Fieldfisher is rolling out a new firm-wide technology platform in what managing partner Michael Chissick describes as “a complete re-engineering of the way we do things”.
The firm is implementing LexisOne, a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology platform, becoming the first firm in the UK with multiple overseas offices to launch the product.
The move is particularly significant in that it not only reflects a major show of faith in the system by Fieldfisher but also represents a push by LexisOne into the UK legal IT systems market. Currently this market is dominated by a handful of products, notably Thomson Reuters’ Elite 3E – Fieldfisher’s current technology platform – and Aderant.
LexisOne combines HR and a range of finance-related systems such as expense management and time recording with other internal data such as procurement and matter planning. It is built on the Microsoft Dynamics AX platform, using Windows 10 as its interface and consequently immediately compatible with Microsoft products.
“It’s very familiar and intuitive to new users in appearance because it looks like the latest version of Windows” said Andy Sparkes, LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions general manager. “In the past the time it took to maintain and upgrade multiple systems caused delays; that’s not the case with a single ERP solution.”
Sparkes said that compared with the majority of other sectors the legal market was still operating on largely sector-specific technology.
“It hasn’t invested in best of breed technology,” said Sparkes. “Rather than adopt the same approach as other systems we looked at what other sectors do.”
Sparkes said LexisOne had been built on a global platform and designed for cloud deployment to enable firms to take a simpler approach both to winning and managing work in as efficient a way as possible.
Fieldfisher, which will be migrating to the new system on a multi-phased process over the coming months, is LexisOne’s largest law firm client so far in the UK and the first to be deploying the cloud version of the product.
The firm selected LexisOne as its new system last summer and has been working towards going live with it over the past few months.
Chissick said: “We intend this to be a complete re-engineering of the way we do things in a very cutting-edge way.”
There are currently around a dozen users of LexisOne in the UK, with Browne Jacobson being the only other major law firm. Up until now however, no firm has used the system on an international, multi-office basis.
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