virtualpractices.co.uk - Norwich Law Firm becomes Virtual Practice

Norwich law firm becomes Virtual Practice

When running a small business or when working as a sole trader, the dilemma many professionals are faced with is whether to manage the office administration tasks oneself or whether to incur the cost of employing a dedicated specialist.

This was the decision facing Brooks Simpson, sole principal of the Family Law Consultancy in Norwich. The legal practice focuses exclusively on family law and was set up just over a year ago by Brooks, who was reluctant to employ an accounts clerk because of the cost.

However, with the business thriving, Brooks found that he was spending at least one weekend in every month on accountancy tasks. He was also finding that his rudimentary accounts system was not able to cope with the increasing complexity of his business. He was therefore keen to change the situation, but in a way that didn’t incur substantial expense.

The answer came in the form of a new and innovative, on-line practice management service developed by leading legal systems provider, Solicitors Own Software (SOS). Called Virtual Practices it provides a detailed cashiering service that includes monthly reports plus on-going analysis of a firm’s financial performance.

Explained Brooks: “When I was told about this new service from SOS I was extremely interested. I had used SOS software in the past and had always been impressed with its ease of use, performance and reliability.

“The beauty of SOS Virtual Practices is that I have an effective and efficient accounts service, but at a fraction of the cost of employing an accounts clerk – I have calculated that the system has saved me about £10,000 a year in wage costs.

“It’s also a great time saver because it’s so easy to use,” he added. “Time that I can spend on my specialist fee earning work.”

Virtual Practice is ideal for smaller law firms as it offers the full functionality of the SOS Connect software at a fixed monthly fee – without the need for capital investment in hardware or human resource. It can also be accessed at any time.

It offers a cost and time effective solution to managing accounts and because it’s a flexible system, its capabilities can expand as a firm grows.

“The system is worth its weight in gold,” added Brooks. “It’s secure so it has meant I don’t need to set up a separate accounts server. It also keeps on top of any bad debts, and, if I need it, there’s a great backup team at SOS who I can call on.

“The biggest benefit though is the impact on my bottom line, because my overheads are so low, my profitability is substantially increased.”

SOS Managing Director Michael Platt said; “Virtual Practices is an exciting new development that offers the full functionality of our dynamic SOS Connect software, but for a much lower level of both cost and effort than would be required to install and run even a primitive system in-house.”