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Law Society Endorses Eclipse Legal Systems

UK News

30
Jan
2015

Editor

Eclipse's Proclaim solution becomes only PMS to carry Law Society Endorsement

Eclipse Legal Systems, the UK's leading provider of legal software solutions, has announced its official endorsement by the Law Society. The prestigious accreditation follows a rigorous assessment process, carried out during 2014, in which The Law Society examined and assessed systems including Eclipse's Proclaim Practice Management Software (PMS) solution.

The process included in-depth discussions with client bases to ascertain service levels, resilience, and the overall commercial benefits to be had by practices utilising PMS solutions.

Eclipse's Proclaim system is in use by 22,000 professionals, at 800 organisations - ranging from new startups and niche firms, through to industry heavyweights. Proclaim is Eclipse's core PMS offering, encompassing case management, matter management and process management capabilities.

The endorsement reinforces Eclipse's position as the UK's leading legal software provider, with Proclaim being unique as the only Law Society Endorsed solution of its kind.

Nigel Spencer, Law Society Chief of Commercial Affairs, comments: “The Law Society is delighted to be endorsing Eclipse and its Proclaim software. Our rigorous assessment process identified Eclipse as the supplier best suited to our members' needs with its fully featured and easily deployable Practice Management solution."

Russell Thomson, Chief Business Executive at Eclipse Legal Systems, comments: “This Endorsement is testament to the quality of our Proclaim solution, and the continuing support and nurturing of the diverse needs of our clientbase. Endorsement will enable even more law firms, of all sizes, to benefit from software which truly aids business growth."

Legal IT Professionals asked vendors of similar software products for their response on this news. Unfortunately not all vendors are happy to comment, however Osman Ismail (DPS Software) and Mark Garnish (Tikit) shared their thoughts with us.

Ismail: ''DPS declined to participate in this Law Society scheme on the basis that no one product could possibly fulfil the needs of such a wide, diverse market and an endorsement where the endorsed company pays the endorser is not the impartiality that DPS would seek. This was also the position of the LSSA when Eclipse were independent members. Their priorities now that they are not privately owned are clearly different.''

Also Tikit is not happy with the current situation. Mark Garnish (Development Director) responded: "Tikit notes that the Law Society has now appointed a single preferred supplier for PMS systems to the profession. Tikit (along with the majority of other suppliers) were invited to take part in this process but we declined as we do not believe that it is possible for a single supplier, or indeed a single product, to satisfy the wide needs of a professional that includes sole practionners and ‘magic circle’ multinational firms."

Garnish continues: "The announcement from the Law Society does not include who else was included in their “rigorous assessment process” but we can only conclude it did not include any of the other 15 members of the Legal Software Supplier Association, that represent the majority of the installed software base in the legal sector, who signed an open letter to the Law Society in April 2014 declining to take part. We also note that the selection process was also based upon acceptance of a commercial arrangement between the successful supplier and the Law Society."

"Our overall position was that the Law Society should have provided a wide ranging profession with a selection of vendors that had been rigorously vetted along the same guidelines as Law Society Software solutions guide in previous years. Tikit will continue to work hard developing our market leading software applications to the benefit of all of our clients current and future."

About Eclipse

Eclipse, part of Capita Plc, is the leading provider of Case Management, Practice Management, Matter Management and Process Management Software. Our Proclaim system is in use by over 23,000 professionals in a vast range of sectors, and is the only solution of its type to be Endorsed by the Law Society. Sectors catered for include legal, commercial and charitable. We employ over 160 staff and provide a full service offering, from initial needs analysis through to implementation and aftercare. Clients include household name commercial organisations, law firms large and small, Alternative Business Structures and niche operators.

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