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TECH SUPPORT research from scratch and produce new documents. Then, they would do it all over for the next client, and charge each for updates to the information when reg- ulations changed. As recently as five years ago, she says, one Canadian financial institution spent $30 million in legal fees to develop a tailor-made content base related to com- pliance in all the jurisdictions around the world in which it operated. CRSTL offers a radical alternative: off- the-rack compliance solutions. "We build it once — it takes a lot of time and money — and then we own it," says Salomon. "But we can spread that [investment] out over a wide customer base. We don't redo the work for each customer. And we load [the content] on a technol- ogy infrastructure that serves as a delivery and updating mechanism." The company charges flat annual fees that include continual updating. The resulting cost savings for clients can be huge, she says. One CRSTL customer received a quote of $500,000 from a law firm for compliance-related services that CRSTL could deliver for $50,000. It's at about this point that lawyers reading this article — hello, you too — might be thinking, 'Hang on a sec. How is this a good thing for me?' CRSTL and its ilk — companies that use technology to deliver off-the-rack ser- vices and content that were the exclusive domain of hourly rate lawyers — seem to pose a threat to law firm revenues. But that is not a useful way to view the situation. "Law firms should embrace them," says EPSON WORKFORCE 310 ALL-IN-ONE ll-in-one printers are a glut on the market. Every manufacturer has 'em, at all diff erent price points. Who cares about one more? The Epson WorkForce 310 doesn't break new ground, but it does off er colour printer, copier, fl atbed scanner, and fax functions at a price low enough — $130 or less — that even small fi rms could aff ord to deploy it as a personal printer. Yet the WorkForce 310 can also be attached to a network so that any user with network access can print or fax on it. A This is a good deal for a device that combines a four-colour printer capable of churning out pages in copy or print mode at up to 36 per minute (black only) or 20 per minute in colour, and a 1200 dpi (dots per inch) scanner. But is it any good? Epson claims "laser quality" for black printing. When comparing the same text printed on the same paper from the WorkForce 310 and a $250 Samsung laser printer, they certainly look similar — at a glance. But the laser output is crisper, a fact confi rmed when looking at the text slightly magnifi ed. That said, print quality is impressive. The WorkForce even does a creditable — not great but okay — job on photos. Scanning is fast and reasonably accurate even on colour photographs. Controls are simple and intuitive. Software installation and network setup were surprisingly smooth. (Don't be confused, however, about the claimed "wireless networking capability." You have to connect this product by cable to a network router.) Will the WorkForce 310 last forever? It doesn't appear any fl imsier than similar prod- ucts. But you do get what you pay for, even with printers. Like cellular phones, they appear to off er better value than they do. It's just that the companies selling them bank on making their profi t on other things — ink and paper in the case of printer manufacturers, air time with cellular operators. And built-in obsoles- cence in both cases. No, a $130 all-in-one printer will not last forever. — GB Kardash of such companies. "Whether we like it or not, they're here to stay." Indeed, it could be argued they're here for good and just reasons. Charging each client to reinvent the wheel, whether it's done cynically or inadvertently because a firm doesn't manage knowledge effective- ly, amounts to fee gouging. Clients won't PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY Supreme Court of Canada Counsel and Agency Services Henry S. Brown, Q.C. Martin W. Mason Brian A. Crane, Q.C. Graham Ragan Guy Régimbald Eduard J. Van Bemmel, Legal Assistant 2600 - 160 Elgin Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 1C3 Tel: (613) 786-0139 Montréal Ottawa || Kanata | gowlings.com 24 OC T OBER 2009 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com ntitled-5 1 4/6/09 4:20:13 PM ntitled-5 1 12/11/08 3:24:59 PM Toronto | Hamilton | Waterloo Region | | | Calgary Vancouver Moscow | London Gadget Watch