Central Chambers Law (CCL) are a UK law firm who, until now, have specialised in criminal defence. In November 2022, under head solicitor Chris Gadd, CCL expanded their operations into Civil Claims. Chris required a defined process which he could use to build his Business Energy Claims (BEC) operations around. Chris came to Forenzix for assistance in designing his BEC process from receipt of data to settlement/closure .Several meetings took place between Chris and Forenzix. Chris shared his knowledge on the legal steps for litigating Business Energy Cases and Forenzix used this information to draft a smooth, efficient, and comprehensive process.
Once a process was designed, the next step was deciding on a legal management software for CCL’s civil claims operations. The legal software which CCL were previously using for their criminal defence cases was not appropriate due to the specific legal software not having the functionality to build custom processes. Hence, we researched what legal software would be most appropriate for CCL and decided on Actionstep. Actionstep was chosen due to its versatility, allowing the meticulously designed process to be configured into its system. Head of Operations at Forenzix, Joe, also had considerable experience working with the system enabling CCL to get the most out of their new software.
Step by step to greater efficiency
Forenzix designed CCL’s system with automation at its core. The process, established with Chris was built into a workflow. A workflow lays out the steps from a case being received to a case being complete. At each step, an automatic task is assigned to a member of the law firm, the member could be a paralegal, admin, or solicitor. Once the task has been completed, the appropriate party can then move the case to the next step in the workflow. This process continues until a case is complete. Along the process, CCL required certain case information to be recorded. Forenzix assigned required data fields to the workflow which, similar to tasks, must be filled before a case is advanced.
Forenzix used a combination of the data fields and other case information to create case status reports. The status report configured, would allow the paralegals and solicitors to view the status of each case. Numerous other reports were configured to help Chris and his paralegals with their day-to-day work. The reports were configured to be sent to the relevant individuals automatically.
Along CCL’s case process for business energy cases, CCL are required to send various documents and emails to the client. Documents templates have been configured onto the system and are setup to be populated with individual client data. Document templates have been integrated into the workflow so that the documents are populated at the stage of the process when they are required. Email templates have also been configured onto the workflow to allow CCL to take advantage of automatic emails. Along the BEC process, the paralegals are given the option to send emails at the click of a button. This functionality allows the paralegals to choose whether a template email is appropriate for a scenario or not. All emails are configured to be sent with the CCL’s email signature.
How did Forenzix help the CCL team?
CCL instructed Forenzix to assist in training their paralegals on how to use their new system, which included several face-to-face training sessions. Due to the intuitive workflow which had been set up, it did not take the paralegals long to get to grips with system and they quickly adapted to completing tasks and moving their cases forward through the process. Forenzix have also made themselves available to respond to any queries presented by the paralegals or solicitors and developed a user guide.
Result: Forenzix's system has increased CCL's capacity for litigation cases
Forenzix successfully developed Actionstep into a system which has considerably reduced CCL's admin work, allowing Chris Gadd and his team to significantly increase their capacity for litigating business energy cases. CCL use Actionstep as the base for their civil claim operations and have since asked Forenzix to develop the system further for two new case types.