Charles French & Co Solicitors

Solicitors upgrade to digital dictation and transform working practices.

Cornwall based law firm, Charles French & Co Solicitors realise efficiencies through Lexacom.

Prior to Lexacom, fee earners at Charles French & Co had been using analogue tapes to record dictations which were then passed between their four offices. In a bid to offer their clients a more responsive service, and following recommendation from a leading IT systems supplier, Nicola Harrison, an Associate at Charles French & Co, shortlisted Lexacom. The purchase process included a formal review of other well-known digital dictation and speech recognition providers on the market. After an initial demonstration to the team, Charles French & Co were sold on Lexacom 3, due to its ease of use and capability to support cross site working. The efficiencies and cost savings were clear, with a move away from the physical transfer of tapes between offices there would be no need for staff to work over time. The success of the software installation and training delivery during the initial stages prompted another department within the business to switch to Lexacom too. As well as improved audio quality, Nicola and her colleagues have found Lexacom 3 to be a flexible tool which enables prioritisation and management of an everchanging workload.

“Particularly in our field of work, things can change quickly, so you might have dictated something and within 3 hours there’s something else that may need changing or becomes more urgent. Now using Lexacom, we’re able to go in and amend it or prioritise it which makes everything much better!”

An overall positive difference to the business is clear. Kathy Carr, a Director at Charles French & Co concluded “As a fee earner who has previously used digital dictation, I am very pleased that we now have Lexacom at Charles French and Co. This has vastly improved the situation from using a handheld Dictaphone with tapes, with no more issues with tapes being lost, wiped in error or batteries running out. The dictation is clear and being able to go back into and add to dictation is very useful. Definitely a huge improvement.”

Since having Lexacom installed it has been much easier to prioritise my work. There is a real benefit to digital dictation in that I no longer have to worry about keeping files and tapes together on my desk. It is also helpful to be able to assist others in different offices when they are short staffed.”

– Hayley Kirkby, Assistant