Bird & Bird are an international law firm helping organisations being changed by the digital world. They have 1600 lawyers in 33 offices.

In October 2022 Bird & Bird engaged iTrain Legal to help with their project to reimplement and upgrade Aderant which included a transition from Aderant Classic to Aderant Framework, a move that would impact their Billers, PA’s, Accountants, Cashiers, Accounts Payable, Finance Generalists, Business Acceptance and HR teams across different locations.

Although Bird & Bird had an internal training team, the scale and uniqueness of their Aderant implementation prompted them to enlist iTrain’s expertise to facilitate the change management and training processes.

The Challenge

Upgrading to the new version of Aderant posed substantial challenges for Bird & Bird:

System and Process Differences

Aderant Framework differed significantly from Bird & Bird’s previous Aderant system, requiring comprehensive training to familiarise employees with the new interface and educate them on altered business processes. Given the firm’s varied practice and business services groups and client requirements, support materials and training sessions needed to cater to diverse user cases.

Scale and Time Sensitivity

With a planned simultaneous deployment to the entire firm, all impacted users required role-specific training in a short timeframe. Training had to be delivered as close to the go-live date as possible to ensure retention of knowledge. The time sensitivity was compounded by the constantly evolving nature of the system up to the go-live point.

The Strategy

iTrain implemented a strategic approach to address Bird & Bird’s challenges:

Consultation

The project commenced with an in-depth consultation phase, allowing iTrain to understand Bird & Bird’s organisational complexities, user reactions to change, the old system, and intended Aderant Framework configurations. Close collaboration with various Bird & Bird teams, including finance, training, and communications, provided the essential groundwork for project development.

Support Materials

Bird & Bird purchased 30 bespoke Quick Reference Guides from iTrain. These resources were tailored to Bird & Bird’s business processes and Aderant system customisations, providing crucial support for users adapting to the new system.

End-User Training

A role-specific training program was designed and delivered to Bird & Bird users using MS Teams for online flexibility. The three-week training period involved two iTrain trainers simultaneously accommodating the geographic spread and time constraints.

Go-Live Support

iTrain provided extensive go-live support for the four weeks post go live. This support included remote drop-in calls, on-site assistance, pre-arranged workshops, and ad-hoc requests, ensuring a smooth transition to Aderant Framework.

The Results

The collaboration between Bird & Bird and iTrain yielded successful outcomes, with a seamless transition to Aderant Framework. The challenges of system and process differences, scale, and time sensitivity were effectively mitigated through strategic planning, comprehensive training and support. iTrain’s support materials and expertise played a crucial role in ensuring Bird & Bird’s users adapted to the new system, minimising disruptions and maintaining productivity during and after the transition. The successful deployment showcased iTrain’s commitment to training and support in complex transitions for legal firms like Bird & Bird.

Ashley Maw, Head of Finance Systems at Bird & Bird, said “iTrain’s assistance in our global reimplementation of Aderant was invaluable. Their experience and expertise not only helped us train hundreds of users across multiple time zones within a specific short timeframe, but also helped us and our users manage the change and transition effectively.”