internet. However, the only data that passes over the communications link to the data centre are encrypted mouse clicks, keyboard strokes and screen updates. This makes for a lightning fast response, and ensures that the information is safe and secure - a critical business driver for the legal profession where client confidentiality is a compliance issue driven by The Law Society. OnlineDesktop also uses the very latest Intrusion Prevention and Detection technologies, combined with a multi-tired Firewall and Antivirus structure, so security is ensured. And as the technology behind OnlineDesktop enables all data processing to take place at the server level, data never needs to physically leave the data centre. This means that NetworkLaw has minimal concerns about confidential client information being removed from the office or even being stored on users’ devices. This in turn has meant that it can deliver to its clients the ultimate assurance on the integrity of personal information it holds.

Support all the way

“We needed cutting edge technology, reliability, and responsive support,” continued Marcus, “and Intercept’s OnlineDesktop service exceeded and continues to exceed, our expectations.”

OnlineDesktop makes use of a number of support tools, which enable the ‘shadowing’ of both NetworkLaw users’ sessions and also their devices including PC’s and laptops. This means that helpdesk staff are able to resolve a high percentage of support calls on the first occasion, ensuring that the legal professionals can maintain their productivity at the highest possible levels.

“Our migration to Microsoft Office 2007 was a completely painless process. The next step is to work with Intercept on a voice solution. In so doing we will be able to deliver a truly virtual unified communications service to our clients, and be on longer reliant on an office-based answering service. Now that is the future of work!” concluded Marcus.

NetworkLaw case study (78K)

Website: www.networklaw.org