07 December 2023

Town Legal is a boutique planning law firm with a diverse team comprising lawyers, former local government town planners and heritage consultants, which allows it to provide unique insight, understanding and perspective in relation to the challenges and issues that may arise from complex development proposals.

As the contract with Town Legal’s incumbent supplier came to an end, the firm reviewed its business objectives and began to reassess what was required – and expected – from a Managed Service Provider.

Having grown from six to 50 employees in just five years, the firm recognised a need to implement a new desktop solution that provided increased mobility and flexibility, enabling fee earners to work more efficiently, no matter the time or location, to provide a superior service to their clients.

Town Legal decided to partner with a legal sector specialist with the knowledge and expertise to fully support business objectives of continued growth and improved user experience.

Managed unified communications

Town Legal selected CTS, which proposed a Microsoft Managed Desktop solution, legal specialist 24/7/365 support, and strategy consultancy service.

CTS’ Microsoft Managed Desktop solution removed the reliance on a hosted desktop environment, and all IT was managed through Town Legal’s existing laptop estate. This allowed the firm to cut licensing and infrastructure costs, reducing platform complexity, and resulting in a better user experience. The legacy phone system was migrated into the Microsoft Teams platform resulting in a unified communication system for smooth and efficient collaboration across the entire firm, including the NEAT video conferencing system.

Town Legal was also able to consolidate and optimise its existing Microsoft investments, such as Microsoft 365 licenses, as well as take advantage CTS’ Managed 365 security solution, which ensured its ability to continue providing a secure, high-quality client service.

“From the get-go, CTS worked closely with us to gain a real understanding of what we were wanting to achieve throughout our partnership, demonstrating that we were in the good hands of true legal experts,” said Gavin Curtis, head of Information Technology at Town Legal.

CTS additionally proposed 24/7/365 managed support, delivered by teams located in the UK and New Zealand, which was specifically shaped to the individual needs of the firm. This seamless solution gives end-users access to the support that they require, anytime, anywhere, 365 days a year. Town Legal also chose CTS’ strategic consultancy services to optimise the IT environment to improve efficiency, productivity and accessibility both now and in the future.

“Our confidence was boosted further during our onboarding process, particularly during our migration to the new laptop-centric model, which was carefully planned and executed seamlessly, retaining total functionality and encouraging user adoption,” said Curtis.

Exceeding client expectations

With the support of CTS’ 24/7 legal specialist service desk, which delivers regular maintenance, monitoring, remediation, helpdesk and emergency support, Town Legal’s internal IT team has been freed up to work on more value-added projects, placing particular focus on solutions that help to underpin strong client relationships.

The optimisation of NetDocuments as a user-friendly dataroom and client portal has enabled it to not only meet but exceed client expectations, giving the firm a strong competitive advantage. Additionally, the adoption of Printix, a cloud-based printing solution, has further strengthened the agility of the ever-growing team by allowing end-users to print to the office, no matter their location.

“We chose CTS because they were able to demonstrate significant forward-thinking around IT solutions in the legal sector, including the ability to maintain a discipline in their service delivery that we require. CTS are much more than a provider but are a partner – an extension of our in-house IT team – and we are very excited to see the fruits of our collaboration over the next few years,” said Curtis.