Lester Aldridge gives Lawsoft its seal of approval

BOURNEMOUTH firm Lester Aldridge is due to go live next month with a £500,000 overhaul of its IT system that will allow it to bring its separate accounts, marketing and practice management systems together on one system.

The 28-partner firm is the latest to install Pilgrim's Lawsoft practice management system. It follows London firms Cumberland Ellis Peirs and Fox Williams which have gone live with the system in the past two months.

Lester Aldridge chose Lawsoft after asking several IT suppliers to make a two-day presentation to its staff.

Lester Aldridge finance director Valerie Hoyle said the implementation of Lawsoft would improve efficiency at the firm.

Of the £500,000, Pilgrim received £200,000, while the remaining £300,000 was spent on desktop computers and other hardware.

Pilgrim managing director Ronnie Paton said the company currently had 40 projects under way with law firms.

He said these included "preferred supplier" contracts with a large Scottish firm and a big North East practice, although the final deals with both have still to be signed.

Paton said Lawsoft was an exclusively Microsoft-based product and would not run on any other type of server. He said this was now regarded as an advantage by many firms which viewed Microsoft as a safe investment.

He added that Pilgrim was going through a "bumper run" at the moment and had increased both staff and turnover by 30 per cent over the past year.