Baskerville Drummond

Your leading independent legal IT , business strategy and finance consultancy, specialising in advising law firms and legal IT technology providers

Schedule a Consultation
LawNet Preferred Suppler Band 1 LawTech Listed

Should IT skills be tested when hiring?

I have been asked the question “Should IT skills be tested when hiring” many times when working both “inhouse” and as a consultant, and I still have the same answer as I did 5 – 6 years ago…

Read More

What Is It Like to Transition from An Internal IT Manager to An IT Consultant

Transitioning from an internal IT manager to an IT consultant can be a significant but exciting change in career path. While both roles involve managing technology, the responsibilities and challenges are quite different.

Read More

Webinar – Effective Financial Reporting in Law Firms: How to make a difference with your Management Information | 31 March 2023

Save the date - Baskerville Drummond & Katchr Webinar Effective Financial Reporting in Law Firms: How to make a difference with your Management InformationMaking your law firm more profitable and more cash generative should be the driver for all your financial...
Read More

Demystifying DMARC

With email being the primary method of communication for businesses, it is surprising how little the underlying architecture has changed, particularly with regard to security.

Read More
Our Video Insights
Our Practice Primers
Downloadable Insights
All Insights
Focus 365 – Staying focused on Microsoft 365

Focus 365 – Staying focused on Microsoft 365

We wrap up our Focus 365 series with some considerations to take away around Microsoft 365 governance and adoption. For example, how ...

Watch the video

Focus 365 – Automation

Focus 365 – Automation

Here’s the third in our new series presented by Nigel Stott that takes a more in-depth look at key aspects of M365 to help law firms ...

Watch the video

Baskerville Drummond at Home – 10th Anniversary Special

Baskerville Drummond at Home – 10th Anniversary Special

In this Baskerville Drummond 10th anniversary special, we talk to David Baskerville about how the consulting gig all started, what ...

Watch the video

Focus 365 – Microsoft 365 Compliance

Focus 365 – Microsoft 365 Compliance

Here’s the second video in our new series presented by Nigel Stott that takes a more in-depth look at key aspects of M365 to help law ...

Watch the video

Your leading independent legal IT , business strategy and finance consultancy, specialising in advising law firms and legal IT technology providers

Schedule a Consultation

LawNet Preferred Suppler

Band 1 LawTech Listed

Should IT skills be tested when hiring?

I have been asked the question “Should IT skills be tested when hiring” many times when working both “inhouse” and as a consultant, and I still have the same answer as I did 5 – 6 years ago…

Read More

What Is It Like to Transition from An Internal IT Manager to An IT Consultant

Transitioning from an internal IT manager to an IT consultant can be a significant but exciting change in career path. While both roles involve managing technology, the responsibilities and challenges are quite different.

Read More

Webinar – Effective Financial Reporting in Law Firms: How to make a difference with your Management Information | 31 March 2023

Save the date - Baskerville Drummond & Katchr Webinar Effective Financial Reporting in Law Firms: How to make a difference with your Management InformationMaking your law firm more profitable and more cash generative should be the driver for all your financial...
Read More

Demystifying DMARC

With email being the primary method of communication for businesses, it is surprising how little the underlying architecture has changed, particularly with regard to security.

Read More
Our Video Insights
Our Practice Primers
Downloadable Insights
All Insights
Focus 365 – Staying focused on Microsoft 365

Focus 365 – Staying focused on Microsoft 365

We wrap up our Focus 365 series with some considerations to take away around Microsoft 365 governance and adoption. For example, how ...

Watch the video

Independent IT consultancy

We provide a full “end to end” service from Strategic Reviews, System & Vendor Selection to Implementation and Strategy Execution. Our unique approach enables us to fully support our clients through the whole strategic or project process and ensures we are fully accountable for the results.

We also are retained advisors for many of our clients and provide ad-hoc advisory support as well as long-term IT strategic advice and overseeing execution.

Our depth of IT knowledge and law firm experience along with our strong commitment to deliver the highest level of client service every time continues to result in strong advocacy amongst our clients.

We invite you to read our client testimonials and case studies to learn more about our experience and how we have supported our clients to achieve their goals.

Our Services

Reviews & Strategy Creation

We carry out detailed reviews that deliver an independent assessment of your IT needs and options to support your short and long term business goals.

System & Vendor Selection

Selecting a new IT solution or negotiating improvements with an existing solution, we have the knowledge and experience to make it a seamless.

Implementation & Strategy Execution

We continually bring our extensive experience to each new project, blending consultancy and project management.

Trusted
Advisors

We act as long-term trusted advisors to many Law Firms and are often the go-to people when a Law Firm has a technology challenge which is outside “Business as Usual”.

 

Strategy & Finance reviews

Our in-depth knowledge of law firms and the current marketplace puts us in a position to help you and your law firm in identifying what your strategic direction should be.

 

Managed Service Providers Practice Primer

Following our well-received overview of the Practice Management System marketplace, we’ve now undertaken a similar appraisal of the Managed Service Providers (MSPs) market – the current state of play, vendor propositions, and potential pitfalls and how to avoid.

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Microsoft 365 Practice Primer

During this Practice Primer, we will focus on the three pillars of Microsoft 365 Security Collaboration Automation We will take a look at the product set in more detail and hope to provide you with an appreciation of how to use Microsoft 365 in your business.
Read More

PMS Practice Primer – Part 3

Part 3 – Planning for project success
How best to prepare your firm, stakeholders and project teams for PMS change

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PMS Practice Primer – Part 2

Part 2 – The PMS selection process
Comparing traditional and alternative approaches to  managing the lifecycle of a PMS procurement

Read More

Our Experience

Client Snapshot: Buckles

Client Snapshot: Buckles

Project type Practice management system selectionScope Buckles was looking at a PMS to replace its long-standing SOS solution. With an ambitious growth target – to double in size by 2025 – and a...

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Read More About Our Experience

News & Resources

Should IT skills be tested when hiring?

Should IT skills be tested when hiring?

I have been asked the question “Should IT skills be tested when hiring” many times when working both “inhouse” and as a consultant, and I still have the same answer as I did 5 – 6 years ago…

read more
Read More News & Resources

Why Choose Us

Many law firms have not reaped the benefits that technology could bring be it due to following poor advice or finding that promises made are not fulfilled. We often find IT projects have failed to live up to the expectations of the business stakeholders or that the day to day use of IT is detrimental to operational performance.

At Baskerville Drummond our focus is to ensure that : 

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IT is a business enabler rather than a barrier to success

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IT strategy is aligned to & supports the business strategy

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That all projects deliver the expected business improvements

“Working with both David and Paul has been such a positive experience. These IT decisions weighed heavily upon us and Baskerville Drummond showed both empathy and patience in understanding what we wanted and why we wanted it, and then guided us to make good choices. Their experience in IT negotiations and procurement also resulted in useful savings without any compromise in quality or delivery. The project was run with exemplary efficiency, and the team was always incredibly responsive and helpful and maintained good humour throughout; when you’re all working hard to bring something together, that’s a great thing to have in the mix. Retaining Baskerville Drummond as our trusted adviser means that our IT decisions won’t weigh quite so heavily in future, and we can confidently tell our clients that our IT is as good as (and, in some areas, maybe even better than) what the Magic Circle offer.”

Bott Van Kesteren Partners

“Nothing short of legendary. It’s an incredible achievement. Two things are notorious in an IT project of this size. They never complete on time and they always cost a minimum of 25% more than budgeted. This has been landed – and very successfully – on the very day we wrote in tablets of stone – and under budget.”

Andrew West

Managing Partner, Gotelee Solicitors

“In David, you are getting not just a highly knowledgeable and experienced professional, but an astute, affable ally who takes time to explain things in layman’s terms and deals pragmatically with issues. He helped us successfully navigate a difficult situation by stepping back, seeing the bigger picture and being bold enough to broker a new relationship when the easier option was just to start over. We’re an ambitious, fast-growing chambers and it’s reassuring to have David on hand to ensure we maintain the high standards we set for ourselves in relation to technology and security.”

Fiona Fitzgerald

CEO, Radcliffe Chambers

"Baskerville Drummond was retained by Lanyon Bowdler to review the firm’s need for a new Business Information (BI) reporting solution. As a result of this initial investigation we now have a better understanding of our requirements and the options available to us. We also have more clarity regarding where the timing of this project should sit in relation to other initiatives within the firm"

Robin Thain IT Manager, Lanyon Bowdler Solicitors

"Clear, concise and complete advice pitched at the right level for non-IT technical partners and staff, instilling confidence in their service offering. Fast response times. A great business partnering experience."

Wendy Edwards Finance Director and Associate, Attwaters Jameson Hill

"The use of Baskerville Drummond in our selection of a new PMS solution provided a solid structure to the process. Their knowledge of the marketplace immediately allowed us to short-cut the process by reducing the number of systems we could realistically consider. The thoroughness of the approach during the Request for Tender and Deep Dive phases meant that the Project Team had complete confidence in the final choice."

Bruce Hayward IT Manager, Quality Solicitors Parkinson Wright

“With so many possible suppliers out there, and no two offerings the same, by showing us what we needed to know Baskerville Drummond broke the task down into sensible parts and we really were able to compare apples with pears”

Cyril Arridge Managing Partner, Quality Solicitors Parkinson Wright

“Baskerville Drummond brought a proven methodology to the selection process, the knowledge of experience to implementation, and a trusted advisor in the form of David Baskerville throughout. We have found the guidance and support invaluable.”

Edward Power LLP Partner, Paris Smith

“David took a pragmatic, balanced and insightful approach to assessing our companies IT and system needs. He was approachable across all members of the team, he listened and arrived at solutions that were commercially balanced. He has a strong knowledge of the legal sector and its technological requirements, David is honest, friendly and dependable and I would not hesitate to recommend him.”

Helen Jackson Managing Director, Bush & Co Rehabilitation

“David has been able to provide a detailed analysis of our requirements for a new PMS and take us through the selection process. He was able to offer practical ideas, industry incite and also a knowledge of what the Firm’s requirements were. Pleased to have worked with David and would be pleased to work with him again.”

Andrew Thomson CEO, Hunt & Coombs LLP

“A DMS swap-out project is always going to be tough. Getting a project partner who has the right work ethic, technical expertise and management experience to complement the internal team’s ‘can do’ attitude was going to be essential."

Christel Aguila, Head of IT & Partner, Winckworth Sherwood

“David Baskerville is one of the only genuinely independent technology specialists that offer a true end to end advisory consulting service and actually gets things done. From rigorous supplier selection, through to detailed contract negotiations, successful implementation and ongoing strategic advice, David and his team have delivered every time.”

Paul Khan, CEO, Debenhams Ottaway Solicitors

“Kevin Goosman provided sensible and pragmatic advice and support for our IT function at a critical time for the firm as they moved to a new HQ – we greatly valued his contribution”

Des Mannion, CEO Wilkin Chapman LLP

“We needed to conduct an audit of the backend services and processes provided by our supplier. The supplier was un-cooperative and Kevin was met with much resistance. Kevin’s perseverance and patience paid off and he was able to acquire the information needed for his report. In difficult circumstances, Kevin demonstrated a high degree of professionalism and commitment to achieve the desired outcome for his client. As a result of Kevin’s report we are better placed to manage the supplier.”

Dean Mostert, Director of ICT Stephens Scown

“David brought a cohesion to a project with many complexities. His calm manner meant that decisions were taken in a controlled and decisive fashion and he explained why (and why not!) things needed to happen (or should not happen) in a particular way and clearly, to non-technical lawyers. His involvement took away the day to day worries of what is an integral component of any transaction. In short David turned a major area of concern for the MAB project team into a cohesive understanding for all parties. To be able to work on MAB LLP business until 2pm on Friday and then return to your desk on Monday and to then be able to logon to your new firm’s systems and start work is a testament to all the people involved but this could not have been done without David’s expertise. To do this for one firm would have been good but to do it for three plus the staff remaining to administer the closure of MAB LLP is very impressive”

Richard Phillips Partner, VWV (formally Partner responsible for IT at MAB LLP)

"Kevin’s input was invaluable at a time when the relationship with our MSP became strained. He assisted in ensuring that new arrangements were appropriate for our needs and allowed us to have greater confidence in our MSP going forwards."

Lee Bramley Managing Partner, Endeavour Partnership LLP

“Although we had done a huge amount of research and due diligence in the run up to the selection project, we still hadn’t ever done a project of this scale before. We were confident but thought it made sense to seek some extra reassurance and confirmation that we were on the right lines; to maybe challenge some of our assumptions and help us clarify our thinking; and to just wrap around us a comfort blanket of experience, knowledge, insight, objectivity and encouragement.”

Mel Smith, Chief Information Officer, Buckles Solicitors LLP.

Get Started Today

We bring operational hands-on know-how as well as managerial and consulting experience, meaning that we consider not only the technical IT aspects of your project, but also the broader business needs and the human element – what it’s like for users. You will find us friendly and helpful, but focused on delivery.

Book a Consultation today!

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