An international law firm with 11 United States offices and four overseas locations, Pillsbury Winthrop turns to Aderant's CompuLaw solution to handle the complex task of managing court calendars and professional liability.

1. ADERANT SUCCESS PROFILE
ADERANT COMPULAW
COMPULAW’S WEB PORTAL IS CORE IN PILLSBURY WINTHROP’S
DUAL COURT CALENDARING RISK PREVENTION SYSTEM
As an international law firm headquartered in San Francisco, with 11 United States “...with the firm’s global proportions,
offices and four overseas locations, Pillsbury Winthrop faces a highly complex they needed feature-rich software that
task in managing court calendars and professional liability. The firm has a general
would allow communication among
counsel who advises on malpractice issues, and they also maintain a professional
all offices, but still be simple enough for
responsibilities committee made up of lawyers from all offices and practice areas. As
their lawyers to use easily.”
manager of the firm-wide calendar/docket, Bill Makinney is responsible for the court
rules in all fifty states, and his department must be ready to defend a claim anywhere.
In the 1980s, a group of large firms in the Bay Area (including Pillsbury Winthrop)
formed a self-insured Malpractice Consortium that sets requirements to guard
against malpractice errors that could lead to costly lawsuits. To prevent court date and
deadline errors, the consortium mandates that each member firm create and maintain
a dual calendaring system. In this system, lawyers bear the foremost responsibility for
professional risk, but are backed up for accuracy by a centralized system.
Pillsbury Winthrop installed their first automated court calendaring system in 1989.
However, with the firm’s global proportions, they needed feature-rich software that
would allow communication among all offices, but still be simple enough for their
lawyers to use easily.

2. ADERANT CASE STUDY
ADERANT COMPULAW WEB PORTAL
THE PROCESS:
Bill Makinney wanted a court rules-based calendaring program that
would eliminate the cost of maintaining an in-house department
of lawyers to update rules. More importantly, the software should
manage the entire system as the firm grows.
In September 2003, Pillsbury Winthrop installed CompuLaw’s Web
Portal court calendaring software. Although the consortium does not
require that a firm use court rules-based software, Makinney believed
it would strengthen accuracy, decrease cost and management
burdens and, most importantly, enable the firm to take advantage
of Web-based technology that would facilitate communication with
lawyers at all offices. The conversion and integration of CompuLaw
from the legacy system went smooth, with no technical difficulties.
CompuLaw has a full-time staff of qualified lawyers who update rules
and provide databases for each state and special jurisdiction in which
Pillsbury Winthrop practices. CompuLaw is now the department’s
core application. The docketing staff uses it daily to input information
and run reports.
THE SOLUTION:
CompuLaw’s Web Portal allows attorneys at Pillsbury Winthrop
to communicate and access their calendars on desktop or laptop
computers from remote locations. Communication through the
portal is rapid, and the calendar information is accessible to lawyers
anywhere they have an Internet connection.
In addition, the system is so easy for the lawyers to use that they
readily maintain their end of the calendaring process, ensuring the
integrity of the system. Attorneys can view their calendars or send a
calendar request directly through the program.
Pillsbury Winthrop knows that they can depend on the up-to-
the-minute accuracy of the rules databases and knowledge of the
calendar/docket staff. The Malpractice Insurance Consortium
performs a bi-annual outside audit on each member firm. This
creates a double “watch dog” system, which, combined with Pillsbury
Winthrop’s firm-wide dual court calendaring system based on Vision,
creates maximum risk protection.
LEARN MORE
Contact us today to see a demonstration of the powerful
capabilities in Aderant CompuLaw that can help you better
Copyright © 2012 Aderant Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
manage, grow, and protect your firm. www.aderant.com | info@aderant.com | +1 888 604 2366