magazine
30
Where there’s a
will, there’s Invu
Established more than 150 years ago,
Maxwell Hodge is an independent firm
of solicitors with a network of eight
offices across Merseyside offering a full
range of legal services to private and
commercial clients.
Like many legal firms, Maxwell
Hodge has made significant investment
in technology to drive down costs,
safeguard information and improve
customer service. A key part of this
strategy is the use of Invu document
management to maintain data security
and speed up access to information.
Maxwell Hodge originally installed a
document management system almost
a decade ago to address concerns about
the security of client Wills stored at the
firm’s Liverpool City office.
A particular worry, according to
Maxwell Hodge business services director
Carol Head, was the risk of damage
caused by terrorism. “At this time there
were heightened terrorist fears in England
and the Directors at Maxwell Hodge were
concerned that should there be any type
of terrorist attack in Liverpool theseWills
could go up in smoke,” she said.
A document management system
would also enable Maxwell Hodge to
comply with the Law Society Standard
of Excellence (Lexcel), which requires
backup procedures to ensure the safety
of client records even in the event of fire,
flood or an act of terrorism.
After considering its options, Maxwell
Merseyside solicitors firm Maxwell Hodge is using Invu document
management to improve access to archived information
Hodge decided to scan all 11,000
Wills, some more than 100 years old,
into a centralised Invu document
management system. The scanning
process took time as each will had to be
scanned individually without removing
any binding – a requirement for legal
documents. At the end, however, Maxwell
Hodge had a secure, searchable digital
back-up of its paper archive.
“By scanning thousands of signedWills
into Invu, Maxwell Hodge ensured that the
documents could be recreated at any time
if and when required,” explained Head.
Because all client documentation
is held centrally, staff can now access
information from any of the firm’s
locations. This, says Head, means that
if a client comes into a Maxwell Hodge
office, rather than waiting for aWill to
be retrieved from the vault, a copy of the
Will can be retrieved on-screen.
“The whole process can be done
instantly at the local office, until the
original signed will is sourced and
delivered from our head office. If the
client just wants to check aWill, this can
be done immediately, with no need to
retrieve the original from the vault, which
is a real time and cost saving,” she said.
Rapid Retrieval
Another benefit, according to Head, is
the ability to search for and retrieve
documents using specific keywords,
especially when retrievingWills that
Document Management
Maxwell Hodge stores but may not have
created. “It is useful to be able to search
on multiple terms rather than just the
client’s name. If someone bequeathed an
amount to a dog, for example, it is easy
to search on the dog’s name and find the
Will very quickly,” she said.
The rapid search has also enabled
Maxwell Hodge to discover important
logistical information. For example, if
one of the firm’s Directors has acted as
a signatory on a number of Wills, it is a
simple process to find all documents with
that Director’s name attached, in case a
change is required.
Broad Adoption
Carol Head says that since its initial,
tactical adoption of Invu document
management, Maxwell Hodge has
extended its use into other areas,
transforming the way the firm manages
client documentation.
“To comply with a number of
regulatory changes, including Anti-
Money Laundering, clients must provide
a number of identification documents,
including utility bills, driver’s license and
passport. Maxwell Hodge now uses Invu
to scan all this client identification, to
ensure information is held securely but
can be easily accessed,” she explained.
Maxwell Hodge now has over 51,000
documents stored within Invu and it
recently upgraded to the latest version as
part of its on-going IT evolution.
Summing up the benefits of the Invu
system, Carol Head said: “Ensuring client
records are safe is a number one priority
for any law firm. Without Invu we could
not demonstrate that our records are
backed up or comply with Lexcel. Not
only is Invu a fundamental component of
Maxwell Hodge’s disaster recovery strategy,
but instant access to information allows us
to provide a better service to our clients,
which is of paramount importance to us.”
