Law firm Taylor Wessing has appointed Tim Hyman as its new
head of IT.
The new position will involve integrating IT systems throughout
Europe following the merger last year of UK-based law firm Taylor
Johnson Garrett and Germany-based law business Wessing.
Hyman said he will be placing particular emphasis on streamlining
the company's European operations, which were acquired from the
merger.
"The biggest challenge I face is the result of the merger itself,
as technology will be a crucial part of the foundation for the firm
to create its new European identity," said Hyman.
He has 10 years' experience in IT since starting his career in the
Foreign Office. He soon moved into legal IT where he was IT manager
at law firms Olswang, SJ Berwin and, most recently, Harbottle and
Lewis.
Hyman's first job will be to make sure that all the IT staff from
the company's newly-acquired European offices work together using a
common IT strategy.
"Primarily, the IT team is a services department and my primary
role is to maintain service levels for the end-users in the firm,"
he said.
The use of IT for client services is another area he is
particularly keen to develop.
"We need to look at the way lawyers manage the technical aspect of
client services. Clients are starting to want to see real-time
billing online, for example," he said.