Software should follow a firm’s work process and improve workflow.

iCreate Believer Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips L.L.P.

Document production is central to the workflow of law firms. The software a firm deploys should follow work process and improve workflow. One of the oldest, largest and most respected law firms in Louisiana, Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips L.L.P., has become a believer in iCreate, the template and document production application from Esquire Innovations, Inc. Providers of comprehensive legal services, Taylor, Porter’s capabilities cover the complete spectrum of civil law, including state and federal trial and appellate practice. With the support of a large staff of professionals utilizing state-of-the-art technology, the Firm represents a diverse range of local, regional, national and international clients.

Impressed with iCreate’s ease of use

“I was first introduced to Esquire Innovations and iCreate at an International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) luncheon in New Orleans,” explains Damian Burdette, Taylor, Porter’s Information Technology Manager. “The software that our firm employed at the time was difficult for our people to understand and utilize.” During the evaluation process Burdette says he was particularly impressed with how intuitive and easy to use iCreate was.

“When we spoke to the vendor of the software we had been using, we quickly realized their updated product was going in a different direction than we had anticipated. That, coupled with the fact we were in the process of re-branding our firm, entailing a complete overhaul of our letterhead and template changes too complex to accomplish with the former product, we felt we would be better served starting from scratch. This made the switch to iCreate an easy decision.”

The project plan and implementation

Consequently, the strategy to implement iCreate coincided with the rebranding process. “We began by bringing Esquire Innovations’ Judye Reynolds onsite to help with the migration of the firm templates and the training of IT staff,” relates Burdette. “A month later we began training the rest of the staff and attorneys in the Firm’s internal training facility on the use of iCreate.”

Once training was complete, the former product was removed and iCreate (as well as Esquire’s iDocID) was installed on all computers, followed by several days of floor support by the IT staff. Today, all attorneys, paralegals, secretaries and administrative staff at Taylor, Porter use iCreate and iDocID.

iDocID is a Document Identifier application that places the file information of a document in the footer. This information helps users locate a document in a firm’s document management system and associates the client/matter number a document belongs to.

Excellent results with high user acceptance

Mr. Burdette reports that the results have been excellent.  “We have had a great acceptance of the product.  With some customization we have been able to do more with iCreate than ever imaginable with the other product.  The sales experience was painless and the service, training and support from Esquire Innovations has been top notch,” Burdette adds.  “The folks at Esquire Innovations are quick to respond in time of need and always have found a solution to any challenge we have.

Document production efficiency for the legal industry

iCreate encourages more efficient, standardized document production by providing ways to easily create automated templates for end users. iCreate also provides tools to quickly apply and make changes to styles, numbering and other MS Word formatting elements. Users have traditionally struggled with formatting MS Word documents, yet firms that implement iCreate find they can significantly reduce time spent drafting, formatting and re-purposing documents.

iCreate leverages MS Word’s native architecture. The benefit of this is twofold. First, by retaining the look and feel of the native parent software dialog boxes, it promotes streamlined workflow, efficient usage and reduces end user training requirements. Second, by retaining Word’s native formatting, an electronic document can effectively be used for collaboration purposes, without concern that the formatting will be rendered completely useless. Traditionally in this scenario, added valuable time has been required to "fix" a document upon its return trip to the firm, thus negatively impacting overhead costs and efficiency.

iCreate is simple to administer, and can be implemented in a short amount of time. Comprehensive configuration guides and training are offered to ensure a complete transfer of knowledge. iCreate components can be purchased separately or as a complete package. Key features Include:

  • Simplified paragraph numbering and quick style management with the iHyperstyles toolbar
  • Quick style clean up tools
  • Table of Contents automation
  • Integration with major document management and contact management systems
  • Simplified administration of templates - a key benefit when rolling out such tools across large user communities at multiple locations
  • Citrix integration to enable users to access iCreate when working remotely
  • Full pleading suite
  • The iCreate Template Launcher by which all firm templates can be launched directly from one dialog box
  • Label creation including Bates Labels
  • Document Identifier stamping and updating

About Esquire Innovations, Inc.:

With more than 550 law firm clients in 110 cities utilizing its applications, Esquire Innovations, Inc. is a leading provider of Microsoft Office integration software services and applications for the legal market. Esquire Innovations has been developing, supporting, and selling document creation, formatting, re-purposing, comparing, and metadata management software applications in the legal industry since 1999. The product line includes iCreate, a template and document production product, iScrub, metadata management for Microsoft Office documents, iRedline, the redlining tool for Microsoft Word and Excel, and iDocID, a powerful universal document management system-integrated ID stamper.

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