Firm Size
6 attorneys
Issue
A security breach, and IT management inexperienced with legal technology
Solution
Switch to NetDocuments with security and backups and disaster recovery
Learn why the nationally-recognized, boutique litigation firm West Mermis, PLLC partnered with 3545 Consulting Global for their recent NetDocuments implementation and ongoing technology support needs.
West Mermis, PLLC is a boutique litigation firm in Houston, specializing in high-stakes construction trial work and commercial litigation. Their practice areas also include energy, product liability and insurance defense. Founded in 2016 by partners, Lawrence West and Joshua Mermis, the Firm has earned numerous awards and recognitions. Recently, the Firm was included in the “National Best Law Firms for 2019,” and both founding partners earned the “Best Lawyers in America” honor in 2019.
The Challenge
Boutique firms like West Mermis, which has six attorneys, including its two founders, don’t achieve such awards by managing their firms based on size alone. They play on the same field as the world’s largest firms. That requires more than exceptional legal talent. It requires the ability to deliver legal services with the same efficiency and effectiveness as their larger competitors. It includes the use of stateof-the-art legal technology and network infrastructure that support document management, effective matter management and efficient billing. It also means maintaining the highest levels of information security – a prerequisite to servicing their global clientele – including demonstrable compliance with data privacy regulations like the GDPR, CCPA and HIPAA . Like so many other firms, both large and small, West Mermis discovered that 3545 Consulting Global is the ideal partner to implement and maintain law firm technology and infrastructure. In a recent interview Legal Tech Media Group spoke with the West Mermis Administrator and Paralegal, Missy Lonergam, about her growing firm’s technology challenges and their evolving relationship with 3545 Consulting.
A Relationship Proven Over Time
At the time of the founding of West Mermis, a generalist IT company was engaged to establish and maintain the network, servers and laptops. While the IT company had experience with smaller organizations, they did not have legal technologyspecific expertise. Missy, who had responsibility for the Firm’s technology, saw the need to migrate the firm to PC Law and she contacted 3545 Consulting after she was referred to them by the head of IT at a previous firm she had worked for. Over time, Missy found that she was calling on 3545 Consulting more and more – not just for PC law, but for help with other issues as well. The IT company that was under contract did not have legal-technology expertise, in addition to not providing the general IT support West Mermis required. That included Microsoft Office Suite, network security and other technology support. Missy noted that the IT firm “was responsive but they didn’t know how to do the things that we needed them to do.
Security and NetDocuments
Having proven their earned reputation as legal technology experts, 3545 was next engaged by West Mermis to consult on the best approaches to information security, backups and disaster recovery. That was made more urgent by an event outside the control of West Mermis. There was an issue with building security, Missy related.
“Our office suite was unlocked over one weekend and anybody could have entered the suite, gained access to the server room and taken our servers.”
The backup system designed by the IT company was simply an onsite server with a mirror image. There was no offsite backup. That weekend, all the Firm’s data could have been compromised or stolen! 3545 took West Mermis from a server-based file/ folder structure to the highly-secure, cloud-based NetDocuments. That provided the highest levels of security available and significantly improved the Firm’s document management capabilities. “There again,” said Missy, “3545 demonstrated that, not only are they responsive, but they are experts. They have people who can address more than just basic IT issues. They also address in-depth challenges.”
Choosing A Firm Partner
Ultimately, 3545 Consulting proved to be the goto firm for West Mermis. With the expiration of the preexisting IT support contract, West Mermis engaged 3545 Consulting full-time as their managed services provider. As a result, West Mermis enjoys increased productivity and markedly decreased dissatisfaction. “3545 knows what they’re doing and, when there is a problem, they can easily address it. Under the managed service program offered by 3545, I don’t have to deal with all the IT issues. It’s been definitely less of a headache for me!” enthused Missy. Missy points out that West Mermis did go out for bids and selected 3545 after looking at other organizations. They rightfully performed full-due diligence. Bid responses confirmed that 3545 offered highlycompetitive pricing compared to other firms, particularly when accounting for the included enduser training support. The fact that they were a proven-entity cemented the decision. It’s Not Always Apple to Apple
Biggest Gains Post-Implementation
As a result of the Zola Suite implementation, Silverman Thompson has realized some impressive ROI. The Firm now has one platform that handles what previously required three separate programs (case management, hourly billing and invoicing, and accounting) to handle. There is great efficiency in the office, and staff can now rely on their on-line calendars. Attorneys also can access files remotely, on their phones and tablets, and they can enter their time after hours from their phones.
With Zola Suite’s timekeeping capabilities, attorneys are entering more of their time, which makes recording billable hours more accurate and efficient. Previously, attorneys could not enter time after office hours, so the Firm was missing a significant amount of attorney-billable hours.
Zola Suite also has a CRM component that allows the Firm to track a potential new case and ensure followup… something they couldn’t do before. The Firm is opening more cases as a result of the Zola Suite CRM features.
It’s Not Always Apple to Apple
“From the very beginning, 3545 Consulting did whatever it took, even though we didn’t have that kind of contract with them at first,” said Missy. “3545 helped us get through all of those things for three years, while we were working with our IT vendor, and they were able to ask the questions and get us through the problem solving.” When choosing among providers, comparisons should be made with caution, patticularly when comparing costs. “Because of all the additional services that 3545 provides, in addition to their expertise, I don’t think it’s apples to apples because now we can actually use one firm that really knows us.” Perhaps, even more importantly, Missy noted, “They’re present, they’re always responsive, they’ll spend time in the office and they get a lot done. They always go above and beyond expectations. “
To learn more about 3545 Consulting Global call 713-789-3323.