1. LEGAL PRACTICE MANAGEMENT25
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LEGAL PRACTICE MANAGEMENT25
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26 CASE STUDY
Platforms for growth
Knights' IT manager Nigel Johnson on how Tikit
P4W has helped the firm become a legal success story
When you’ve got growth in mind, getting the
best out of everyone using a single technology
platform is one of the most important goals
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS INDEX
TECH FOR
SUCCESS
SPONSORED EDITORIAL
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A
t Knights it’s all about delivering outstanding
client service through a business-led
approach. The firm’s a growth success story
– it shot up the Lawyer's top 200 list in 2015
and will in 2016 break into the top 100 – and it’s a
story of organic growth and acquisition that many
SME firms are attempting to emulate. But it’s a route
that requires business-grade practice and case
management.
Expanding by 50% – absorbing 130 lawyers and a
good number of support staff – is a big challenge, not
least in terms of the technology that makes the
business work. So, when the firm recently acquired
Darby Solicitors, there was serious work to be done.
Knights adopted Tikit P4W back in 2013. “We
created ‘Team Knights’ working practices across all our
offices, and were one of the first to implement Tikit
P4W as a truly company-wide, on premise solution as
a SaaS subscription,” says Knights' IT manager, Nigel
Johnson.
The firm's management team knew that a crucial
element in making their biggest acquisition a success
would be on-boarding professionals to P4W quickly
and smoothly. “We’ve put time and effort into our
configuration so that it enables our lawyers to do
things easily, themselves, from anywhere. We need
new people to quickly embrace working in the same
way. Tikit P4W gives us the depth and breadth we
need, plus Tikit have great people.” Johnson is a great
believer in getting the experts in, which proved to be a
powerful approach when combined with Knights’
enviable ability and willingness to embrace change for
the good of clients and the business alike.
“Change today often involves technology, and when
it does we propose the most relevant, benefits-led way
forward.” Of course, acquisitions have change and
uncertainty built in, but you can't do change by halves,
Johnson says. “You’ve got to make significant changes
in order to make it feel that change has actually
happened. A new name above the door is not enough
– if you have separate systems, you don’t create a
cohesive working culture. We are one firm, and we
have one system."
Johnson says he also trusted that Tikit could work to
the extremely tight timescales Knights had for the
acquisition. “Tikit delivered everything in less than
three months. I can’t speak highly enough of the
project and its management – Tikit went above and
beyond. They were also very honest and clear about
what had to happen from our side to make it work,
setting targets and milestones to ensure we would
make it. If things started slipping, they reminded us.
Success comes from working together like that, rather
than hiding potential dangers.”
Of course, the firm’s leadership championed new
working methods, but they quickly realised that face
time across everyone in the business helped new
people believe in the value of the system.
Product training, therefore, started from day one.
"We flooded the floor on go-live day, with Tikit
support staff and helpful colleagues everywhere, and
after some initial anxiety people soon started to
breathe again. By the end of day five we had calm.
New colleagues producing their own bills in week one
– that’s just fantastic, really.”
The acquisition also brought a new area to Knights –
legal aid, notorious for complex and onerous admin
and billing calculations (and low revenue). “Within just
two months we had enabled the P4W legal aid
module, and internal feedback has been brilliant. It was
a really big, quick win. I think there was genuine dread
about losing admin support for this, but the trainer
had them up and running after just one day.”
Knights is a self-proclaiming professional services
‘business’ and claims it’s truly different. For a start, it
measures its 350 national professionals based on
client access and speed of service – and even agrees
prices in advance. Plus, it’s the first professional
services firm in the UK legal sector to have attracted
private equity investment. Moving away from the
equity partnership model in such a way, says Johnson,
has given Knights sufficient capital and a management
PLATFORMS
FOR GROWTH
Knights’ IT manager Nigel Johnson talks to
LPM about how using Tikit P4W has helped
the firm become a modern-day legal success
story of expansion

3. LEGAL PRACTICE MANAGEMENT27
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SPONSORED EDITORIAL
structure to make commercial decisions
quickly in the interests of clients and the
business as a whole.
"My mission is to provide a set of tools
that help lawyers deliver excellent client
service. That mission is made up of many
elements, so my motto is keep things simple,
because if you get the basics right,
everything else will follow.
“Our time recording, document
management, back office, case management
is all P4W. People make a lot of the visual
Microsoft familiarity, but it’s really about how
easy P4W makes it for our people to do
their job, removing barriers and frustrations.
If you can do something yourself in the time
it would take to tell someone to do it, you’re
winning.
“Tikit P4W has brought that level of speed
and efficiency to tasks. It gives lawyers
control, and keeps them engaged with their
clients. It’s empowering – and it helps with
fee recovery.”
With billing, for example, Johnson says
P4W delivers valuable visibility and insights.
“Help and support can then be focused on
matters that aren’t making progress. We
might respond with client engagement
sessions, help lawyer’s scope letters, or
support improvements in billing accuracy.”
The Tikit P4W platform also enables real
national team-working. “Knights regularly
pulls in people from across offices to create
teams for the benefit of clients. Our
recruiting decisions are also based on the
individual and their talent and specialism,
rather than geographical convenience.”
Tikit, says Johnson, are real advisers for
Knights rather than just tech providers. “We
certainly benefit from their experience. They
don’t just bend to our every whim; they
challenge us. It’s always a healthy discussion
and it ensures we take actions that deliver
the desired business impacts. Since the
acquisition we’ve had excellent feedback
around Tikit, I don’t think our new colleagues
believed how easily they became part of
Team Knights.”
ABOUT THE SPONSOR
Tikit is one of the largest
suppliers of technology
solutions and services to
legal firms, and is part of
BT Group
www.tikit.com
Knights
Revenue: £20m
350 fee earners, 440 total staff
Offices: 7
Specialisms: Full service
commercial law firm with added
non law services of tax, town
planning and management
consultancy
LPM FACT FILE