Richard Swaine, Operations Director at Lockings
Proclaim’s evolution has led to long-term loyalty from QualitySolicitors Lockings
QualitySolicitors Lockings is part of a national network of law firms dedicated to customer service excellence. Covering Hull, Beverley, Hessle, Hedon and the surrounding areas, Lockings offers a range of legal services to both individuals and businesses, from Conveyancing and Wills through to Employment and Litigation. The firm prides itself on responsiveness and making access to legal services easier.
In 2005, after reviewing internal IT processes, Lockings made the decision to implement the Proclaim Practice Management Software Solution, and over a decade later, the firm remains a satisfied Eclipse client.
Richard Swaine, Operations Director at Lockings, explains the reasoning behind the firm’s long-term loyalty to Eclipse.
Lockings has been an Eclipse client since 2005 – why was Eclipse your chosen provider?
We undertook an extensive selection process, which included demonstrations, product reviews and meetings with our chosen shortlist of suppliers. In the end, we opted for Eclipse for many reasons, but two of the standout aspects were Proclaim’s feature-rich toolsets and its user-friendliness.
At the time, we had a growing need to maintain high service levels and client retention rates due to stiff competition, and Proclaim’s features, including the reporting and the ability to send text messages, not only helped our team to achieve these high standards, but also enabled us to offer transparency – both to our clients, and our internal teams.
Additionally, Proclaim stood out as being easy-to-use, which meant our staff were able to get to grips with the software quickly, and were therefore able to maintain large volumes of cases.
Over 10 years on and Proclaim’s adaptability, and its ability to move with the times has meant we are more than equipped to deal with the changing demands of the legal industry, whilst also developing the system for our firm specific requirements.
How configurable do you find Proclaim?
Very configurable – and I think that particular feature of Proclaim has been one of the key elements in terms of its longevity within the legal sector. When we initially implemented Proclaim, we opted for Eclipse’s out-of-the-box Conveyancing case management system, which was – and still is – well suited to our wide range of clients. An important factor for us was to ensure that our standard of work was kept in line with our brand at all times, and Proclaim’s flexibility has meant we can build workflow steps, documents, calendar entries and reminders to suit our staff and our clients, and at any time.
As a result of this flexibility, and following the successful implementation of the Conveyancing system, we extended Proclaim’s use into our other teams. We’re also able to develop the system further based upon staff suggestions and requirements. As an example, we’ve been able to adapt and streamline our retainer process for our Conveyancing team, and we’ve created an entirely new system for Service Charge Debt Recovery. This would have been more difficult without Proclaim. Crucially for us, we have been able to build the system around our way of working.
How has Proclaim evolved over the years?
I think Eclipse has faced many expectations to develop Proclaim and create a system that can fit most areas of law. Over the years it has become more intuitive and increasingly advanced in dealing with the ever-changing legal sector, and therefore the ever-changing needs of clients. Eclipse has managed to simultaneously build a robust platform, but with room for flexibility so that it’s by no means a ‘one size fits all’ solution. It’s adaptable to fit in with businesses’ bespoke requirements. It’s no longer purely an office-facing platform, but has evolved into something that our clients can understand and benefit from.
What are some of the benefits you see day-to-day?
For a busy firm like ours, one of the biggest benefits is the adaptability of Proclaim – whether that’s to accommodate different work areas, or changes in existing work types. The in-built toolsets available to us mean that we can develop the system in-house to suit the needs of our business and clients. Additionally, Eclipse is regularly rolling out updates or upgrades to Proclaim, which makes maintaining the software so easy. Proclaim’s user-friendliness is also good. Since implementation, we’ve rolled the system out over a number of departments, equating to over 80 staff, but its logical layout of screens and case stages, coupled with its ease-of-use has meant our staff have always been able to continue delivering a high standard of work with minimal disruption. Another benefit is that Eclipse is used in a large number of firms so when we recruit it means many of our new staff members have previously used Proclaim in other roles which in turn makes our staff induction process easier.
How well does Proclaim suit your ongoing needs as a business?
Very well – it’s a good fit for our firm and has evolved with us as we’ve developed our service offering, as well as enabled us to mold it to our changing and practice-specific requirements.
