Wednesday 18 February 2009

The Legal Eagle and the Dentist's Chair


What do you think of when you hear the phrase "London Offices"? If you are like me the first vision that comes to mind is probably plush, glass-fronted, high-rise office space with spectacular views over the Thames. To be sure, there are many offices in London that would fit that description. However, the vast majority of offices in London are at the other end of the scale, occupying Dickensian buildings with three or four floors, linked by a winding, creaking wooden stair-case.

I found myself in one such building yesterday where I was setting up an ACT! database for a law firm with chambers in the legal heartland of the city near Lincolns Inn Fields. The premises were situated on a narrow lane, and the address lead me to a modest door adjacent to an extremely long list of names of the barristers presumably encarserated within.

I was introduced to the senior clerk of chambers and shown to a meeting room on the first floor where we set to work developing an ACT! database suitable for marketing the legal profession. We added a range of custom fields to the database to accommodate such things as DX (Document Exchange) numbers and the type of work in which the solicitors specialised. I then managed to import 1500 solicitors names and addressed from their Meridian legal database into ACT! I have to say it went like a dream.
After a couple of hours I asked for directions for the gents toilet, and was told it was "just up the stairs". So I set off up a gloomy staircase and on the next level I had a choice of two doors, both open. The room on the left seemed to have tiled walls so seemed the most likely candidate. I walked in, only to be faced with a man flat out on a dentist's chair with the dentist engrossed in drilling the poor man's mouth. His assistant who seemed as startled as me ushered me out of the room, and eventually directed me to the toilet - on the floor above.

Now I know many companies share office space but I really wasn't expecting to find a dentist operating out of a legal practice.
If you are a law firm (or a dental practice) who would like to boost your marketing activities by using ACT! software do get in touch via www.bigbluemarketing.co.uk

Turns out Charles Dickens was a legal clerk.