Case Study: Holland & Knight
Law Firm Increases Productivity and Responsiveness with Search Capability
“With SharePoint Portal Server 2003, our attorneys have one-click access to the relevant matter and expertise they need to more confidently provide clients with complete counsel.”
Ralph Barber, Chief Information Officer, Holland & Knight
Business Needs
As one of the largest law firms in the United States, Holland & Knight found itself with more than 15 million case-related litigation documents and no comprehensive system for dealing with matter management. To try to find all relevant matter, attorneys had to conduct separate searches of the company’s intranet, its public Internet site, and its Interwoven document management system, which used a proprietary engine for full-text search. The process was extremely time-consuming, and none of the search engines delivered accurate results.
“Our attorneys and staff had to wade through a lot of inapplicable records and often were frustrated by the thought that there might be more relevant information still out there,” recalls Clint Van Winkle, IT Operations Manager for Holland & Knight.
In response to advanced and complex requirements from users, the Holland & Knight IT department decided to look for a single search tool that was more accurate and flexible, that would rank results by their relevance, and that could be integrated into existing applications.
At the same time, Holland & Knight management was promoting increased collaboration among attorneys and staff worldwide to provide the best possible service, regardless of the physical location of Holland & Knight attorneys and staff. However, the firm’s infrastructure made it difficult to bring the firm’s best resources together to work collaboratively. Just finding the coworker with expertise in a particular area required knowledge of that coworker’s last name; there was no way to conduct a search based on specialty, industry, or other variable.
“We wanted to implement a system that could provide both firm-wide search and collaboration capabilities, streamlining IT management and enabling users to eventually search within collaborative workspaces in addition to all other areas,” says Malay Shah, IT Web Manager for Holland & Knight.
Solution
Holland & Knight decided to conduct a proof-of-concept study and evaluated both the Google Search Appliance and Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003 as potential candidate solutions for the study. In doing so, the firm discovered the Microsoft offering’s search and portal capabilities and learned that future Microsoft products are expected to support even deeper and more effective enterprise search.
The firm also was introduced to a third-party application that could connect SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to the firm’s Interwoven system. The connector would make it possible for the Holland & Knight document repository to be searched through SharePoint Portal Server 2003, without disrupting the existing Interwoven security structure—and with no costly customizations. “We saw that with one product—SharePoint Portal Server 2003—we could achieve multiple goals,” comments Shah.
With help from Microsoft Services consultants, Holland & Knight embarked on a proof-of-concept study to see how well the SharePoint Portal Server solution handled searching the firm’s internal and external Web sites as well as its document repository. “I really pushed the consultants from Microsoft Services to accomplish the study in a short period of time,” continues Shah. “They did a great job managing the project and making sure everyone involved understood its goals and success factors.”
Attendees of a three-day Holland & Knight all-lawyer meeting tested the SharePoint Portal Server solution by searching approximately 1 million records in the document repository as well as the firm’s Web site. Response from the attorneys was overwhelmingly positive.
“The project was a huge success, so now we’re planning the first phase of our firm-wide implementation,” reports Shah. “We also plan to upgrade to Office SharePoint Server 2007 when it’s released to take advantage of features such as the self-learning spelling checker and dynamic data crawlers.”
Benefits
Holland & Knight anticipates that, once the implementation of its SharePoint Portal Server solution is complete, it will have a single search engine that delivers relevant results for users as well as an easy-to-manage solution for global collaboration.
- Attorneys will have the ability to retrieve more relevant matter, giving them the knowledge to offer counsel that is more complete.
- Because it can deliver accurate information quickly, the solution will help Holland & Knight increase productivity because attorneys will spend less time reviewing irrelevant documents.
- Using the SharePoint Portal Server solution will help make Holland & Knight attorneys more responsive to clients because it will be easier for them to find the right expertise within the firm.
- A SharePoint Portal Server–based solution will help the firm conserve resources because it handles both search and collaboration functionalities, eliminating the need to purchase and manage an additional system.
- By using the third-party connector, Holland & Knight will be able to protect attorney-client privilege with ease, because the solution helps ensure that confidentiality—even internal confidentiality—is maintained.
- Advanced SharePoint Portal Server features that are easy to access by multiple stakeholders—such as surveys, Web-based discussions, and forums—will contribute to knowledge sharing without requiring any recoding.
- Holland & Knight can build on its new search and collaboration infrastructure because its IT staff understands the Microsoft collaboration strategy and the ways in which the firm can adapt technology to support further business needs in the future, with the release of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Microsoft, the Office logo, and SharePoint are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.