Net forces rethink for legal publisher

By ADAM GIFFORD

Tax and legal publisher CCH New Zealand has bought the LAWbase legal and accounting practice management system from Mt Maunganui-based Baycom Software Laboratories.

LAWbase is used by about 40 per cent of the country's medium-sized law firms for trust accounting, time and cost recording and billing.

CCH managing director Sharon Bennett said the prospect of legislation, court judgments and tax codes becoming freely available on the internet meant publishers had to reassess what they were doing.

"We looked at what we are in the business of doing, and that is providing tools for professionals," she said.

"The LAWbase business gives us the opportunity to deliver a professional services office suite with advanced applications and top of the line IT development, help desk and field support."

CHH was originally a Chicago-based multinational which set up a branch in New Zealand two decades ago. In 1997 the parent company was bought by listed Dutch company Wolters Kluwer.

Bennett said one of the first tasks of the 21-strong ex-Baycom team would be to integrate LAWbase with two smaller software products CCH bought last year, CCH Trust Service and Avon Forms.

CCH Trust Service is an accounting package for trust accounts, developed by a team from Russell McVeagh and financial planners Curran Consulting.

Avon Forms allows law firms or accountants to automatically generate the forms and boilerplate contracts clients need to conform with laws such as the Personal Property Securities Act.

Bennett would not say what Baycom owner Bill George was paid for his company's assets, but said CHH had revenues last year of about $10 million, while Baycom's turnover was about $2 million.

Baycom chief executive Doug Thomson said LAWbase development would stay in Mt Maunganui. A version for small practitioners was planned, Thomson said. Most firms which used LAWbase had between two and six partners, with the average installations costing about $1000 a user. The largest client, South Island law firm Duncan Cotterill, has 120 users.

CCH New Zealand

Baycom