The Internet of Things – and Tomorrow’s Law Firm

Press Release from London this morning

London, United Kingdom: 1 April 2014 – Janders Dean is pleased to announce the launch of the ShockLaw© wearable time management technology solution for law firms and lawyers – featuring the Bill-IT© bracelet with LawyerShock© vibration technology, the ShockLaw© Server, and associated mobile device monitoring apps.

In an age when the ‘Internet of everything’ is dominating technology development, Janders Dean is leading the market with the introduction of the ShockLaw© wearable platform – and showing true thought leadership with the product’s integration both across the lawyer’s workplace surroundings, and also across software applications being used at the firm.

The ShockLaw© wearable technology suite is currently being trialled in a leading London law firm, where all 520 partners and lawyers (those with time recording expectations and requirements) are wearing the patented Bill-IT© wrist bracelets, and will be rolled out across a number of early adopter firms in the coming months.

The “wearable” component of the ShockLaw© solution (called Bill-IT©) consists of an innovative processing core, a long life battery, GPS location capabilities, a patented vibration motor (LawyerShock©), a series of advanced sensors and long term memory.

First Generation Bill-IT© Bracelet

In the early release version of the product, the ShockLaw© wearable hardware integrates wirelessly with the firm’s practice management or time capture products, as well as the ShockLaw© servers (which are offered both as an on-premise solution or in a hosted/“Software as a Service” (SaaS) model).

Not only does the innovative solution allow for tracking of a lawyer’s movements, the software integration with the firm’s time capture system allows firm management to be informed when an individual lawyer (or an entire Practice Group) has not reached their billable hour targets for a set period of time. This information is accessed by a series of dashboards available on management’s mobile devices via the iOS platform, meaning that management can access it remotely from home or while on holidays.
The individual lawyers also benefit from the inbuilt vibration motor. This sends an alert through to the wearer every six minutes to remind them to record their time, while also sending further and more intense alerts through if they have fallen behind in their billable hours.

Configuration options within the ShockLaw© Server allows the user’s control of the intensity of the LawyerShock© generated vibrations to be overridden by management, and set on an “enterprise wide” basis – all controlled based on a series of pre-determined management level business rules. Sensors within the wearable component of the Bill-IT© bracelet also alert management if the user is attempting to remove the device, or if inactivity of the user for a determined period of time is detected.

Although the product is still in its infancy, Janders Dean’s Technology Innovations Team (TiT) is currently working with leading engineers from some of the world’s major suppliers of elevator technologies and premises management. The objective of this research is to ensure so that the next generation of the ShockLaw© product will integrate with elements of the law firm’s facilities in a more intuitive and seamless way.

“The next product release currently being developed will integrate not only with a law firm’s time management software, but also with major components of the law firm’s premises such as staff access cards, elevators and escalators, self-flushing lavatories, and other areas on premises such Internet connected food and beverage vending machines” said Justin North of Janders Dean.

“This multi-faceted integration with both existing core software applications, and building hardware, will enable the firm to go further in managing its people – rather than relying just on the LawyerShock© vibration controls” says North.

It is expected that the new release of the ShockLaw© platform (due out in late December 2014) will contain functionality which can automatically disable a lawyer’s ability to exit the building or access refreshments if they have not entered their time as required, or if they are falling behind their expected billable hours.

“Interest from law firm management in the product has been overwhelming.” said North, “It shows that firms are truly embracing emerging legal technologies, in an increasingly competitive market, with a clear desire to proactively increase lawyer productivity” he concluded.