Computers November 1982

Reaction to the IBETA exhibition earlier this month has been very mixed. While many marvelled at the new Apple Lisa (it's a pity the Apple stand attendants weren't as customer friendly as their computer), a large number of people felt positively connfused about the relative merits of the gamut of computing products on display.

Such is the equality of quality in the presently available range of commputers that the sales pitches of many companies stress after-sales service and free-gifts as much as they do the competence and capability of their hardware. As a gentleman from Transstee pointed out, most of the welllknown micros are top-class computers, the only difference between systems for the businessman being what packages can be obtained free with the computer, and how easily and efficiently the computer can be maintained.

However, away from the general business computers, there are a nummber of, what may be called, specialist systems available on the market. One such system displayed at !BET A is the STAR Solicitor, which is designed specifically for the legal profession handling the administrative work of the practice, from accounts to word processing.

The main facility of the Solicitor is the accounting function which is intended to cover all aspects of the financial dealings of the practice from basic client transaction accounts to cash flow and financial modelling applications.

With an eye and an ear to the stipulations of the Law Society with regard to financial dealings between solicitor and client, one of the features of the accounting facility is an innbuilt warning system guarding against client payments in excess of the charge for services already rendered being processed.

The report facility of the Solicitor provides detailed accounts of indiviidual and collective aspects of the financial position of the company. For example, a solicitor may wish to acquaint him/herself with the creditworthiness or otherwise of a client with whom dealings have been difficult in the past. The reporting facility will display a record of work done heretofore, bills posted, bills payed, client credit limit, and workkin-progress (if any).

Besides individual client accounts, the system can furnish the solicitor with a detailed picture of financial transactions across the practice, such as a summary of V AT transactions, or details of unpaid bills. These reports can be obtained for the commpany as a whole or for anyone or combination of the accountable departtments within the practice.

Perhaps the most attractive feature of the STAR Solicitor as far as the legal practitioner is concerned is the Time Recording facility. Using manual data processing, the billing of a client for time spent working on a matter can be tedious and sometimes not wholly accurate. The time recordding function of the system can ease some of the burden of trying to remember just how much time was spent in the library and just how much difficulty was involved in a job which was possibly completed some time ago.

With the STAR system, the time spent working on a client matter is qualified by a description of the type of work done, and the amount of ressponsibility, difficulty, etc (among the billing criteria recommended by the Law Society). The various activities can then be quantified monetarily at a rate which befits that particular aspect of the handling of the matter. This facility ensures against over and under-charging, and helps provide for continued good relations with clients.

As well as taking charge of the financial dealings of the practice with clients, the Solicitor has a word proocessing facility which allows written accounts of client matters to be recorrded and stored. It also pr~vides for the storage of other legal documents. For instance, a practice may have two or three standard wills and a set of will clauses which they use regularly. These standard documents can be stored in the system and details of any will can then be generated by amalgamating relevant passages. The new will can then be printed on a line printer and a record of it stored in the client's information file.

From just cursory using experience of the system, it is obvious that no great amount of computing expertise is demanded of the user by the Soliicitor. All functions are clearly dissplayed and easily operated by simple, non-technical commands, which either the solicitor or a member of the clerical or administrative staff of a practice could use with facility.

Further information on the STAR Solicitor and its 'sister' system the STAR Accountant can be obtained from Malcolm McConkey, Star Commputers, 38 Wellington Road, Ballssbridge, Dublin 4. Phone 608485. •