As a Partner and the Head of IT for Brethertons I have a variety of key responsibilities:-
- Security – solicitors are often the target of cyber attacks due to the large volume of confidential data and client money we handle on a daily basis. Ensuring we have the technical measures, processes and staff awareness required to keep our clients’ data safe is crucial to my work
- Efficiency – our lawyers handle huge volumes of client data every day. I must make sure they have the tools they need to work efficiently so that we can offer cost effective services to our clients while remaining profitable. The aim is to allow our lawyers to spend as much time as possible with our clients, advising them, rather than bogged down in admin and paperwork.
- Client service – We want to ensure that it is easy for our clients to work with us and communicate and collaborate with us. I source IT solutions which improve our client experience, saving our clients’ time where possible.
IT innovation has always been my passion. In 1993 I developed an online employment contract drafting tool. This was part of my final year dissertation for my Law degree at Warwick University. This was before most people had heard of the internet. It was years before Yahoo, Google, Internet Explorer, Paypal or Facebook had been invented. Sadly, I wasn’t entrepreneurial enough to monetise this work, otherwise I might have been the legal world’s answer to Elon Musk!
