PI Specialists Woodward Solicitors achieve growth beyond expectations

UK News

08
Feb
2016

Editor

"We didn’t envisage this growth’" states Tim Wood, the Managing Director of Woodward Solicitors, as he reflects on the progress achieved by his firm over the last four years. Despite the struggles facing the PI market, they have succeeded to grow by embracing a simple but effective strategy -‘’working hard and knowing your business’’.

The Merseyside firm led by Tim Wood was established in 2011 and started off as a four-user practice.  Now, four years later, they count over 40 staff and have managed to expand their area of influence to include all of England and Wales. 

According to Tim, they needed an IT system that would allow them to grow without putting a strain on their resources. After studying the offer on the market, he selected dpscloud- the hosted IT solution from DPS. ’dpscloud allows us to manage our growth without having to manage the technology that supports it. The entire system is perfectly scalable and we can easily add, remove or swap users as and when needed. ’’ adds Tim, explaining his decision. Beside hardware management, the system also includes DPS’s Personal Injury case management software, their integrated  legal accounting software (Financial Director) and web-based  case tracking solution- mylegalspace. ‘ 

The other benefit of the DPS system is its flexibility. The time that would have been spent managing the hardware has been reallocated to the development of the case management system.  Each of the four different departments at Woodward Solicitors has designed its own workflows and letters, creating a bespoke system that suits its individual needs.

 ‘’The software is really easy to use’’ added Emma Wood, Litigation Case Handler at Woodward Solicitors. ‘’We can drag and drop emails straight into files which are easily accessible within Microsoft Outlook. As PI solicitors, we are also very pleased about system’s integration to the MOJ portal.’’ Besides the time saving benefits of the software, its ease of use also means less training. The intuitive nature of the product means that new users can grasp the system without an extensive amount of support. 

Keen to provide the best possible service for their clients, they have adopted DPS’s case tracking solution- mylegalspace. The ‘always-on’ feature of the system enables the firm to be perceived as highly responsive and pro-active without putting extra pressure on their staff. Clients are notified about the progress of their cases automatically and they can log in to their portals at all times to upload, check or download documentation. 

Brian Matthews, the Financial Director and Practice Manager of Woodward Solicitors shared his thoughts on DPS’s legal accounting system that he and his team of three Cashiers use ‘’Reports like the Profit Cost, Trial Balance and Bank Reconciliation are easy to download from Financial Director and producing bills is very straightforward too.’’ As bills are produced quickly, clients are invoiced promptly as well, which in turn translates into a healthy cash flow for Woodward Solicitors. 

‘’Thanks to the integration to Outlook Office, our case management system, the bills can be quickly attached to the corresponding case.’’ concluded Brian.

‘’Brilliant, really easy to use.’’ added  Emma, one of the first users of the PI case management system at Woodward Solicitors.