News & Events

Top Irish firms look to digital dictation as Mason Hayes & Curran lead the way with TotalSpeech

05 September 2003

Mason Hayes & Curran has become one of the first of Ireland's major law firms to replace their old analogue tape machines with a cutting edge workflow digital dictation system. The firm is providing BigHand's award-winning TotalSpeech solution to over 100 users firm wide.

Mason Hayes & Curran has implemented TotalSpeech Digital Dictation in an initiative that aims to empower current secretaries and improve their ability to support fee-earners effectively. The project also sets out to reduce the use of temporary and float cover and to streamline the flow of work across the firm. Even in the early stages of the programme work has already become easier to prioritise, documents are now easily escalated if urgent, and the total turnaround time for matters has been significantly reduced.

TotalSpeech also provides a valuable flexible working option, with lawyers able to dictate from home or when travelling and send in dictations instantly for transcription. It is planned that the next phase of the project will also enable fee-earners visiting the firm's representative New York office to utilise secretaries based in Dublin when required. Overall the accumulated benefits will enhance the firm's service to clients.

Trisha Carroll, IT Director at Mason Hayes & Curran, stated:

"This has been one of the smoothest and successful IT projects I have been involved in, and largely I put that down to our choice of product. TotalSpeech originally attracted us due to its functionality, clarity and flexibility - and it quickly delivered on those fronts."

"Most importantly though, TotalSpeech is one of the most stable legal technologies I have ever piloted - and this is a quality often overlooked by technology departments. Networked sound and dictation is a new area to come under the remit of IT, so it is a huge bonus when the chosen product does not have an impact on internal support resources or workload. TotalSpeech runs itself. I would advise other firms to be very careful in their own selection - you could be opening a can of worms."

The Mason Hayes & Curran project in Ireland follows a successful launch of TotalSpeech in the Scottish market, where Morisons WS quickly rolled out the software firm wide. BigHand are currently the only specialist legal digital dictation vendor who develop, supply, install, project manage, train and support their software directly across UK and Ireland. Many law firms find this 'total solution' of great benefit, rather than having to operate indirectly through resellers, providers or 3rd party support services.