Dickinson Dees
Dickinson Dees has more than doubled in size since relocating to its current headquarters on Newcastle's Quayside in 1998 and has recently been named as one of the top 100 law firms in Europe. The firm employs over 700 people and is well established as a top 50 UK law firm with a growing national reputation for high quality services. Dickinson Dees was one of the first law firms to receive Lexcel accreditation and it remains one of the largest firms to have attained this practice management standard. The firm is also accredited as an Investor in People (IIP) and has for the last two years been voted one of the Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For.
Dickinson Dees selected WinScribe and SRC in January 2003 and initially deployed digital dictation to 100 solicitors and 50 secretaries; approximately one third of the user base. Simon Earnshaw, the firm's Director of Information Technology, explained that "due to the firm's rapid growth, some existing lease arrangements for analogue equipment had three years to run and we wanted to see the benefits of WinScribe for ourselves before deciding whether to write off this previous investment".
The initial deployment was targeted at solicitors with the greatest need for remote working, since WinScribe offers obvious advantages in this respect. A telephone interface allows direct recording of dictation to the WinScribe server and remote synchronisation of portable dictaphones - via laptops running Citrix - provides ultimate flexibility whilst working away from the office. The firm's offices on the prestigious Teesdale site at Stockton also benefited from secretarial cover provided remotely from its Newcastle offices.
One year on, Dickinson Dees conducted a review of WinScribe's effectiveness and found widespread support from solicitors and secretaries using the system. In addition to the considerable advantages to clients of solicitors being able to progress work remotely, both solicitors and secretaries commented upon the value of work visibility throughout the process.
Simon Earnshaw noted that "a number of secretaries used words seldom heard in relation to IT systems, such as 'brilliant' and 'fantastic'! It became clear that WinScribe was helping individuals and teams to plan and prioritise more effectively, which in turn improved morale and motivation as well as performance."
A review of secretarial ratios in conjunction with managers
revealed that digital dictation had already contributed to
significant productivity improvements. The ratio of secretaries
to solicitors had improved markedly, despite WinScribe only
being in place for 12 months across just one third of the
firm. This represented a considerable saving to the firm and
was achieved with the positive support of teams affected.
"In June 2004 we decided to deploy WinScribe across the
firm, since the efficiencies to date easily covered the cost
of the outstanding leases on analogue equipment. There are
clearly additional benefits to be gained from the widespread
use of WinScribe, including more extensive use of workflow
to even out workloads and make the best possible use of available
resources", says Simon Earnshaw.
Case study written by Simon Earnshaw, IT Director, Dickinson Dees .
