Taylor Wessing Streamlines Records Management by Unifying Electronic and Physical Records With Interwoven
BALTIMORE, Oct. 8 LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire — ARMA Conference — For Taylor Wessing LLP, as for other law firms in the UK and around the world, records management and risk management go hand-in-hand. Paper-based client and business records must be retained, managed, and destroyed in compliance with increasingly stringent government regulations and industry best practices. And firms must be able to quickly and easily retrieve stored records as needed for research or in response to a legal challenge. Firms must bring a higher level of efficiency to the management of ever-growing volumes of physical records, while simultaneously managing electronic records with equal efficacy.
To address these challenges, Taylor Wessing turned to Interwoven , the leading information management solution provider to professional services organizations worldwide. Designed to fully modernize the firm’s records management practices and technologies, Taylor Wessing’s implementation of Interwoven Records Manager comes as part of a broader transition to a matter-centric organizational model.
“This is a key implementation for us as the introduction of a unified matter and records management system enables us to push forward with our electronic filing strategy which will ultimately streamline the way we practice enabling improved knowledge sharing, better protection for client information and considerable space related cost savings,” Tim Hyman, IT director at Taylor Wessing.
Embodied in Interwoven WorkSite, the electronic matter file has reshaped legal IT in recent years. “Interwoven plays a central role in our strategy to implement a single electronic matter file for all types of content,” said Barry Macdonald, IT project manager at Taylor Wessing. “For work in progress, WorkSite provides simple, reliable access to complete matter content within a unified environment. For records management, Interwoven Records Manager makes the application of records policies efficient and accurate, and will ultimately allow our staff to manage and access paper records in the same way as electronic records.”
Prior to implementing Interwoven Records Manager, Taylor Wessing managed wills, deeds, client correspondence, patents, and other records through manual, labor-intensive records management processes. Unable to apply records policies in a granular manner according to the requirements of specific types of records, the firm retained all physical records for a uniform 21 years, greatly increasing storage costs.
“For firms, like Taylor Wessing, which have already used Interwoven WorkSite to transition to a fully modern electronic matter file environment, unified paper and electronic records management represents the logical next step,” said Chris Junker, vice president and general manager, professional services industry solutions at Interwoven. “Interwoven Records Manager introduces complete records functionality within the same seamless electronic matter file environment and brings unprecedented efficiency, accuracy, and
granularity to the management of both paper and electronic records.”
Interwoven Records Manager has been fully configured to support Taylor Wessing’s specific business process and records management policies in collaboration with Interwoven partners Tikit and Oyster IMS Limited. Already fully integrated with WorkSite, Records Manager was also linked to the firm’s practice management system to automate the application of client matter information to specific records. The first phase of the project focuses on the management of physical records, with electronic records to follow; Records Manager allows both types of records to be managed within a single, unified environment.
“For the first time, we have the ability to manage records in a granular manner based on the type of law they relate to and the corresponding guidelines and requirements,” added Macdonald. “The entire process has made it possible to greatly reduce our offsite storage costs.”
By replacing manual data entry with a highly accurate, automated system based on barcodes and scanners, Records Manager will free the firm’s records management team to focus on a higher-value management role in overseeing the application of records policies. In the next phase of deployment, Interwoven Records Manager will allow Taylor Wessing’s practitioners to declare and lock down records from within their familiar WorkSite environment.
Moving forward, Interwoven Records Manager will provide Taylor Wessing with a flexible platform to keep pace with the ongoing evolution of records management regulations and best practices. Said Macdonald, “Interwoven gives us a high level of control over the application of records management policies to records of all kinds, and makes it simple for us to ensure that each record is being managed, retained and destroyed appropriately.”
About Taylor Wessing
Taylor Wessing LLP is a leading law firm providing legal support for commercial organisations doing business in Europe. Based in Belgium, France, Germany and the UK, Taylor Wessing provides the full range of legal services to major corporations and growing enterprises. Taylor Wessing boasts a strong reputation in the corporate, finance and real estate sectors alongside in-depth experience across the full range of legal services including intellectual property and technology, tax, litigation & dispute resolution, employment & pensions and private client.
About Interwoven
Interwoven is a global leader in content management solutions. Interwoven’s software and services enable organizations to effectively leverage content to drive business growth by improving the customer experience, increasing collaboration, and streamlining business processes in dynamic environments. Our unique approach combines user-friendly simplicity with robust IT performance and scalability to unlock the value of content. Today, more than 3,900 enterprise and professional services organizations worldwide have chosen Interwoven, including: adidas, Airbus, Avaya, Cisco, DLA Piper, the Federal Reserve Bank, FedEx, HSBC, LexisNexis, Microsoft, Samsung, Shell, Samsonite, White & Case, and Yamaha. Over 20,000 developers and over 300 partners enrich and extend Interwoven’s offerings. To learn more about Interwoven, please visit http://www.interwoven.com.
