Cloud for Lawyers in the UK | The Journal Online

Further to our recent post, an editorial article has been published in the Journal Online discussing the various cloud computing providers for law firms in the UK.

The article begins by outlining the recent buzz around cloud computing and potentially massive cost-saving benefits.

A recent report in the magazine Legal Week predicted that City of London legal firms stand to save millions of pounds by switching to internet-based computing – which enables a practice to link up to shared resources and software on demand rather than maintain its own hardware.

Outlining “huge” interest from both High Street practices and larger law firms both in Scotland and the rest of the UK, the article focusses, first, on LawWare Ltd’s sister business, LawCloud Ltd:

Ahead in the cloud

LawWare is the company behind the newly launched “LawCloud” platform featured in July. Founded in 1998 by managing director Warren Wander, LawWare already provides practice management technology to more than 170 Scottish legal practices through its flagship product LawWare Enterprise.

With LawCloud, it is moving to the next generation of technology and support, via a menu of services including an optional fully outsourced cashroom and compliance capability, provided at a low fixed monthly cost, to which anyone with internet access can sign up.

“There’s no capital expenditure, so new users have better control over cashflow”, Wander points out. “Additionally, there is no need to pay to upgrade or replace servers or maintain expensive legacy equipment. All the complicated stuff is managed by the experts behind LawCloud. It is ultimately scalable to meet your firm’s growing needs.”

Other benefits he highlights include flexible working, with the ability to access the system from wherever you may be; its in-built business continuity planning and disaster recovery; and the “Fort Knox style” security environment with all data held in a dedicated green UK data centre.

A launch event at Microsoft’s Waverley Gate offices in Edinburgh in February 2011 will offer the chance to see the technology on display. And a big annual user group meeting where client firms offer feedback that helps shape its future software developments is just part of the personal service to which LawWare commits itself.

Expect more articles and buzz to appear, both in the Scottish Law Society’s Journal and in legal journals both North and South of the Border.