[1]Warwickshire law firm David Lee Solicitors says its working practices have been transformed since it signed up to the Virtual Practices [2] (VP) hosted legal software and outsourced cashiering service.
Based in Kenilworth, the firm was established four years ago and works in family law, employment law and commercial litigation. It also operates a successful debt collection department.
“We have been growing consistently year on year but had been handicapped by the legal software which we inherited, which was designed for much larger firms and was therefore totally unsuitable,” says principal David Lee.
“As we became increasingly busy relatively simple accounting tasks were taking far too long, so we started looking for an alternative.”
Initially the firm looked at the possibility of employing a book keeper, and also considered adopting new software which was found to be either too expensive or not sufficiently bespoke for law firms.
David Lee says: “The breakthrough came when I found Virtual Practices online and spoke to managing director, David McNamara, who convinced us to speak to his sales team.
“After having an online demonstration of VP’s capabilities, it was a pretty simple decision to make the switch and we signed up in June last year.
“There are all sorts of way in which Virtual Practices has made life easier. For example, having access to the helpline means that any mistakes we make can be instantly rectified, and compliance is another issue – as busy lawyers, not having to worry about being SRA compliant is hugely reassuring.
“Thanks to VP, I can now delegate many of the routine tasks which used to take up so much of my time, leaving more time at the ‘coal face’, where I should be.”
Natalie Jennings, who heads up Virtual Practices, which is a division of legal software supplier , said: “David Lee Solicitors is another small but fast-growing law firm for whom Virtual Practices is a perfect fit. Thanks to VP, David is now free to get on with the ‘day job’ of running and developing his business.”