What are some of the best aspects in your firm, in terms of infrastructure, and some of the worst (e.g., the use of "Citrix" and good awful IT support)?
What are some things that can be done by the firm to increase productivity?
Are there actually any practical alternatives to Citrix in this space to allow relatively secure remote access to a consistent and locked down desktop environment while working from home? From what I understand, Citrix used to be/is ridonkulously slow and cumbersome...
Absolutely - I'm given to understand that Trilegal and KCo do not use Citrix. Not sure about the specifics of the mechanisms, if any, that they may have put in place, to safeguard against the dissemination/leakage of confidential documents/firm IP.
With all the money that Tier-I folks make, couldn't they spend a measly ₹20,000/- and get their own subscription. If it were Westlaw or Kluwer, one might expect the firm to provide. Manupatra & SCC? tsk tsk...
Juris Corp has provided me, a lowly trainee still in the final year of college with the latest gen Thinkpad.
The machine is a joy to use and unlike any other laptop I have used previously. The trackpad is precise, battery lasts all day and the build quality is quite robust.
Will definitely recommend a thinkpad the next time some asks me what laptop to get.
Have most firms been able to provide consistent Manupatra/SCCOnline access to all fee earners by now? Till June-July last year, quite a few tier 1 firms hadn't provided that either. At the firm that I was working at, the office had IP based access to Manu, and when we started working from home, the firm got one Manu subscription for 100+ lawyers at the office. Used to receive at least a couple of firm-wide emails everyday from some SAs/PAs asking the rest of us to log out from Manu because they had some 'important and urgent client deliverable'.
That being said, I've heard the system at CAM was quite good right from the start. Everyone (including the interns) could access online resources at any time. They had their own portal enabled with 2-FA.
1. IT infrastructure - We are provided with fast laptops and have an option to change them once in 3 years. Big cheer to our IT support team who have been nothing short of amazing especially during the pandemic. FYI, we also don't use Citrix shit.
2. Library and KM - Very underrated Teams which works hard in supporting lawyers in the firm.
3. Our offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore also kick-ass.
IT support is really good, team works almost 24/7 in shifts. They've couriered replacement laptops and repaired the old ones in this WFH quite promptly (and I'm in a Tier II city).
Thankfully there is no Citrix. Own portal with 2FA, KCO drive to sync across personal devices and a separate software to upload files in the common pool. Having used Citrix in the past, one ends up spending at least 10% more time in all tasks.
Between the IT and library staff, access to databases and subscriptions has been quite smooth.
I save money by not investing into IT / IT support. I pay well enough (lol) for the associates to buy their own laptops. Else, they are welcome to use the archaic infra that I provide. Partners and associates are on two different servers, to ensure that if associates' server is down, partners do not know, and client deliverable can be stressful. Also, pantry will be shut at 7pm (with all food inside) so you can order from Zomato and help the economy.
What are some things that can be done by the firm to increase productivity?
The machine is a joy to use and unlike any other laptop I have used previously. The trackpad is precise, battery lasts all day and the build quality is quite robust.
Will definitely recommend a thinkpad the next time some asks me what laptop to get.
That being said, I've heard the system at CAM was quite good right from the start. Everyone (including the interns) could access online resources at any time. They had their own portal enabled with 2-FA.
2. Library and KM - Very underrated Teams which works hard in supporting lawyers in the firm.
3. Our offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore also kick-ass.
They've installed this so called wonder software called Litera which inevitably messes up any document on which it is used.
IT is extremely incompetent. Ooh, and you can't search emails on Outlook because they have disabled indexing. Overall, terrible infrastructure.
Thankfully there is no Citrix. Own portal with 2FA, KCO drive to sync across personal devices and a separate software to upload files in the common pool. Having used Citrix in the past, one ends up spending at least 10% more time in all tasks.
Between the IT and library staff, access to databases and subscriptions has been quite smooth.