Global News
Access Legal, a division of The Access Group, has appointed a new Product Manager for Legal Content, briefed to help practices become more efficient and effective in legal learning and compliance.
Ed Jones joins the newly formed division after spending over five years in operational roles at legal online training, compliance and risk management solution provider Riliance, which The Access Group acquired in 2019.
As part of his first major project, Ed has successfully overseen the rollout of Access Legal’s online anonymous survey system. Designed to help save firms valuable time when it comes to diversity data collection as part of the SRA’s Diversity Survey, it offers full anonymity and comes complete with pre-loaded questions and automatic calculations.
Every law firm has a regulatory duty to allow employees to take part in the bi-annual survey, which helps to monitor socio-economic background, ethnicity, gender identity, religion and sexual orientation in the sector.
Commenting on his appointment and initial project, Ed said: “Access Legal presented an exciting opportunity. I have an extensive background in legal learning and compliance, so it has been great to take the lead on this and join Access’ new dedicated legal division that already has a customer base of over 3,500 firms.
“We’re aiming to create an eco-system of learning and compliance for the sector that is more akin to the hybrid working models that we are likely to see in many firms going forwards. Time, effectiveness and reputation are all so important to legal practitioners and our aim is to present learning and compliance software solutions that meet those needs.
“The online anonymous survey system is a perfect example of this. When it comes to data collection for the SRA’s Diversity Survey, we all know how important anonymity is, particularly in relation to GDPR’s special categories of data. Law firms need to be asking themselves if the way they collect the survey data is secure and if it protects the user’s privacy.
“We’ve created a solution that sends users a unique link to a pre-formatted survey tool built with the latest SRA question set. This acts as a safeguarding mechanism by anonymously collecting responses and compiling them into an aggregated report. These automatically calculated results can then be inputted into the SRA’s portal once it goes live. It’s a truly anonymous solution that has compliance and efficiency at its core, which is so important to us as we move forward with our product roadmap.”
Doug Sawers, Managing Director of Access Legal, added: “Ed knows the variation and complexity of the market inside out and is passionate about delivering legal specific solutions, which is our core ethos.
“As a division, we’re aiming to help firms unlock their limitless potential to support growth. There’s been a fragmented experience of technology in the legal sector and legal learning and compliance has been no exception, with most solutions being generic and non-sector specific. We know that the very best people need software that reflects an increasingly competitive industry and changing consumer and employee expectations. With people like Ed on the team, we’re able to offer just that.”
Those already using Access Legal software solutions include renowned firms such as Eversheds, Minster Law, Winn Solicitors, Wolferstans, Neves Solicitors LLP and The MAPD Group.
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