The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/1507414
30 www.canadianlawyermag.com TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE All a firm needs is Unity TECHNOLOGY ISN'T what sets a law firm apart from its competitors. Not exactly. The challenge most firms – including the small and mid-sized firms that make up 97 percent of the Canadian market – have isn't whether they will integrate tech into their practice; it's knowing which technologies to choose and how to deploy them. To find the perfect solutions, firms will often mix and match products from various vendors, each of which are capable of doing some part of the job – but not the whole. To add to the inconvenience, tools from different vendors rarely integrate seamlessly with one another. This lack of interoperability can make it difficult to get a clear picture of what's going on inside their own firm, and see what their customer's needs are, all while adding unnecessary risk with more credentials and passwords to manage and more sensitive information diffused throughout the organization. A 360-degree approach to practice management would correct this problem. It's why Dye & Durham has invested so much in Unity – and will continue to invest tens of millions in its product suite over the next year: to create a single platform that provides legal professionals and firms all the tools they need to grow with less effort, in one place. "Put simply, 360 degrees is looking around the complete firm and solving for the many questions they may face each day: What does my business need in this moment? What's on my docket? And what do I need next week, next month? How am I going to grow?" says David Nash, Dye & Durham's chief product officer. "And for small businesses, it's especially important to have a well-rounded, easy-to-use suite of capabilities because, unlike large law where they have tons of people, tons of purpose-built proprietary, fully customized products, Unity has to be the thing that is natural to use because they're going to live in Unity all day long." "From client intake to cloud-based legal document storage, and from matter and case management to practice and trust accounting, we are constantly evolving the Unity platform to incorporate new capabilities that will make life easier for our customers and help them better serve their own clients," explains Nash. "This fall, we will be adding accounting and wills capabilities directly in Unity. And we'll launch Unity in British Columbia before the end of the year, bringing complete practice management to legal professionals on the West Coast for the first time." After decades providing solutions for law firms around the world – with Canada as their home base, they are also helping firms thrive in the UK and Ireland, Australia, and South Africa – Dye & Durham knows how law firms operate. "They are, first and foremost, businesses. They aren't just lawyers," Nash says. "By listening to our customers, we understand that these companies want to grow; they're looking for other revenue streams and looking for better ways to serve their clients." Nash points to the example of wills. "If you're a small business, you know a lot of your clients who are buying or selling property with you are probably also interested in wills, or executing an estate if they have one. These firms may not do a lot of wills today, either because of a lack of experience or because it can be cost-prohibitive for them to do so. So, how can we help them better serve their clients? And how can we really help them do high-quality wills?" This, he says, is where Dye & Durham's investment in AI will help set firms apart. They will provide powerful will-building capabilities directly in Unity later this fall and are developing AI tools that will Brought to you by Unity is Dye & Durham's one-stop practice- management software, but with a commitment to invest tens of millions in R&D this year, it's just the beginning "From client intake to cloud-based legal document storage, and from matter and case management to practice and trust accounting, we are constantly evolving the Unity platform" David Nash, Dye & Durham