England: criminal law firm launches app for digitisation of work

Avtar Bhatoa (pictured), senior partner at Bullivant Law and a former chair of the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates said the app was intended to allow lawyers to save time, let colleagues see their work and improve its quality.

He said: “Prisons and police stations are deliberately offline.

“Without the app we would have to come back to the office and write up all the details.

“The app sends all your data to a central server, which is available to all your colleagues.

“All you need to do is save your work.

“You could be leaving a police station at three in the morning, and everyone could see your data.”

He also said the app allowed conversations with clients to be recorded via digital dictation.

Mr Bhatoa added that the app came at a time when many criminal law firms were on the verge of insolvency and that the Ministry of Justice recently announced it will go ahead with legal aid tenders following solicitors’ failure to have that decision judicially reviewed.

“There are tenders going ahead for duty solicitor work and they have specified that people should be working remotely, without any idea of how it can be done,” Mr Bhatoa said.

He said the app was tested at Bullivant for two months last year before becoming available last month.

It was designed in conjunction with Bullseye Solutions – a joint venture between Bullivant and technology company JFK, which specialises in IT products for criminal law.

Mr Bhatoa said more than 100 lawyers at a handful of criminal law firms were making use of the app.

He added: “Most of the work of criminal lawyers is mobile – whether it is in police stations, prisons or magistrates’ courts.

“Unlike other lawyers, it is not in the office.”