Philadelphia, PA – May 8, 2012  Prosperoware announced today that international law firm Hill Dickinson has chosen theirMilan platform to improve adoption of the electronic file across its organization and to streamline administration of its document management system, iManage WorkSite.

A leading full service law firm, Hill Dickinson is listed at No. 28 in the UK Top 200 list with lawyer/partner numbers of approximately 600 and revenues of approximately £100M. The firm operates from a number ofUKoffices and has operations in Greece andSingapore.

Hill Dickinson embraces the use of technology to help drive its business forward and recently won two awards for its efforts at the 2012 Know List Awards, including IT Team of the Year, and Business Project of the Year.

Supporting quotes / Commentary

“The Prosperoware platform moves forward an IT initiative begun two years ago to increase productivity by improving the user experience with our core systems, including WorkSite,” said Keith Feeny, Director of IT and Operations at Hill Dickinson. “Prosperoware’sMilanplatform is a well-conceived enterprise solution that enables our teams to self-manage a number of critical elements of their workflow without depending on our IT Service Desk.”

For example with Milan Matter Hub, lawyers will be able to instantly create matter folders and tailor them to the needs of their particular practice against a set of standards themselves,.  Milan Help Desk gives Hill Dickinson the ability to safely delegate check in of documents to their help desk, which will free time up for several of their senior IT staff. Hill Dickinson anticipates providing access to the Prosperoware software to approximately 1,300 WorkSite users.

“Hill Dickinson is a prime example of a progressive law firm that sees the value in digitizing and automating core processes,” said Keith Lipman, President and cofounder of Prosperoware. “They are the kind of firm we look to for validation of our product strategy. We look forward to a long and healthy partnership with them.”

Product detail

• Milan Matter Hub
  Milan Matter Hub introduces the concept of a matter owner for every matter and decentralizes and distributes process control and security control. This gives matter owners unparalleled flexibility in managing teams and tailoring workspaces and sites in document repositories, including WorkSite and SharePoint. In parallel, Matter Hub streamlines change processes, such as re-filing, and establishes security controls as needed to enforce firm policy. The result: simplified deployment of electronic files across all the firm’s matters, minimal delays in change processes, and automatic interception of accidental failure to follow firm policy.

• Milan Help Desk
  By allowing the distribution of granular administrative rights, Milan Help Desk makes it easy for help desk staff to manage documents, workspaces, users, and groups without compromising security and streamlines a number of administrative functions, including importing, exporting, and moving documents and workspaces. 

Resources and links
http://www.prosperoware.com/milan-products

Notes to Editors:

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About Hill Dickinson

• Hill Dickinson LLP is a leading and award-winning international commercial law firm with more than 1,400 people including 190 partners, with offices in Liverpool,Manchester,London,Chester, Sheffield,PiraeusandSingapore.
• The firm delivers advice and strategic guidance spanning the full legal spectrum, from non-contentious advisory and transactional work to all forms of dispute resolution.
• Hill Dickinson prides itself on fostering the strongest client relationships and adding value through innovation. The firm acts as a trusted adviser to businesses, organisations and individuals within a wide range of specialist market sectors: including transport and logistics and international trade, through to retail, insurance, marine, health, education, manufacturing, public sector and banking and financial services.
• The firm celebrated its 200th year in 2010 and launched a major charity drive, working with the Community Foundation Network, to raise vital funds for a number of charities.

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Hill Dickinson has been recognised locally, regionally and nationally with awards for excellence in service delivery. Recent awards include:

• Law Firm Award (six or more partners), Liverpool Law Society Awards 2011
• Commercial Award,Liverpool Law Society Awards 2011
• Online Initiative of the Year (Claims Management Award) 2011, Claims Innovation Awards 2011
• Property Law Firm of the Year, North   West Business Insider Property Awards 2011.

For further information about the firm and its partners please visit www.hilldickinson.com

About Prosperoware

Prosperoware helps law firms take practice areas to the next level with Legal eLatitude solutions that give them the greatest degree of latitude possible without sacrificing governance, security, or privacy.

The founders of Prosperoware are experienced executives and well-regarded experts in legal matters, information management, eDiscovery, compliance, and enterprise software development. We count a number of progressive law firms among our clients, including Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, Duane Morris LLP, Ropes & Gray LLP, and Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP. To learn more about Prosperoware solutions, go to prosperoware.com.

Media contact

Scott Baran

Business Development Manager

Prosperoware LLC

484-434-2994

scott@prosperoware.com

Philadelphia, PA  – May 4, 1012  Prosperoware today announced a new offering for the legal industry, Zone Publisher, a highly innovative solution for synchronizing content between iManage WorkSite and Microsoft SharePoint for simplified, secure collaboration over intranets and extranets. Today, integration between the two systems is limited and complex to manage. Zone Publisher allows lawyers to publish WorkSite content directly to SharePoint libraries without IT support, where they have full access to native SharePoint features, including real-time, shared editing. Key features of Zone Publisher include active version control and automatic WorkSite/SharePoint synchronization.

Zone Publisher is part of the Prosperoware Zone product suite, a family of products that infuse rich, web-based software functionality into WorkSite and SharePoint to streamline and automate core legal processes and break down information barriers. Publisher is fully integrated with other Prosperoware solutions for SharePoint, including automated site provisioning, standardized on-demand folders, and web parts. 

Market perspective
Many organizations use WorkSite as their document management system and SharePoint for their intranet and extranet.  The classic approach to integrating WorkSite and SharePoint is with web parts, which make content available in a browser as a modifiable page view.  This model imposes a number of limitations upon users because it doesn’t give them full access to native SharePoint functionality, such as real-time, shared editing, contextual search, the extended metadata of SharePoint, and the ability to create custom views. The web parts model also creates a number of IT complications around provisioning and security. In addition, users lack clarity about which version is correct: the one in SharePoint or the one in WorkSite.

Supporting quote

“By leveraging the capabilities of SharePoint libraries, Zone Publisher makes collaboration much easier for both users and IT,” said Keith Lipman, President and cofounder of Prosperoware. “Users easily push content to SharePoint, and they have a clear understanding of what has been published. This eliminates confusion around what version is the correct one as well as the need to manage security. On the IT side, staff is liberated from creating external users in both WorkSite and SharePoint.”

Additional product features

• Multiple publishing options
  Documents can be published to SharePoint libraries as a copy with active version control, as a copy without active version control, or as a link. Multiple publishing options allow firms to establish business rules around whether content can be stored in another repository besides the firm’s document management system.

• Active Version Control
  Users have the option of editing documents in either WorkSite or SharePoint. A document checked out in one system is automatically checked out in the other system.  In near simultaneous check out, an email is sent to both parties informing them of the need for resolution or, optionally, the first check out takes precedence. When documents are edited, both systems are automatically updated.

• Audit trails
  Zone Publisher automatically tracks and reports on what has been published to SharePoint and which publishing option was selected.

Resources and links
ILTA Insight Stand No. 33

Zone Publisher Webinar

Product description on Prosperoware website

About Prosperoware

Prosperoware helps law firms take practice areas to the next level with Legal eLatitude solutions that give them the greatest degree of latitude possible without sacrificing governance, security, or privacy.

Prosperoware counts more than 40 progressive law firms among its clients, including Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, Duane Morris LLP, Ropes & Gray LLP, and Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP. To learn more about Prosperoware solutions, go to prosperoware.com.

Media contact

Scott Baran

Business Development Manager

Prosperoware LLC

484-434-2994

scott@prosperoware.com

Philadelphia, PA – March 19, 2012  Prosperoware today announced Zone Mobile, a web application that helps law firms address the increasing business use of consumer devices, such as home computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets, a trend commonly referred to as “the consumerization of information technology.”

• Zone Mobile allows lawyers to securely and seamlessly navigate email, document management systems, and files shares from any device. Just as if they were working from their desktop, users respond to emails, file emails into repositories, and attach documents to emails using familiar tools that replicate the email management experience they have in the office.

• Zone Mobile eliminates the need for IT to manage software on personal devices and gives fee earners and staff an additional, low-cost remote access path to email and documents when office closures put excessive stress on remote access systems

Market perspective
• As the line between work and home continues to blur, IT organizations in law firms—like those in other enterprises—are moving quickly to support consumer devices, protect client data and intellectual property, and ensure compliance. In a dramatic shift, a recent Avanade survey revealed that approximately 60% of enterprises are adapting their IT infrastructure to accommodate employees’ personal devices instead of restricting how employees can use them.

• While most companies think of office closures in terms of natural disasters, and prepare for them with those odds in mind, most firms fail to plan for office closures that result from seasonal or one-time events, such as snow storms or the Olympics. For example, law firms across London are scrambling to come up with a strategy for handling the unprecedented measures and road closures designed to accommodate the 109-mile Olympic Route Network because business continuity and productivity—not to mention revenues—are at stake.

Supporting quote
“We’re constantly connected—at the office, at home, getting coffee, at the airport,” said Keith Lipman, President and cofounder of Prosperoware. “ And we’re constantly working. That’s how we live. Consumerization strategies that restrict the use of personal devices may actually increase security and data loss risk because lawyers, like everyone else, are increasingly reluctant to give up their personal devices. Zone Mobile lets law firms take advantage of this trend in a very positive way.”

Product detail

• Agnostic web-based application with a touch interface
Zone Mobile neutralizes the barriers between systems and makes them web accessible from any device without sacrificing security. Lawyers seamlessly navigate email and content repositories as if they were one application when they are away from the office. With Zone Mobile, how they manage email and documents is no different on their personal devices than it is on their desktop. In addition, the touch-based interface allows lawyers to interact without a mouse, providing a user experience similar to other native applications on a touch-based device, such as a smartphone or a tablet.

• Benefits to the firm
By providing a consistent metaphor for dealing with core processes, Zone Mobile facilitates user adoption of the electronic file, makes it easier to collaborate, and mitigates the risk of data breaches. Zone Mobile also provides a very low cost, yet powerful alternative to expensive solutions for business continuity, whether that’s office closures caused by a snow storm or a natural disaster.

• World-class security
Prosperoware’s unique hybrid security model combines the scalability and flexibility of web-based models with the fine control of centralized models to protect sensitive information. At the infrastructure level, Prosperoware supports the highest level of encryption, including 256k-bit SSL as well as cache recycling to clear the cache at logout. At the user level, Prosperoware enforces strict password policies that require two-factor authentification and periodic password resets.

Learn more about Zone Mobile: resources and links

• Learn more about Zone Mobile by attending the webinar, Addressing the Consumerization of IT, this Thursday, March 22, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT. Register here. After March 25, you can listen to the recorded webinar here.
• Learn more about Zone Mobile by visiting the products section of our website.
• Follow us @prosperoware

About Prosperoware
The founders of Prosperoware are experienced executives and well-regarded experts in legal matters, information management, eDiscovery, compliance, and enterprise software development. We count a number of progressive law firms among our clients, including Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP, Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, DLA Piper, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, Duane Morris LLP, Ropes & Gray LLP, and Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP. Prosperoware has offices in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. To learn more about Prosperoware solutions, go to prosperoware.com.

Media contact
Scott Baran
Business Development Manager
Prosperoware
Voice: +1 484 434 9622
Email: scott@prosperoware.com

Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania – August 2, 2010 – Prosperoware LLC, a software and consultancy company focused on balancing lawyer latitude with firm governance, announces the rapid adoption of Prosperoware Milan by ten AM Law 100 & 200 law firms. Firms such as Duane Morris LLP, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, a global AMLaw 10 law firm and others have adopted Milan. “The Prosperoware team is excited that we have quickly received market acceptance,” says Keith Lipman, President of Prosperoware. “This is a testament to our industry experience and our ability to rapidly solve Worksite customer’s most pressing challenges.”

Milan is a platform that improves and distributes the administration of WorkSite and increases lawyer adoption of the electronic file, or Matter-Centric Collaboration, while allowing the firm to effectively manage standards and control risk. Milan is a web 2.0 application designed for rapid deployment with minimal training.

Prosperoware Milan, the 2.0 approach to Matter-Centric Collaboration, increases adoption of the electronic matter file. Milan, the Matter Centric 2.0 approach, enables lawyers to structure and secure their matters to fit the needs of the engagement while allowing the application of ethical walls or information barriers. “Best Best and Krieger is very excited to implement Milan,” says Tim Haynes, IT Director of Best Best and Krieger. “Milan has simplified our Matter-Centric design while empowering lawyers with better management of their matters.” Milan puts the responsible lawyer in charge of the folder structure and allows him to easily secure confidential information to the matter team. Milan is the only product on the market that allows firms to easily satisfy privacy requirements.

Milan’s Help Desk module improves administration and user support for WorkSite. Administrators now have the ability to distribute limited administrative functions to the help desk, records and other departments; plus have new tools that simplify their job function. “Milan’s remote check-in feature has provided us with a double benefit,” says John Sroka, CIO of Duane Morris. “We have prevented lawyers from losing valuable edits while reducing the burden on the WorkSite administration team.”

The law firms he stole the information from face an uphill battle to restore their reputations. The assumption of confidentiality is built into any discussion between a client and a lawyer. In reality, a law firm may have only 10 matters out of 5,000 that are walled off from the general firm for confidentiality purposes. This wasn’t nearly as great a problem when we were dealing with physical files. You had to get the key from someone, and you left a trail.  But now that electronic files are ubiquitous and highly searchable, we’ve letting the fox mind the chicken coop.

Complicating the situation is that matters often don’t require confidentiality walls when they are opened but as they evolve, they do. What started out as a request for advisement morphs into a confidential M&A but the matter coding never changes.

The problem is also partly cultural. In Asia, nearly everything is confidential until it’s made public. In the UK and the U.S. nearly everything is public until it is made confidential. That’s going to change over the next decade as western countries progressively move to the Asian model to prevent the kinds of abuses Luger represents. How law firms administer confidentiality will have to change, too. Can you imagine how large a risk team you’d have to have to manage just 500 confidential matters not to mention 5,000 matters?

The solution isn’t that difficult: decentralize confidentiality processes by putting the responsible lawyer in charge of who has access to the matter. (Or someone on the matter team.) Seems logical, doesn’t it? From a software perspective, it’s a fairly straightforward to distribute security rights. The technology to do it exists: it’s built into Matter Hub, for example. As described in this whitepaper – see link www.prosperoware.com/resources – where we’ve written more deeply on the subject, Matter Hub introduces the concept of a matter owner for every matter and decentralizes and distributes process control and security control.

It’s a fact: the technology to prevent data breaches in a virtual practice exists. But the will to change how we do things, including applying confidentiality standards, seems to be glacial. Posted May 2011

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Zone Enterprise introduces a new way of social working that adapts the best features of social business software to the needs of legal and professional services firms. Zone Enterprise is agnostic: it surfaces data wherever it resides—document management systems, time & billing systems, file shares—and organizes it to automate core processes, such as Pleading Bibles, Closing Checklists, and Matter Contacts. Matters and engagements are organized behind secure social walls, where team members post comments, share information, and manage processes.

Think — Service Product. The ultimate way to make greater profits is to fundamentally reduce the costs in providing the service by creating a product. A service product is something that goes beyond a marketing brochure but requires an investment in time and money. The key ingredients of a service product are know-how, technology and process. 

An ultimate example of a legal product is LegalZoom. On this site, a consumer can fill-out an online questionnaire and create a will. This is a traditional legal service re-packaged into a product. The client fills out the questionnaire and they are mailed a will. 

Clearly in a sophisticated transaction or litigation, it will be difficult to achieve this level of automation. However, steps can be taken to reduce the effort level in any matter by automating those areas where a routine process can be developed. The investment to create a product entails setting-up a standard approach, drafting appropriate model documents, and the application of technology. Almost every type of matter has a set of standard inputs, a set of tasks that need to be performed, and a standard set of outputs. Firms that make the investment in creating service products will be able to provide high quality services at a lower cost versus today’s on-the-fly approach. The result is the firm makes more money.

Squeeze Out the Inefficiencies. Law firms also need to squeeze out the inefficiencies so that the same amount of work can be done with less support staff and more fee earners. With the result of fee earners spending their time effectively delivering services instead of floundering with wasteful tasks. Here are some ideas: 

• File email into an Electronic Matter File – the result improves the information flow and reduces the extra effort of filing and reading superfluous emails. Copying an entire matter team on every email means that every member of the team has to spend time reading each email and taking some type of action (delete, file, etc.). This wastes valuable time. With an electronic file, fee earners can come up to speed on matters as needed when they are given a task.
• Reduce Offsite storage costs – image all paper before it goes to off-site storage. It is cheap to store information offsite but expensive to retrieve it.
• Improve Document Drafting Process – losing an hour to a mis-behaving document is painful when you are billing by the hour but it is a whole lot worse with a fixed fee.
• Less Printers – Do you really need all those printers especially if people are filing information electronically?
• Enterprise Search — the ability to put your hands on the right information at the right time is paramount.

We all know that it’s not the tablet that everyone wants but what you can do WITH the tablet. That’s true, too, of Zone Webtop. Taking advantage of some of the web 2.0 technology the iPad uses, Zone Webtop removes artificial walls between email and content repositories and gives lawyers broad latitude to work on the device of their choice.

It’s a very different and freeing way of getting the job done. For example, Zone Webtop can give you a view of client-matter content across multiple systems—SharePoint, WorkSite, and file shares. More importantly, this view is not just a snapshot in time but it’s actionable. You can do the things with those documents that you need to do, like attach them to an email, without navigating in and out of systems. Simply put, web 2.0 lifts all boats because it modernizes legacy systems by neutralizing the barriers between systems and making the systems web accessible.

Here’s what a Prosperoware client says about Zone Webtop:
“Initially, what excited us about Zone Webtop was the potential savings we could realize by using it as an alternative to Citrix for disaster recovery,” says Larry Wynne, Manager, Applications Development, SchiffHardin, LLP. “However, our large staff of 360+ lawyers are equally excited about the device independence Zone Webtop provides them as well as the unified, click-through access they have to information that resides in a number of different systems.”

Web 2.0, coupled with Prosperoware’s deep legal domain expertise, enables us to give law firms more options in terms of system interoperability and user-centered workflow. That’s what Zone Webtop is all about. Users seamlessly navigate email and content repositories as if they were one application. With Zone Webtop, the content you need to do your job is always available—whether your firm is recovering from a disaster or your users are simply on the road, working at home, or in the office.

It goes without saying, of course, that Zone Webtop has also been optimized for the not-quite-ancient devices called laptops and desktops as well as the “other tablet.”