Serengeti Tracker Collaborative Legal Platform Gains Wide Acceptance in First Year

Over 1000 In-house Users and 1,400 Law Firms Worldwide Work Together Using New Internet Service

Seattle – December 3, 2002 – Serengeti Law announced today that, during the first year after the release of Serengeti Tracker, its Internet-based system for managing legal work, it has connected more than 1,000 in-house users with over 1,400 law firms in 16 countries worldwide. Serengeti Tracker permits legal teams to share bills, status reports, budgets, documents, and electronic notes through encrypted Internet connections to virtual files, which are accessible to in-house and outside counsel working together on a case or transaction.

With Serengeti Tracker, corporate law departments stay current on recent developments, save time with electronic bill review and budget management, and create useful reports summarizing spending and results. Law firms work more efficiently with their clients, and have their bills processed faster, without having to build and maintain extranets.

Ease of use has driven the rapid adoption of Serengeti Tracker by corporate and law firm users. Because Serengeti Law is an application service provider, new users do not need to install any hardware or software (assuming they are using Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher with 128-bit encryption, a free download). Live web-based training takes less than an hour, for both in-house and outside counsel. Law firm training to submit electronic bills takes ten minutes. Setup of company databases and configuration takes a couple of hours. Conversion of data in existing databases is generally automated with upload tools. Serengeti Tracker accepts both LEDES and non-LEDES bills, an important consideration for companies that have foreign or U.S. law firms whose systems do not generate LEDES data.

Since its initial release at the annual meeting of the American Corporate Counsel Association in October, 2001, there have been four upgrades to Serengeti Tracker. The upgrades are responsive to user requests, and have included electronic bill auditing, date and note tracking, and enhanced database searching and reporting. The next release on December 16, 2002 will include foreign matter management (currency conversions, VAT, single currency reporting from foreign billings), as well as contract management (tracking significant terms, documents, and deadlines).

Large corporate law departments have chosen Tracker to rapidly improve their management of widely dispersed law firm and in-house legal teams. “Serengeti Law has designed a very powerful, yet practical system,” said Mickey Galer, head of litigation at Clear Channel Communications, Inc., whose law department has more than thirty lawyers and paralegals. “We are saving significant time with electronic data instead of paper, have improved control over our spending, and are producing reports that support better decisions about our legal work.”

Because the cost of the system is a fixed monthly price based upon use, small law departments can also afford the same leading-edge technology used by larger companies. “With Tracker, two of us can manage more than 300 cases and transactions with more than seventy law firms worldwide,” said Steven Jaye, General Counsel of Sunrise Medical Inc. “This system provides views of what is happening that we never had before, giving us better control over what is being done on our behalf,” said Judy Kemp, corporate and litigation paralegal of Great Lakes Chemical Corporation, which has six in-house lawyers and paralegals managing over 350 matters with more than fifty law firms.

Law firms appreciate the fact that they do not need to change their current systems to work more efficiently with their corporate clients on Tracker. Large law firms often find that they are working with multiple corporate law departments through their branch offices across the country using Tracker. “Serengeti Law provides one of the more convenient systems we have used,” said Amy Lyons, billing coordinator for Baker and McKenzie.

For further information, or to schedule a live demo of Serengeti Tracker (about a half hour), contact Rob Thomas (contact info below)

About Serengeti Law
Serengeti Law is a d/b/a for Legal Systems Holding Company, which is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Serengeti Law provides its services as an application service provider, and is dedicated solely to helping corporate legal departments and claims departments handle their legal work more efficiently, including their work with their outside counsel at law firms. Serengeti Tracker was created from a sophisticated supply chain management platform, which was customized for the legal profession by experienced attorneys working with software developers.

Press Contact:
Rob Thomas
Vice-President, Strategic Development
Serengeti Law
(425) 732-5555
Rob.Thomas@SerengetiLaw.com

■ top