{"id":20697,"date":"2017-08-23T10:23:24","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T10:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalgeek.co\/?p=20697"},"modified":"2017-08-23T10:23:24","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T10:23:24","slug":"legal-geek-week-james-dawson-dealscoper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalgeek.co\/legal-geek-week-james-dawson-dealscoper\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Geek of the Week \u2013 James Dawson, DealScoper"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the key factors that motivated DealScoper Head of Content, James Dawson, to leave his partnership with Macfarlanes and enter the legal tech space, was a nagging question, \u201cIf not now, then when?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dawson answered that question one year ago this month and judging by the excitement with which he is demonstrating DealScoper\u2019s web-based platform to Legal Geek, he\u2019s not regretting his decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

DealScoper is a scoping and pricing software application, which allows law firms to more accurately predict their own costs and profit margins, even through several rounds of price negotiations with a client. Yet it\u2019s also on the side of the client; capable of acting as a portal for businesses to request transparent quotes from law firms for a specific job.<\/span><\/p>\n

Its intuitive interface is highlighted by Dawson\u2019s two pre-teen children being able to build quotes using the software. \u201cThey don\u2019t know what an M&A share sale is, but they can scope one and price it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As Dawson mocks up an example quote for Legal Geek, it\u2019s plain to see how user-friendly the software is. No grids, no spreadsheets, just a colourful 3D block growing and shrinking as costs are added to a helpful template, split into sub costs and task groups, and taken away again. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although Dawson \u2013 now 45 \u2013 felt that he was somewhat racing against time to follow his instincts into legal tech, it is those years which he, and DealScoper\u2019s founder Ray Oldfield, put in at the sharp end of a conventional law career which make DealScoper so lawyer friendly. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dawson illustrates the level of deep thinking behind DealScoper:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLawyers spend 80% of their time reading words which is OK because, in general, lawyers like words. What they don\u2019t like so much are numbers and spread sheets so we have deliberately made something which doesn\u2019t have a spread sheet in it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMuch of the technology which people have been trying to sell to law firms is not built for law firms. DealScoper is designed specifically for law firms.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dawson\u2019s understanding of the legal industry also extends to trends in the uptake in technology, and his thoughts make either reassuring, or unnerving, reading for those in the legal tech space. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a massive herd instinct in law. There are very few law firms who want to be seen to be \u2018out there\u2019 when it comes to technology. However, as soon as there is a core of firms using a particular technology, they all want to join in. The use of time recording software is an example of that. There was a lot of reluctance to begin with but then everyone started using it.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Currently DealScoper is being trialled \u201cby one very large firm\u201d and September has been identified as the month for it to be rolled out to the wider market.<\/span><\/p>\n

With a pricing structure that is scalable to the size of a business (the annual subscription is calculated based on the number of fee-earners in a firm) DealScoper will endear itself to law firms of all sizes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Whether it can gather a critical mass of law firms to turn it into a megalith of legal tech is a matter for future discovery. For now, DealScoper\u2019s channelling of grown-up thinking into a smart piece of legal tech places them as a very worthy Legal Geek of the Week.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the key factors that motivated DealScoper Head of Content, James Dawson, to leave his partnership with Macfarlanes and enter the legal tech space, was a nagging question, \u201cIf not now, then when?\u201d Dawson answered that question one year ago this month and judging by the excitement with which he is demonstrating DealScoper\u2019s web-based […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-geek-of-the-week","category-read"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLegal Geek of the Week \u2013 James Dawson, DealScoper - Legal Geek<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the key factors that motivated DealScoper Head of Content, James Dawson, to leave his partnership with Macfarlanes and enter the legal tech space.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalgeek.co\/legal-geek-week-james-dawson-dealscoper\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legal Geek of the Week \u2013 James Dawson, DealScoper - 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