Secure shared online workspace helps world`s second largest law firm increase productivity, reduce risk, win new business

EMC Corporation, the world leader in information management and storage, today announced that DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary LLP, the second largest law firm in the world based on revenue, is successfully using EMC Documentum eRoom software to facilitate online collaboration on global legal cases with attorneys, clients and co-counsel firms.

Accessible 24/7 worldwide via the Internet, the eRoom intuitive shared workspace provides authorised parties a central place to view and update all case documents. DLA Piper credits Documentum eRoom with saving the firm 15 000 hours annually, helping it gain a competitive-edge, and preventing information security breaches of confidential documents.

Michael Tominna, Collaboration Systems Manager at DLA Piper, said: "Without a central place dynamic repository for information, we were experiencing lot of redundancy and wasted time and expense sending materials back and forth, both in paper and e-mail. With EMC Documentum eRoom, everyone shares the same information in real-time. They know who is working on what documents, which versions are most recent and what deadlines are approaching."

With Documentum eRoom, Tominna conservatively estimates that the firm saves 250 hours a week by eliminating the sending and resending of e-mails, reconciling revisions that contradict one another, and fielding phone calls from clients asking about the status of their cases. Because DLA Piper employs more than 3 100 lawyers in 22 countries and 58 offices around the world, co-ordinating and collaborating on cases across multiple time zones and geographies can be a formidable challenge.

"Sometimes, we have cases that involve law firms in 20 different countries," explained Tominna. "For these, we create a master eRoom where general counsel can see detailed contact lists and summary information. They can even click on flag icons with hyperlinks to the different countries` eRooms. Without this technology through EMC, that type of visibility and co-ordination just wouldn`t have been possible."

DLA Piper is also finding that the online collaboration tool is giving the firm a competitive advantage in winning bids for new clients, according to Tominna. "EMC Documentum eRoom is a significant selling point for us. All legal departments are tasked with controlling costs. When they see that they can have real-time access to all the relevant documents and communication about their case, and that we offer this service at no extra cost to them, it truly sets us apart from other firms that are still billing for fax and paper copies of these same documents. eRoom has enabled us to extend tremendous cost savings to our clients, and offers us the ability to be even more flexible and responsive."

According to Tominna, ease of use and proven security assurance were the biggest factors for deciding to adopt the EMC collaboration solution. "EMC Documentum eRoom met our 15-minute rule. We figure our lawyers have to be able to use a solution effectively within 15 minutes of setting eyes on it or they won`t use it."

Approximately 2 500 people - including DLA Piper employees, clients, co-counsel and other external parties - use eRooms to manage cases, contracts and projects in approximately 1 500 eRooms. The Web-based technology has also streamlined a number of the firm`s other business processes, ranging from tracking contract renewal and termination dates in order to prevent missed deadlines to automating purchase order requests and payment of vendor invoices.