“...with the firm’s global proportions,

they needed feature-rich software that

would allow communication among

all offices, but still be simple enough for

their lawyers to use easily.”

As an international law firm headquartered in San Francisco, with 11 United States

offices and four overseas locations, Pillsbury Winthrop faces a highly complex

task in managing court calendars and professional liability. The firm has a general

counsel who advises on malpractice issues, and they also maintain a professional

responsibilities committee made up of lawyers from all offices and practice areas. As

manager of the firm-wide calendar/docket, Bill Makinney is responsible for the court

rules in all fifty states, and his department must be ready to defend a claim anywhere.

In the 1980s, a group of large firms in the Bay Area (including Pillsbury Winthrop)

formed a self-insured Malpractice Consortium that sets requirements to guard

against malpractice errors that could lead to costly lawsuits. To prevent court date and

deadline errors, the consortium mandates that each member firm create and maintain

a dual calendaring system. In this system, lawyers bear the foremost responsibility for

professional risk, but are backed up for accuracy by a centralized system.

Pillsbury Winthrop installed their first automated court calendaring system in 1989.

However, with the firm’s global proportions, they needed feature-rich software that

would allow communication among all offices, but still be simple enough for their

lawyers to use easily.

COMPULAW’S WEB PORTAL IS CORE IN PILLSBURY WINTHROP’S DUAL COURT CALENDARING RISK PREVENTION SYSTEM

ADERANT SUCCESS PROFILEADERANT COMPULAW

THE PROCESS:

Bill Makinney wanted a court rules-based calendaring program that

would eliminate the cost of maintaining an in-house department

of lawyers to update rules. More importantly, the software should

manage the entire system as the firm grows.

In September 2003, Pillsbury Winthrop installed CompuLaw’s Web

Portal court calendaring software. Although the consortium does not

require that a firm use court rules-based software, Makinney believed

it would strengthen accuracy, decrease cost and management

burdens and, most importantly, enable the firm to take advantage

of Web-based technology that would facilitate communication with

lawyers at all offices. The conversion and integration of CompuLaw

from the legacy system went smooth, with no technical difficulties.

CompuLaw has a full-time staff of qualified lawyers who update rules

and provide databases for each state and special jurisdiction in which

Pillsbury Winthrop practices. CompuLaw is now the department’s

core application. The docketing staff uses it daily to input information

and run reports.

THE SOLUTION:

CompuLaw’s Web Portal allows attorneys at Pillsbury Winthrop

to communicate and access their calendars on desktop or laptop

computers from remote locations. Communication through the

portal is rapid, and the calendar information is accessible to lawyers

anywhere they have an Internet connection.

In addition, the system is so easy for the lawyers to use that they

readily maintain their end of the calendaring process, ensuring the

integrity of the system. Attorneys can view their calendars or send a

calendar request directly through the program.

Pillsbury Winthrop knows that they can depend on the up-to-

the-minute accuracy of the rules databases and knowledge of the

calendar/docket staff. The Malpractice Insurance Consortium

performs a bi-annual outside audit on each member firm. This

creates a double “watch dog” system, which, combined with Pillsbury

Winthrop’s firm-wide dual court calendaring system based on Vision,

creates maximum risk protection.

ADERANT COMPULAW WEB PORTALADERANT CASE STUDY

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