Norton Rose

London based international law firm Norton Rose uses the Compass Knowledge Management System, powered by ISYS:web, to service over 700 legal staff from Paris to Moscow to Bangkok.

Supplying Norton Rose staff with immediate online access to the latest legal updates, historic and current know-how, the Compass Knowledge Management System provides an invaluable service, ensuring that the firm constantly takes advantage of its combined experience.

During development, one of the firm's primary concerns was a Precedents and Newsletters database that was not user-friendly and relied on old technology. Because the system was cumbersome, there was no incentive for lawyers to contribute knowledge acquired from experience with clients. This tacit knowledge is possibly the most valuable information an organization can possess.

After some investigation, the firm chose ISYS:web. "There were some very specific requirements regarding how information was to be presented. It was possible to make ISYS meet these requirements," said Chris Richards, systems development manager at Norton Rose.

There are thousands of documents in Compass, comprising mostly MS Word, PowerPoint and HTML files. Lawyers can search across the entire database and collate information, reuse wording and update themselves on the latest issues.

"The Compass System has revolutionized the way our lawyers work," said Ann Halpern, who is responsible for professional resources at Norton Rose.

Every day there are between 500 and 1000 searches performed on Compass from all over the world and lawyers are also able to access the Compass System remotely from their home.