PETER RANSCOMBE looks at how Scottish law firms are using information technology to offer services to clients and promote their image to new recruits
THE iPod was once the domain of music fanatics and gadget freaks, an expensive toy for those who wanted access to their music on the move.
But Pinsent Masons, the international law firm with offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, has found a productiv
e business use for the iconic media player. Staff working in its clients' human resources (HR) departments are using iPods to keep up to date on developments in employment law.
The service has been launched under Pinsent's HR Network TV brand. Clients who sign up to the scheme are sent a number of iPods, which come with a special built-in programme that allows users to download videos and news updates without the need for special software on their computers. It also allows users to download the latest programmes from any computer with a reasonably fast internet connection.
Clients can then watch videos containing both news updates on the latest developments in employment law and monthly risk management programmes. The video podcasts can be watched directly on the video iPod – while staff are travelling on the bus or train – or the iPod can be connected to a suitable television, to allow the programmes to be used for staff training.
Kirsty Ayre, a partner in Pinsent Masons' employment group in Edinburgh, has demonstrated the HR Network TV programmes and iPods to several of the firm's clients in Scotland.
The service is proving popular, with Fujitsu, Arriva, Monsoon and Northumbria University among the clients already signed up to the service. Pinsent Masons has been shortlisted for in the most enterprising law firm category at the Legal Business Awards, which take place on 7 February.
Ayre believes that the freedom the iPods give to clients is one of the key selling-points for the HR Network.
"I wouldn't want to look at clients' files on the train because you never know who may be around," she explains.
"But I'm happy to use the time to catch up on the latest employment news while I'm travelling backwards and forwards between Edinburgh and Glasgow."
As well as the off-the-shelf packages – such as programmes that show a staged employment tribunal or disciplinary hearing – the service also offer shows that are specially tailored for individual clients' needs.
"We could make a programme for a company – say, one that demonstrates a disciplinary hearing – and then it can kept on the company's intranet and be shown to new HR staff as part of their induction," Ayre suggests. "New videos could be made for organisations that have their own HR rules, such as universities."
It isn't just the large firms that are getting in on the act: Turcan Connell, the private client offshoot from Dundas & Wilson, which was set up more than ten years ago, is also using video podcasts.
The firm has produced a series of videos as part of its recruitment drive, offering advice to law students and giving potential staff an insight into how the company works.
In one of the videos, Tony Sharkey, the HR director at Turcan Connell, offers tips on dealing with interview nerves, what he looks for in a good job application and how to go about applying for a traineeship. In the other podcasts, three of the firm's trainees – Scott Hunter, Claire McGlynn and Simran Panesar – reveal what it's like to train with the firm.
To accompany the videos, Turcan Connell has a video tour of its Princes Exchange office in Edinburgh on its website.
"The response has been very, very positive," says Sharkey. "We've had more than 1,000 visits to the podcast pages on the website since they were launched and it's a great opportunity for me as the HR director to look at a medium that had a greater immediacy and which students would relate to.
"The image of private client in the universities maybe wasn't quite what it was here, in terms of the office environment, the type of work and the complexity of work that we do. Having someone who is a trainee solicitor to be on screen talking about it is, we feel, the best way of putting that message across.
"We're also now working on the production of a client video too," Sharkey adds.
As well as making the podcasts available on its website, Turcan Connell loaded the videos on to USB memory sticks – branded with the firm's logo – which were be handed out at recruitment fairs in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Turcan Connell's deadline for traineeship applications passed on Friday, and the firm is expecting its use of podcasts will have influenced a number of applicants.
"We were really pleased with the positive reaction to our podcasts," says Louise Keane, Turcan Connell's head of communications. "Our web statistics show clearly that there were spikes in interest when we launched new podcasts, so it's definitely an effective way of using technology to engage with our audience."
law@scotsman.com
Find out more about Pinsent Mason's progammes at www.hrnetwork.tv and watch Turcan Connell's videos at www.turcanconnell.com/podcasts, (Flash required).
The full article contains 876 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
