The costs of IT for Disclosure in typical casesThe Woolf Report expressly anticipated that the use of IT for Disclosure
would spread with the new Rules
 . It has not happened as Lord Woolf anticipated. There are two reasons for
this:
 |
Nothing in the Rules encourages the use of IT. Indeed,
part of the Chancery Guide
(the only real attempt to deal with the subject) is so full of negatives
that it seems to have the opposite aim in mind. |
|
|
There is a widespread assumption that IT use is
expensive and not proportionate in smaller cases. |
We have put up a spreadsheet which compares the costs of the
traditional "dictate and word process" approach with the cost of sending paper
out to be scanned and coded by a bureau for use in electronic form. If you have Excel you
can adapt this to suit your case. Any realistic figures result in lower costs if the
labour-intensive work is sent out to a bureau - even for a single file of documents.
Sample values are given for the main
elements of cost and time, both internal and external. These values can be changed, as can
the percentage uplift needed to show the charge to clients.
You must have Microsoft Excel installed on your PC. Depending on the
connection speed, there may be a pause whilst the file loads. Internet Explorer should
display the spreadsheet in a frame; you can save it locally either before or after making
your calculations. Netscape will not display the spreadsheet but will ask you immediately
if you want to save it locally
In case of difficulty, or if you have comments or questions, please
e-mail Richard Brockbank
Access the spreadsheet here
|
