Law firm ‘transforms’ productivity with digital dictation

Hodgkinson’s Solicitors has experienced a “sea change” in the way it operates, allowing it to become more efficient and cost effective, all thanks to WinScribe from Voice Technologies.

The new technology has been a “massive transformation” for the Skegness-based business, explained partner Che Shing Li, which has resulted in work being completed in half the time.

“With digital dictation, we can pool secretaries, rather than using the traditional model of one fee-earner to one secretary,” he said. “Now, we have two fee earners to one secretary. It’s maximising efficiency and reducing overheads. We don’t need new support staff as more fee earners join the business.”

“WinScribe, which Voice Technology provides, is a technology that is far superior to the close competitors,” Che said. “Because it is web-based, I can check what work is outstanding and in progress not only from the office, but also from anywhere in the world.”

In fact, the solicitors are finding it useful to be able to dictate from anywhere in the world through their mobile phone, and upload the audio files direct to the office system.

Also, the problems associated with tapes, such as poor clarity and downtime when there is a jam, is now a thing of the past for Hodgkinsons. Che continued: “For example, in a thirty minute tape, if there was a letter that was urgent in the middle of it, the secretary would have to forward and rewind to get to the right part. You waste a lot of time that way. But with digital dictation, we can send individual pieces of dictation to any secretary.”

Support from Voice Technologies has been “second to none,” Che said. “They are very amenable and very efficient. Some companies aren’t quite as proactive as Voice Technologies when it comes to support. “They are very good and I would certainly recommend them.”

A global solution

Leading legal firm Hill Dickinson has purchased a suite of digital dictation equipment and software from Voice Technologies.

The company has installed WinScribe Author, Typist, WebManager and portable digital recording devices in its offices in Piraeus, Greece and intends to equip its new Singapore offices with the WinScribe digital dictation system. Its UK offices have also been equipped with Blackberry/Winscribe integrated systems.

Keith Feeny, Director of Operations, said: “We’ve been using WinScribe since 2003 in our UK offices. The new Blackberry integration will give our lawyers the ability to dictate letters and reports remotely, without the need to carry more than one device. And the new equipment allows us to name files, which the old system did not.”

Before WinScribe, Hill Dickinson used tape recorders and transcribers which carried inherent challenges.

Keith said: “We were often unable to locate a piece of dictation quickly – particularly when it started part-way through a tape. We couldn’t share the transcription workload among the secretarial staff – and there was always the danger that a tape with critical information on it would break. There was also frustration that our lawyers were unable to submit dictation for immediate typing when working remotely.”

With the Voice Technologies solution, all that baggage has gone. Keith said: “Authors can download dictation back to their secretaries for transcribing while they are out of the office, and our office manager can keep on top of our workloads, avoiding potential backlogs of dictation.

“Lawyers can check the current status of their dictation and avoid missing deadlines. They can also insert text into existing dictation and apply file names to their work to make it easier for secretaries to locate specific files.

“And it means the authors can flag up urgent dictation which their secretaries can see at a glance.”

Installing WinScribe kit in all of its offices worldwide has brought Hill Dickinson another potential benefit. Keith added: “Having digital technology at our fingertips means we can share dictation between the secretaries not only in the same office, or even in the same country, but all over the world!”