Diverse innovation

Happy new year, LPM readers – the yuletide season must seem like a distant memory to you, but since this is our first issue of the year, I felt compelled to say it.

The new year often brings change and I’m confident we’ll see plenty of it in the legal industry in 2018 – not least because of the results of our third installment of Legal IT Landscapes.

I won’t give you too many spoilers, but it seems that despite the need to plug some big IT gaps in the market, SME firms’ progression since 2017 – particularly around the perception and use of artificial intelligence and the cloud – is excellent, which is great news for the industry.

We hear Industry views from Breeze & Wyles on streaming volume work with Tikit, Elkington and Fife on moving to digital files with EzeScan, JustBeagle on why comparison sites becoming vital to law firms, Travelers on process failure risks and using project management, and Paragon on what to expect from 2018’s Pll market.

SPICE OF BUSINESS LIFE

Can SME firms learn to be more diverse and inclusive to attract a broader range of clients and become better at recruitment and retention? Patrick Wingrove reports

BRAIN TRAINING

Ann Barrasso, operations and support manager at north-west firm Roythornes Solicitors, sets out how to asses and improve your firm’s carbon footprint with an environmental audit – and why that’s important for business

TURN UP THE VOLUME

Martyn Bateman, practice manager at Breeze & Wyles, tells LPM how Tikit P4W has delivered efficiencies, cost-savings and client satisfaction in his firm’s high-volume-work arm

A VERY RISKY RUN

Janine Parker, head of UK professions at Paragon, sets out what firms can expect from the Pll market in 2018 – and how to prepare