London-based law firm Fox Williams became the first UK law firm to choose Elite 3E in the cloud, the leading AI financial operations platform for law firms, to replace a financial system reaching end of life. The firm wanted deeper profitability insight for partners, automated billing and credit control workflows, and an implementation completed in under a year.

Key Takeaways

• Fox Williams was the first UK law firm to switch to 3E in the cloud.

• The firm's main goal was profitability visibility, firmwide and by matter.

• Billing and credit control teams expected the biggest efficiency gains, including automated debt reminders.

• Cloud was chosen for scalability and to avoid painful upgrades.

• Elite's implementation timeline of less than a year was a deciding factor.

Why Did Fox Williams Replace Its Financial Management System?

Fox Williams' existing financial system reached end of life in 2021, so replacing it was unavoidable. The firm also saw the move as a chance to invest in technology that makes it more efficient and competitive.

In June 2020 it was announced that Fox Williams would become the first UK law firm to switch to 3E in the cloud from Elite, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) version of the financial management solution that runs on the Microsoft Azure platform.

Jeremy Gubbay, chief operating officer of the £28m-revenue, 35-partner firm, explains that on one level the driver of this significant investment was quite simple—there was no alternative to finding something new. “Our current system is at the end of its life in 2021, so without a new one we simply wouldn’t be able to run the practice,” he states plainly.

“However, while we don’t have the scale of resources of some of the larger firms, we are keen to innovate and invest in new technology where it’ll add value by making us more efficient or competitive than others. In 2019, we transformed our infrastructure and support for mobile working, and this move also fits into that category. At the same time, we need the result to be a very big step up for the large investment in time and effort to be worthwhile.”

What Does Fox Williams Expect to Gain from 3E in the cloud?

The biggest expected return is visibility into financial information, especially the drivers of profitability firmwide and on individual matters.

I see huge benefits in our partners having a deeper dive into finances—all the different drivers of work profitability, both firmwide and on individual matters.

Jeremy Gubbay Chief Operating Officer and partner, Fox Williams

The dashboards available through 3E in the cloud push metrics into many more displays to aid profitability analysis, where the firm previously relied on working such things out in spreadsheets. “With a better understanding of where we make or lose money, that can only make us more efficient,” he says.

This is particularly useful for a City-focused firm that covers corporate, financial services, and technology, but also partnerships, natural resources, travel, and fashion—requiring a disciplined sector-focused strategy. Gubbay continues: “We also spend a lot of money on marketing but can’t always attribute it as well as we’d like to the return in terms of clients or sectors. We should be able to be more granular there as well, and put more BD and marketing spend into the areas that make most sense.”

Which Teams Benefit Most from 3E in the cloud?

Accounts and administration roles stand to gain the most, with improved workflow expected to transform billing and credit control.

“We expect improved workflow will transform both the billing and credit control functions—for example, providing automated reminders about outstanding debt, which is still a manual process at the moment.”

Why Did Fox Williams Choose a Cloud Deployment?

Scalability and freedom from upgrades. Cloud was a secondary factor in the decision. The firm hosts several systems in the cloud, including client relationship management, but evaluates each case by case rather than following a cloud-first strategy.

The advantage is the scalability. I don’t need to worry about painful upgrades.

Jeremy Gubbay Chief Operating Officer and partner, Fox Williams

The choice of cloud here was a “short conversation” with stakeholders, he adds. “Previously putting our email in the cloud was a much longer conversation about security, as you’d expect.”

He would also rather a supplier manage the system than handle it in-house with the help of the firm’s outsourced IT provider. “Inevitably, anything very challenging needs to go back to a supplier to look at in any case—so it might as well deal with everything.”

Why Did Fox Williams Choose Elite?

A short implementation timeline was the deciding factor: less than a year from the point of agreement.

The system Fox Williams was replacing came from Thomson Reuters (Elite’s previous owner), but that didn’t make the choice of successor a foregone conclusion, says Gubbay. A list of six solutions was reduced to two, followed by many workshops and presentations.

“We’ve a fairly small team, and I didn’t want this to take 18 months,” says Gubbay. “A short, sharp project really appealed.” The intention was to be complete, with some breathing space, in time for the firm’s 2021 year-end in April. “Of course, Elite also understands our current system well, so the migration may also be more efficient.”

How Did COVID-19 Affect the Project?

Workshops moved to Microsoft Teams and the investment went ahead. “There’s nothing like being in a room together for serious discussion, but our workshops on Microsoft Teams are working well. I did go back to the board to discuss whether the investment was still a comfortable one in light of lockdown, but it turns out the business has still been doing well financially in the recent period. We also have the foundation of an excellent relationship with Elite to build on. Its senior management have been really attentive and open to our feedback, and any frustrations are quickly handled. I feel we can call a spade a spade with them and am confident that can continue throughout the project.”

FAQs

Which UK law firm was first to run Elite 3E in the cloud?

Fox Williams, a 35-partner London law firm with £28m in revenue, was the first UK law firm to switch to 3E in the cloud from Elite. The move was announced in June 2020.

What is 3E in the cloud?

3E in the cloud is the SaaS deployment of 3E, Elite's AI financial operations platform for law firms that runs on the Microsoft Azure platform.

What are the benefits of a cloud financial management system for law firms?

For Fox Williams, the main benefits are scalability, no painful upgrades, easy onboarding of additional users, and having the supplier manage the system rather than an in-house or outsourced IT team