Sharman Law LLP – IT Support

Project type: MSP Selection & Trusted Advisor

Sharman Law LLP (Sharmans) engaged Baskerville Drummond to support a review of its Practice Management System following significant frustration with its existing platform.

Over time, screens, precedents and workflows had become misaligned with the firm’s current working practices, creating operational inefficiencies and reducing user confidence.

Baskerville Drummond carried out a high-level appraisal of the challenges and advised against an immediate move to an alternative system. Our assessment concluded that many of the firm’s difficulties stemmed from historic configuration and customisation issues, rather than fundamental limitations of the underlying platform itself.

Addressing these underlying issues offered a lower-risk and more cost-effective route than a wholesale system replacement.

Following this assessment, we worked closely with the software supplier to define a structured plan to remediate the identified configuration issues and stabilise the platform. During this planning phase, the supplier recommended a “fresh start” approach as the cleanest and most cost-effective way to achieve the desired outcome. Sharmans subsequently decided to move to the supplier’s cloud-hosted platform as part of this approach.

Baskerville Drummond was then engaged to support the transition to the new practice management system and to provide guidance on the firm’s longerterm technology strategy.

About Sharmans

Sharman Law (also known as Sharmans) is a long-established, full-service law firm based in Bedfordshire, England. Tracing its history back to 1809, the practice offers expert legal advice across a wide variety of personal and business services.

We provided three key areas of support to align with both their immediate needs and future plans:

  • Service 1: Strategic guidance through our Virtual IT Director service, including implementation governance
  • Service 2: Training support to enable effective system adoption
  • Service 3: System development support to enhance functionality and usability

These services were recommended based on our experience supporting similar firms through comparable transitions. Sharmans responded positively, recognising that this approach would provide the structure, expertise and reassurance they required.

Go-Live Challenges

Following go-live, the end-user experience was not as expected. Sharmans’ dissatisfaction with the new system was not due to a single issue, but rather a combination of ongoing challenges.

  1. Persistent operational instability
  2. Failures in core daily functions including email, document management and time recording
  3. Slow issue resolution and ineffective senior-level communication
  4. A lack of confidence that problems would be permanently resolved

Our Approach

As confidence in the new system began to decline among staff, our immediate priority was to stabilise the situation, restore trust and drive resolution of critical issues.

We established a structured governance framework, starting with weekly meetings involving a consistent senior contact from the supplier. This ensured Sharmans had direct access to decision-makers with the authority to accelerate progress and resolve issues effectively.

In addition, we implemented the following measures:

  • A dedicated Baskerville Drummond email account to act as a single intake and escalation point for all user issues
  • Comprehensive call logging to track reported issues and resolutions
  • Formal issue tracking with the supplier to ensure accountability
  • Detailed meeting notes and action plans for the supplier
  • Weekly progress reviews with the supplier, focused on call logs, updates and next steps

Precedent Development

Alongside resolving system issues, there was a requirement for additional precedent documents within the new system. Developing these was essential both to demonstrate the platform’s value and to replicate familiar capabilities from the previous system.

This process was complicated by ongoing system instability, which impacted the time available for development and testing. Despite this, we worked closely with stakeholders to prioritise and deliver key precedents that supported dayto- day legal workflows.

The Outcome

With Baskerville Drummond’s support, Sharmans successfully addressed the majority of the challenges encountered during the initial implementation. Through targeted consultancy and responsive IT support, we empowered them to use their systems more effectively and in a way that aligns with their operational needs.

This engagement has since evolved into an ongoing partnership, with Baskerville Drummond continuing to provide IT support and strategic guidance to Sharmans.

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