The Skemp Partnership Solicitors Selects LexisNexis Solutions to Comply with MoJ’s RTA PI Claims Reform

29 July 2010

Personal injury firm to reduce claims processing time by a third, grow claims handling volume by more than 65% a month

LexisNexis® UK, a leading provider of content-enabled workflow solutions including legal enterprise software, today announced that personal injury practice The Skemp Partnership Solicitors has selected LexisNexis® Visualfiles® case and matter management system and LexisNexis® PIP Broker, a cross platform application-to-application interface module, to comply with the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) Road Traffic Accident (RTA) Personal Injury (PI) claims reforms, reduce operational costs and grow its business.

LexisNexis PIP Broker is designed to communicate between LexisNexis Visualfiles and the MoJ’s PI portal – a requirement of the MoJ reforms for personal injury firms. When fully implemented, these solutions together are expected to reduce The Skemp Partnership Solicitors’ claims processing time by a third; and enable the firm to increase its claims handling volume by more than 65% a month, at the existing staff level.

Prior to LexisNexis Visualfiles and LexisNexis PIP Broker, The Skemp Partnership Solicitors was using an in-house system for case management and communication with the MoJ’s PI portal. This solution was proving inadequate in its existing form and adapting it to meet the firm’s evolved business requirements would have been an expensive, time-intensive and technologically complex undertaking.
John Kushnick, Partner at The Skemp Partnership Solicitors, explains, “The personal injury practice area is a low value, high volume and process-intensive business with a relatively fixed cost base. Streamlining and automating the claims processes is the only way we can reduce operational costs, increase the speed of claims settlements and grow the volume of claims we handle whilst simultaneously complying with the MoJ’s radical RTA PI claims reforms. Instead of re-inventing the wheel by attempting to modernise our in-house system, we are implementing LexisNexis Visualfiles and LexisNexis PIP Broker. These solutions are proven, technologically advanced and future proof. It makes business sense to adopt them.”

The Skemp Partnership Solicitors chose LexisNexis PIP Broker and LexisNexis Visualfiles over competing products for the solutions’ flexibility and customisability. For instance, The Skemp Partnership Solicitors is looking to utilise the ‘robot’ functionality within LexisNexis Visualfiles enabling the firm to configure a PC to automatically process and print documentation and letters 24/7, eliminating the need for staff members to execute these routine administrative activities. This feature alone promises to help reduce staff costs, enhance the firm’s responsiveness to customers, increase competitive advantage and ultimately boost profitability.

“Given the nature of the MoJ reforms, coupled with the low value, high volume nature of business, manual processes in personal injury law firms will make these organisations uneconomical and untenable as enterprises. Personal injury firms today have no option but to underpin their business with technology,” says Tim Cheadle, General Manager, LexisNexis UK Enterprise Solutions. “LexisNexis PIP Broker and LexisNexis Visualfiles will help The Skemp Partnership Solicitors to easily comply with the stringent MoJ reforms and crucially, enable the firm to grow its business profitably. The Skemp Partnership Solicitors’ investment in our solutions will deliver a long term return to the business. The firm will always have the most current systems available to it,” Cheadle adds.

LexisNexis Visualfiles is a leading case and matter management software designed to automate high volume, repetitive tasks – from debt collection and recoveries to residential conveyancing, personal injury and money laundering.

LexisNexis PIP Broker is an independently approved, system agnostic, cross-platform application-to-application interface that is designed to connect all LexisNexis software platforms including LexisNexis Visualfiles, LexisNexis Axxia dna and LexisNexis SolCase; as well as similar third party platforms, with raPId, the MoJ’s personal injury portal.