By Legal Futures Associate Access Legal
Neves Solicitors LLP is long standing firm that have been providing a wide range of legal services to customers for over 150 years and pride themselves on being a modern, progressive, approachable and family friendly but commercial firm. The services provided by Neves include residential property, commercial law and property, dispute resolution, employment law, family law and wills, trusts and probate.
We spoke to Managing Partner, Stewart Matthews, who sits on the management board for the firm and takes a keen interest in IT projects and the use of technology to help drive the firm forward.
- Customisable workflows – the system allows workflows and templates to be adapted and flexed to suit specific needs.
- Work from anywhere and any device – web browser-based to allow access from any location with an internet connection, supporting a flexible working approach.
- Emails and case files linked to specific matters – having everything linked together ensures that it is quick and easy to find information related to a specific matter and encourages a ‘paper-lite’ approach.
- The ability to seamlessly interact with client focused mobile apps allowing our clients to obtain information relating to their transactions in a form and at a time that suits them.
What are the strategic goals and ambitions for the business?
“There are two main areas of focus for us currently, the first is the continued development and expansion of our work in the commercial area. Much of our business is in the residential conveyancing which is more labour intensive in comparison to some of the other services we offer. The second is to improve the efficiency of some of our more transactional services, making the processes more streamlined.”
What were the business drivers that led you to move to a web-browser based solution?
“The need to make certain processes and transactional work more efficient is one of the reasons why we use Access Legal Case Management and why I spend time developing the system and moulding it to suit our needs. Another driver is that we’re trying to adapt our systems to suit the new hybrid ways of working, allowing staff to work more flexibly and remotely. This will also benefit us in the future as the newer generations of fee earners have different expectations and needs to those historically.”
How have you benefited from implementing the software?
“During the pandemic, we’ve seen roughly a 30% reduction in printing and postage usage compared to last year and the systems should help us maintain this ‘paper-lite’ approach. Further to this, client needs are changing and their expectations are being influenced by experiences they’re having with other sectors therefore implementing more digital operating processes allows us to work towards the needs of all of our clients however they want to receive our services.
Another benefit of the Access Legal Case Management system is the ability to store and link all the emails related to a matter together, making it easier to find emails and removing the need to print and file them as we’ve done previously.
We wanted a system which our staff can use anywhere and on any device which this system certainly allows us to do as its browser-based but the key thing for me was the ability to change and adapt the workflows and templates to suit our business. We are now able to develop the system how we want to use it which wasn’t as easy in our old system. There are some aspects of the system we’re working on to improve with Access Legal but the ability to work directly with the developers and be part of those discussions for updates is great for us.”
To hear more from Stewart Matthews on the law landscape, current hot topics and his thoughts on the future, alongside other industry experts, please see watch Law Live expert panel discussion from Access All Areas in March.
