Wright Hassall – IT Strategic Review
Project type: IT Strategic Review
From Frustration to Future-Ready: How Wright Hassall LLP Transformed IT with Baskerville Drummond.
Wright Hassall LLP, a well-established law firm in Leamington Spa, faced challenges with their technology platform. Whilst the firm wished to make use of leading-edge technology and has an IT mission statement that “IT should be a joy to use”, the legal teams were increasingly frustrated with the day-to-day experience of technology at the firm with outdated systems becoming unreliable, impacting efficiency and presenting growing risks.
Phil Wilding and the leadership team recognised the need for modernisation and turned to Baskerville Drummond for their expertise in IT consultancy for the legal sector.
Baskerville Drummond conducted a full review, developed a forward-looking strategy, and lead a transformation programme. The results: a streamlined, cloud-ready IT environment, reduced costs, and a revitalised IT team — all achieved within budget.
The Challenge
Like many firms, Wright Hassall had invested heavily in “on premise” infrastructure. Users accessed applications through Citrix desktops, supported by more than 100 servers – an unusually high number for a firm of 240 staff. Over time, this created:-
- Poor end-user experience: Regular complaints about slowness, crashes, and instability when running key platforms such as iManage, Zoom, and Teams.
- Infrastructure bloat: The ease of adding servers meant systems grew unchecked, while old services were rarely decommissioned.
- IT team under pressure: Highly skilled staff spent most of their time firefighting infrastructure problems rather than supporting business needs.
- Stalled upgrades: Core business applications had fallen behind, even preventing an upgrade from Windows 10 to 11.
The problem at Wright Hassall was not an unwillingness to invest in IT, indeed the firm were investing significantly, however the platform had stagnated due to complexity and a technology-led rather than business-led approach.
About Wright Hassall
A leading legal services business providing clients with exceptional service, Wright Hassall offers all the services that commercial clients need. It specialises in Corporate, Commercial, Employment and business immigration, Dispute resolution and litigation, Commercial property, Planning and environment and Construction
Wright Hassall acts for both regional and national clients including a significant number of ‘household’ name clients across a variety of sectors including technology, logistics, financial services, social housing, charities, retail, leisure, sport and rural/agriculture sectors.
The Approach
Baskerville Drummond began with a comprehensive IT review. David Baskerville
- interviewed staff from across the firm
- audited existing systems and dissected contracts
- identified inefficiencies and opportunities for modernisation.
From this process, a clear IT strategy and action plan were created and shared with the whole firm, which build trust and ensured the IT team were accountable for its delivery.
A major step was restructuring the IT function into two clear teams with each team member having a clear job role:
- Support – focused on day-to-day user support and routine upgrades.
- Transformation – responsible for delivering projects, aligning systems with business goals, and driving user adoption.
To drive this major project and guide the firm through the transformation required, David served as the interim CIO, leading the internal team led by Martin Batt (Transformation) and Kieran Philips (Support) and mentoring them to build confidence in their new roles.
The Delivery
The strategic review revealed that the firm was subscribed to some ‘platinum’ level solutions that were not being used effectively. By cancelling these contracts, we were able to redistribute IT investment into more modern and business-focused technology. Key changes include: –
- Moving away from Citrix to modern laptops and cloud-based working.
- Leveraging Microsoft Azure for secure, flexible remote access.
- Implementing Azure Site Recovery for business continuity.
- Partnering with Quiss, a trusted managed service provider, to deliver technical transformation in collaboration with Wright Hassall’s internal team.
We achieved all the project milestones to time and budget. It really was a collaborative team effort.
One of the biggest decisions was around document management. After 15 years using iManage (on a legacy FileSite version), staff were shown both iManage Cloud and NetDocuments. Enthusiasm for change was clear, and the firm successfully migrated to NetDocuments, a move that has modernised document handling and boosted adoption
A comprehensive case study of this element of the project can be found at https://www.xperate.com/news/modernising-document-management-with-confidence-wright-hassall-llp-case-study
“David Baskerville led a transformative overhaul of our IT systems — streamlining infrastructure, reducing costs, and revitalising the internal team.
With clear communication, strategic insight, and a collaborative approach turned technology from a source of frustration into a driver of performance.”
Results
The modernisation programme delivered a step-change in Wright Hassall’s technology experience. By shifting from a complex, server-heavy infrastructure to a modern, streamlined, cloud-enabled environment the firm achieved:
- Improved efficiency and reliability – Day-to-day frustrations with slowness and crashes disappeared. Lawyers can now work seamlessly whether in the office or remotely, enabling faster, more consistent client service.
- Reduced risk and cost savings – By cancelling underused “platinum” solutions and optimising IT investment, Wright Hassall redirected spend into business-focused technology. The result: a more robust IT platform delivered without increasing the budget — in fact, total spend was reduced.
- A revitalised IT team – With clearer roles and responsibilities, the IT function was able to move away from firefighting infrastructure problems to delivering value at a business level. Staff confidence in the team grew as promises were consistently delivered
- Future-proofed systems – The move to Microsoft Azure and adoption of NetDocuments ensured the firm is now positioned to take advantage of new technologies with minimal disruption.
Most importantly, the perception of IT within Wright Hassall shifted dramatically. What was once a source of frustration has become a driver of business performance.
Baskerville Drummond continues to provide strategic guidance and mentoring, ensuring Wright Hassall remains ahead of the curve with technology that truly supports its long-term growth.
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