By Fred Sandsmark

Courting Counsel

Learning to lose spam and love litigators in New Zealand

In a world where technology and business move rapidly, Andy Hopkins confesses that the pace is more deliberate at Kensington Swan, the New Zealand law firm where he serves as IT manager.

"We're implementing a new document management system (DMS)," Hopkins says. "It took me 18 months to get that approved because the partners said, 'We've got a DMS, why do we need to replace it? Why do we need to spend all this money?'"

Hopkins explained to the partners the need to migrate from older, unsupported software. He pointed out that the software the firm used couldn't store email, support mobile work, or support the firm's disaster recovery goals-all of which are important for Kensington Swan's long-term needs. Presenting the case for technology change to skeptical, budget-conscious partners is just one of the challenges Hopkins and his team face. They also deal with regulatory compliance, the increasing usage of laptop computers, disaster recovery, and document management.

Shop global, act local

When your budget and your options are limited-as they often are in remote New Zealand-it's important, Hopkins says, to take a disciplined approach when choosing IT products and services.

At Kensington Swan, Hopkins starts by surveying what law firms worldwide use. (He subscribes to TechnoLawyer, an online legal-tech community, and other news sources.) Products without local support are eliminated. Through further evaluation the list of potential solutions is narrowed to one, which is then carefully examined.

"We just don't have the resources or the budget to do in-depth studies of multiple products," Hopkins says. Even when a solution is budgeted, it must pass one more test. "When it comes time to implement a project, we re-review it," he says. As long as 15 months may pass between budget creation and spending the money, so the re-review confirms that technology change hasn't rendered the decision obsolete. "Only if we can re-justify the need do we go forward." The process results in less wasted money.

"Our IT spend is typically less than the other law firms around town," Hopkins says, based on figures provided by FMRC Legal, an Australian consulting firm. "Our department has a reputation among the partners for managing its spend pretty well."

Take email. In early 2005, half of the email arriving at Kensington Swan was spam. A custom antispam solution caught just 30 percent of it, causing the firm's 240 users to waste 200 hours per month on spam. This put the IT department in an unenviable position. "Fighting spam doesn't add any value to the business at all," Hopkins says. "We could spend all day fighting it and that doesn't make us another dollar."

Starting in April 2005, Kensington Swan evaluated Symantec Brightmail AntiSpam for six weeks. It captured virtually all spam and didn't require constant staff attention. "We configured Symantec Brightmail AntiSpam during its trial, and since then we have spent almost no time supporting it," he says. "This allows our IT team to accomplish tasks far more valuable to the firm."