Lisa’s Law outgrew its old system.

A Legal 500 firm chose LEAP Enterprise to modernise the way it works, then moved its entire team onto the platform with careful preparation, strong internal IT and close collaboration between LEAP Enterprise and Thinkwild.

Lisa's Law is a London firm that has grown steadily in both size and range of services it offers since 2012. As it grew, its requirements from a case management system became increasingly sophisticated, and the firm reached the point where it had outgrown the platform it had relied on for over a decade.

The firm chose LEAP Enterprise as a platform capable of supporting its size and complexity today, and its ambitions for the future. It saw the move as an opportunity to modernise the way it works, not just to swap one case management system for another. This case study looks at why Lisa's Law made the move, how LEAP Enterprise, Thinkwild, and the firm migrated 73 users and 14 years of matter data, and what the firm learned from a project that affected almost everyone in the business.

About Lisa's Law

Lisa's Law is a London-based law firm with offices in Elephant and Castle and a team of approximately 75 people. The firm provides services across most major areas of law, including residential and commercial conveyancing, immigration, litigation, wills and probate, family law and commercial law.

As the firm has grown, both in the size of its team and the range of services it provides, its requirements from a case management system have become increasingly sophisticated.

The challenge: A long-serving system now outgrown

The firm’s previous case management system served them well for many years, but Lisa's Law had changed and grown considerably over that period, and the firm reached the point where it felt it had outgrown the system.

The decision was not driven by a single issue. As the firm grew, it increasingly found limitations in what it wanted to achieve, experiencing challenges with speed, email uploading and workflow functionality. The firm also wanted access to more modern technology and capabilities, including AI.

Anne Dalipe, Legal Practice Manager at Lisa's Law, explains how the firm's requirements have evolved considerably since the firm's previous case management system was implemented in 2012. The primary driver for change was the need for a “more modern platform that could support the size of the firm today and give us greater flexibility as we continue to develop.”

The concerns before migrating

Migrating an entire firm is a significant undertaking, and Lisa's Law was clear-eyed about the risks. The biggest concern was data integrity. Having used their previous case management system since 2012, the firm held a very substantial amount of live and historical matter data and documents, so ensuring this transferred accurately was extremely important.

The firm was also conscious of the impact on its people. Many colleagues had used the old system for years, so moving 73 users onto a completely different platform was always going to be a significant change. Training, user confidence and support during and immediately after go-live were therefore major considerations.

Why LEAP Enterprise

Lisa's Law wanted to invest in a system suitable not just for the firm as it is today, but for its future development. With 73 system users and a wide range of practice areas, the firm needed a platform capable of supporting a business of its size and complexity.

LEAP Enterprise offered functionality that better matched the direction the firm wanted to take; particularly around workflows, integrations, and the opportunity to make greater use of technology and automation. When asked what made them choose LEAP Enterprise over the alternatives, Anne, Legal Practice Manager at Lisa’s Law Solicitors, said: 

Those three things – configurable workflows, deep integrations and automation – are what LEAP Enterprise is built for. It gives mid-sized and large firms a single cloud platform that can be shaped around how each department works, rather than forcing every practice area through the same process.

Preparation and implementation

This was not a small migration. LEAP Enterprise was moving 73 users and 14 years of live and historical matter data and documents off a system the firm had relied on since 2012, across seven practice areas, each with its own ways of working. The migration was very much a joint project involving Practice Management, IT and the wider management team, working closely with LEAP Enterprise and Thinkwild. A migration plan was prepared in advance and approved by the firm's management team, with responsibilities clearly divided.

Internally, Practice Management coordinated the overall project, communication, and training, while IT focused on the technical aspects of the migration, testing, and troubleshooting. LEAP Enterprise managed the data migration and system implementation end-to-end, with its technical team working directly alongside the firm's IT on testing and troubleshooting. Thinkwild provided implementation support, training for more than 70 users and valuable assistance to users around go-live.

Anne is clear that the structure mattered: “With a project of this size, issues will inevitably arise, so being able to identify who was responsible for each area and escalate matters quickly made a significant difference.”

Preparing the data and the people

A considerable amount of preparation took place before the migration. From an IT perspective, Hassen Tlili, the firm's IT Manager, planned the data migration carefully and worked to anticipate potential problems and worst-case scenarios. With a significant volume of data accumulated since 2012, this preparation was extremely important.

Equally, the firm focused heavily on preparing its employees for the change. Training was arranged in advance, and the team was kept regularly informed about what would happen, what they needed to do and what support would be available.

Go-live week

Go-live was an intensive period. Moving 73 users from a system the firm had used since 2012 onto a completely new platform meant a significant adjustment was expected.

Two days of on-site support from Thinkwild proved extremely useful: employees could ask questions as they arose and receive practical help while using the system, building confidence and enabling any issues to be identified and reported quickly.

LEAP Enterprise's UK implementations team delivered the go-live training alongside Thinkwild, and that support hasn't stopped at go-live: the team continues to run training sessions, with Lisa's Law, as the firm moves from learning the system to configuring it to fit how each department works.

The firm's own IT support was equally important. Having technical expertise available internally to answer questions, investigate issues and liaise with LEAP Enterprise was invaluable throughout.

As Anne puts it: “Having Hassen available internally to deal with technical questions, investigate issues and liaise with LEAP was invaluable.”

That two-way line between the firm's IT and LEAP Enterprise's technical team is what kept go-live moving. Issues were logged, owned and worked through together rather than left to pile up, and within days the team was, in Thinkwild CEO Jo-Anne Wild's words on LinkedIn, “engaged, confident and already embracing the system.”

The results so far

Several weeks in, the firm considers it still early to put firm numbers to productivity or time savings. For Lisa's Law, the biggest achievement so far is that it has successfully moved the firm onto LEAP Enterprise and passed the most difficult stage of the transition.

A small number of minor migration and technical points are still being worked through with LEAP Enterprise, but these are no longer preventing the firm from moving forward. Employees are becoming increasingly comfortable with the system, and the firm's focus is now shifting from learning a new platform to making better use of its functionality, workflows and integrations. In Anne’s words, Lisa’s Law “see the benefits of LEAP as something that will develop over time as we optimise the system and embed it fully into our working practices.”

For a firm that chose LEAP Enterprise specifically for its workflows, integrations and automation, that shift from “how do we use it” to “how far can we take it” is the point of the whole project. The firm's own words on LinkedIn sum it up: LEAP Enterprise is “an impressive product”, and the firm now has “a really strong foundation from which to develop and configure it around the needs of our firm.”

Advice from Lisa’s Law for firms considering the move

Asked what advice they would give another firm about to migrate to LEAP Enterprise, Anne Dalipe and Hassen Tlili pointed to a few clear lessons:

• Do not underestimate internal IT support. When issues arise, having someone who understands your existing systems and data, can investigate problems internally and communicate effectively with LEAP's technical team is invaluable.

• Invest time in preparing employees before go-live and ensure plenty of support is available afterwards. On-site support is especially valuable because people can get answers to practical questions while using the system.

• Be realistic about the transition period. Not everything will be perfect immediately, and there will be issues to resolve — but the most difficult stage passes.

The firm's focus is increasingly on what comes next: embedding LEAP Enterprise across the business, refining processes and making greater use of the functionality that led it to choose LEAP Enterprise in the first place.

LEAP Enterprise is the unified cloud platform for mid-sized and large law firms that require deep systems integration, advanced configurability and enterprise-level financial control. To see how it could work for your firm, request a bespoke consultation.