Baskerville Drummond helps Paris Smith with its PMS selection

A practice management system (PMS) lasts for 10-15 years. It’s the one system that can change a law firm. PMS selection has no room for error. The selection process is as important as the system selected.

Paris Smith is one of the largest regional law firms in central southern England, based in landmark offices in Southampton and Winchester with 43 partners and employing over 200 staff. The firm provides a wide range of services from agriculture, charities and education to corporate advice and banking. It is regarded as essential that these different areas of work have their own independent way of working while, at the same time, the business takes advantage of centralised systems.

The challenge

Paris Smith is facing the unenviable task of changing its practice management system (PMS) as LexisNexis Artiion reaches end of life and will no longer be supported in 2020. The firm currently uses several different stand-alone systems resulting in duplicated data, duplication of effort, inefficiencies and the inability to see the ‘whole picture’.

It was recognised this was a once in a decade opportunity to consider all operational requirements across the whole business and to streamline business processes and enhance data management. The PMS change will affect all other legacy technologies and applications in the business with eight solutions becoming one. Baskerville Drummond was tasked to support, rather than control, the selection process to ensure best practice is undertaken.

The process

Baskerville Drummond’s process for product selection ensures that a holistic approach is undertaken with six areas of focus: 

• Financial 
• Risk and compliance 
• CRM and marketing 
• Matter and case management 
• Document management 
• Reporting

The first phase of the project is to prioritise, using the MoSCoW prioritisation framework, Baskerville Drummond’s 623 standard PMS requirements, to ensure the focus is relevant to Paris Smith. Further interviews with staff and stakeholders identify additional requirements, which are unique to Paris Smith.