Kirwans Solicitors

Yes to digital dictation. But not without advanced workflow management

Liverpool law firm manages workflow and backlogs since implementing DigiScribe-XL.

Kirwans Solicitors provide a variety of legal services to businesses and private individuals across the UK, from commercial and corporate services to traditional private client services. After a successful pilot in the Personal Injury and Commercial departments, the firm has now rolled out the Crescendo system to all 50 users across their 3 offices in Liverpool, Prenton and Moreton. "Our firm generates such a large volume of dictation that we could not afford to rely on outdated equipment any longer. Tape dictation is not only unreliable and insecure, it also offers no workflow mechanism whatsoever. We knew we wanted to upgrade to digital technology but we also wanted to make the most of what it had to offer: workflow automation, because this is where the biggest added value lies. In a multi-site environment like ours, it was crucial that the system selected would enable us to maximise the use of the secretarial resources, whatever their location, without large digital files impacting network performance" comments Trevor Goodwin, Practice Director.

After evaluating several suppliers, the firm finally opted for Crescendo. "They delivered a system that offered advanced workflow while meeting our specific business needs," adds Goodwin.

No more running around


The majority of our 26 fee-earners dictate directly on their PCs using Crescendo DigiDictate-IP and PhilipsTM SpeechMikes. While their dictation habits remain largely unchanged, the delivery of dictation to the secretary is now completely seamless with no more wasted time running to their secretary's desk to deliver tapes or identify priority work. In a few clicks dictations are routed to the appropriate secretary and priorities are set in real-time.

When it comes to fee earners in the Crime Department, the Philips 9450 handheld recorders allow them to dictate directly into the system when they are in the office and to dictate when they are out at court or away from the office for any reason. Corresponding voice files are then seamlessly transferred to the central server via DigiService-IP, which allows the upload of dictations via laptops or PCs or remotely via Citrix, VPN or a Web Browser.

Clear business benefits


"Digital dictation is clearly the way the legal market is progressing, Our firm has seen its documentation month-long backlog vanish following the implementation of the new Crescendo system. The work can now be shared amongst secretaries and, thanks to the productivity increase, we now have a lower reliance on temporary staff. This new technology has allowed us make the most out of our existing resources.

The implementation was seamless and the dictation and transcription modules were so intuitive that there was no time wasted whilst users were trained. The new system has exceeded users' expectations and our experience with Crescendo has been positive all the way through," concludes Goodwin.

Kirwans Solicitors
The Crescendo Platform