Esquire Innovations, Inc.
Case Study
November 11, 2006
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP Relies on iCreate to Streamline Firm-Wide Document Production
Background:
Chicago-based Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP is an Amlaw 200 national law firm with more than 425 lawyers in 27 offices across 12 states coast-to-coast. The firm offers a full-service practice, with an emphasis in commercial and defense litigation, corporate, environmental, employment, health care and construction law, as well as the representation of professionals in their liability matters.
Hinshaw & Culbertson, like many other firms, has always been focused on enhancing user productivity and efficiency as a means of working not only smarter internally, but also, and ultimately, delivering a higher quality product to its prestigious client base.
Evaluating Business Needs:
This commitment rang especially true when the firm recently completed a reevaluation of its current document production and automation tools, and selected Esquire Innovation’s iCreate template and macro software to help further automate and accelerate the document production process.
One of the individuals instrumental in evaluating production tools, using iCreate, and eventually integral in designing state-specific templates and macros utilizing iCreate was Valerie Pickel, the Training and Application Support Administrator for the firm.
“During the selection process, we paid a lot of attention to the products’ customizability and flexibility. We knew the system would need to be extensively customized to fit our offices, particularly since each state/office has their own pleadings based on state-specific court requirements,” stated Ms. Pickel.
“In terms of business challenges, with our old systems, we were faced with the issue of mobile lawyering and the inability of many of the firm’s attorneys to access and utilize their document production tools in an offline environment, disconnected from any office network. “
Selecting iCreate:
According to Ms. Pickel, iCreate was simply the most “likeable” choice among the user base. “We looked at a few packages and iCreate caught my eye when I was shown that it is almost impossible to apply direct formatting. Their Hyperparagraph button sold me because it actually modifies the style and does not apply direct formatting. Their automatic numbering is very easy to use. I also found the program to be more intuitive than Softwise. I was not alone in that feeling -- most of our users like iCreate better. We have a large user community that works off-line and wanted something easier to use. iCreate fit the bill. In terms of customizations, the firm was able to modify iCreate to fit its exact requirements. We added various tools to assist with applying styles and numbering, letterhead that works electronically, and various other office-based templates,” concluded Valerie Pickel.
What about iCreate- A snapshot:
iCreate revolutionizes the use of templates and automation by providing firms with total ownership and a significant return on investment. iCreate is highly customizable by in-house staff without VBA experience. The package is simple to administer and the source code for customizable components is open. Comprehensive configuration guides and training are offered to ensure a complete transfer of knowledge is achieved. Key features and benefits include:
Standardized document production: Establishing standards reduce future time spent selecting styles and customizing templates.
- Simplified paragraph numbering.
- Integration with major document management and contact management systems to further automate the document production process.
- Simplified administration of templates and macros which is a key benefit when rolling out such tools across large user communities across various locations.
- Ease of Customization.
“Real world” Efficiencies:
Overall, the rollout of iCreate has saved Hinshaw & Culbertson a great deal of money in down time from corrupt documents. Users are now applying styles confidently and in the correct way; the firm’s documents are now much more stable as well. There are not as many Word crashes with iCreate, and training on iCreate is easier and saves the firm money compared to training on previous systems.
