By Legal Futures’ Associate Quill
Legal awards are a recognised marker of a law firm’s, legal team’s or individual’s excellence. Essentially awards distinguish the crème de la crème of the legal sector as chosen by esteemed judging panels comprising renowned senior figures in law. Winning prestigious awards brings multiple advantages; competitive differentiation and talent retention amongst them.
Gaining award-winning status, though, doesn’t come easy. That’s because awards are the result of outstanding performance in the workplace, service delivery innovation and demonstrable best practice management standards. It’s good to know, then, that factors such as software and outsourced service support can play a major role in contributing to awards success.
Sally Thompson, Managing Partner at Luqmani Thompson & Partners, won the ‘practice management’ category in the Legal Aid Lawyer Awards 2019. Presented with her award by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC at a ceremony in London on 10th July, Sally’s well-deserved accolade is a celebration of her exceptional contribution to legal aid and access to justice.
Commenting on the reasons leading to her awards success, Sally states: “We’ve been in business now for 21 years. Through hard work and determination, we’ve built our practice up to what it is today – one of the leading firms in immigration and human rights law. We’re extremely proud of our close-knit professional team whose expertise is widely acknowledged, not least by legal directory rankings and recommendations. Yet we couldn’t do what we do without the backup of Quill, who is a primary supplier.
“You see, Quill provides much of what we need for our back office to run smoothly. We’ve used Quill’s Interactive case management and legal accounts software with add-on document management tool for pretty much the whole lifetime of our company. There’s no doubt that Quill’s advanced cloud technology helps us to operate more efficiently. Quill’s ongoing heavy investment in software development offers a constant array of enhanced and new features which we directly benefit from.
“Similarly, Quill’s Pinpoint outsourced cashiering and Payroll services, which we also subscribe to, keep our team on the straight and narrow. Outsourcing is a smart decision we’ve never looked back on and we have made the right choices. We only wish we’d outsourced earlier. It actually first came about when our cashier left about six years ago. Now, we’re saving money, time and office space whilst ensuring we can channel our efforts where it has the most impact – representing clients and running our business. And those two things combined help win awards.”
Luqmani Thompson is accredited under Lexcel, the Law Society’s practice management scheme, and has Cyber Essentials certification. By having robust processes in place with Quill’s compliant, careful handling of its accounts and by utilising cyber-secure software with Quill’s Interactive application that’s passed the National Cyber Security Centre’s stringent assessment criteria, the firm has managed to exceed some of the Lexcel requirements, including in financial management.
“Pinpoint is largely error-free and supported by weekly financial reports,” continues Sally. “Any potential breaches are instantly corrected and compliance is assured. Our Lexcel assessor was impressed with this reporting element of Pinpoint and found this to be an area of good practice. Quill most certainly has played a part in our success including in the form of third-party endorsements.”
Summing up Luqmani Thompson’s long-standing relationship with Quill, Sally concludes: “Quill works extremely well for us. We wouldn’t want to be without Interactive, Pinpoint or Payroll. Its products are reliable and cost effective, and the team very responsive. Our staff are well supported. We’re grateful to Quill for being instrumental in our accomplishments.”
