Leading UK Law Firm Drives Service Innovation with OutSystems

Modern application development platform helps Shepherd and Wedderburn deliver award-winning client-focused systems.

Leading UK law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP is using the OutSystems low-code application platform to deliver innovative client-focused systems that enhance service delivery and achieve award-winning results.

The law firm, founded in 1768, has been at the forefront of innovation for more than 250 years and has received several awards, including the Innovation Award at the Law Awards of Scotland for one of the projects it delivered with OutSystems.

Shepherd and Wedderburn has been using OutSystems since 2014, initially to streamline its internal operations by filling the gaps between its practice management, accounting, and document management systems. More recently, the team has focused on client-facing applications, under an initiative the firm calls “Smarter Working.”

"What we've found is that clients' in-house legal teams often lack the required IT support to quickly stand-up the kinds of digital systems that can make their work and ours more efficient," said Steve Dalgleish, Head of Technology at Shepherd and Wedderburn.

Lynn Beaumont, Head of Knowledge and Service Delivery, who leads the Smarter Working initiative alongside Dalgleish, explains further, "Smarter Working combines the trusted, high-quality advice for which our lawyers are renowned, with digital technology expertise and services to help them, and us, work smarter together."

Shepherd and Wedderburn has demonstrated time and again that digital agility, coupled with traditional legal expertise, can be a game-changer for service delivery. Examples include:

• An application built in ten days that enabled a legal team to cross-reference and visualize financial data related to a multi-jurisdictional fraud case.
• A case management solution for one of the UK's largest mobile telecom operators. Delivered by in one developer two weeks, the system eliminated a spreadsheet and email quagmire, massively streamlining the 500 land acquisitions for aerial mast sights.
• An award-winning case management system for a UK banking client. The application integrates with Shepherd and Wedderburn’s practice management system, document automation tool, and document management system. It allows lawyers to handle twenty-times more cases compared to traditional ways of working.

"OutSystems matched our vision for reusable architecture, robust application lifecycle management, and a visual approach that would allow developers to focus more on delivering business value instead of coding,” said Steve Dalgleish, Head of Technology at Shepherd and Wedderburn. “It has given us the speed and agility to deliver effective process and technology solutions – both internally and for our clients – including complex, large scale, high-profile projects.”

“By using a modern application development platform like OutSystems, Shepherd and Wedderburn has the digital agility needed to respond at speed to provide clients innovative and efficient ways of working. We’re proud to see OutSystems at the heart of that,” said Willem van Enter, Vice President EMEA with OutSystems.

About Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP

Shepherd and Wedderburn is the largest Scottish-headquartered UK law firm, with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, London and Dublin. Its lawyers, many of whom are independently recognised as leaders in their fields, deliver comprehensive multi-jurisdictional legal advice across every business sector and provide the full range of private client services.

With strength across all its practice areas and clients ranging from FTSE and AIM-listed companies to public sector organizations and individuals, the firm is renowned for the quality of its lawyers and for its commitment to building long-term relationships of trust with its clients.