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Bath & North East Somerset Council

Transforming Legal Services with Cloud Case Management

Bath & North East Somerset (BANES) Council transformed its legal services with Iken, streamlining case management, improving collaboration, and enhancing time recording—enabling a more productive, secure, and data-driven legal operations.

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Case Study

When Donna Marks joined BANES Council as Head of Legal and Deputy Monitoring Officer, she faced a significant operational challenge:

The absence of a case management system. The legal team relied on Microsoft Office for document storage, resulting in fragmented workflows, duplicated efforts, and difficulties in tracking cases, collaborating, and recording time.

Having previously used Iken Desktop at West Midlands Police, Donna recognised the benefits of a dedicated legal case management system. After evaluating available solutions, Iken Cloud emerged as the preferred choice—aligning with BANES’ digital strategy and enabling a secure, cloud-based solution tailored to legal services.

Discover how BANES’ legal team enhanced collaboration, streamlined case management, and improved time recording with Iken Cloud.

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Key outcomes

Centralisation of Case Files & Secure Access

BANES Legal Services moved from a fragmented, manual file storage approach to a single, secure, cloud-based system where all case files are stored, tracked, and easily accessible by authorised users, regardless of location.

Centralisation of Case Files & Secure Access

Seamless Collaboration Across Teams & Locations

Iken Cloud has enabled legal professionals to access, share, and work on case files simultaneously, improving collaboration between colleagues, even when working remotely or attending court.

Seamless Collaboration Across Teams & Locations

Iken Cloud has enabled legal professionals to access, share, and work on case files simultaneously, improving collaboration between colleagues, even when working remotely or attending court.

Seamless Collaboration Across Teams & Locations

Iken Cloud has enabled legal professionals to access, share, and work on case files simultaneously, improving collaboration between colleagues, even when working remotely or attending court.

Accurate Time Recording & Billing

The implementation of Iken’s time recording functionality has provided BANES with accurate billing data, ensuring they can demonstrate value and recover costs for legal work more effectively. This functionality has also improved internal resource allocation.

Accurate Time Recording & Billing

Workflow Automation & Reduction in Administrative Tasks

The introduction of workflows and the associated automation configured within them has significantly reduced the administrative burden of manual task entry and case updating, as has the addition of integrated document bundling

Workflow Automation & Reduction in Administrative Tasks

Data-Driven Decision Making & Resource Justification

Through Iken’s dashboard and reporting features, BANES Legal Services was able to provide data-driven evidence of case volumes and workloads—successfully securing approval for an additional legal post.

Data-Driven Decision Making & Resource Justification

Moving from No Case Management System to Cloud

When Donna arrived at BANES, the legal team had no structured case management system—a stark contrast to modern legal service operations. Case files were stored in Microsoft Office, meaning lawyers had to manually manage documents, track deadlines, and retrieve case information from separate locations. This lack of systematisation caused file duplication, inconsistencies, and an inability to monitor case progression comprehensively.

By transitioning to Iken Cloud, BANES was able to completely centralise case management, eliminating file duplication and ensuring that all case files, documents, and correspondence were stored in a single, secure location. Lawyers can now easily access and manage cases, whether in the office, working remotely, or attending court.

The Council aimed to streamline its legal operations to improve productivity and engagement among its legal staff. By adopting Iken Cloud, the Council has significantly reduced the time spent on administrative tasks, allowing fee earners more time to focus on their core responsibilities. The system’s comprehensive reporting suite has enabled the Business Support team to speed up the production of billing data and provide a richer set of management information on demand.

With Iken Cloud, fee earners have greater autonomy and can manage their own cases more effectively. Iken’s user-friendly interface allows users to open cases, track progress and generate reports independently. This has fostered greater engagement, with fee earners feeling more in control and accountable for their workloads. As one fee earner remarked:

“Before Iken, case files were scattered across Microsoft Office with no clear system in place. We needed a way to ensure case files were securely stored, easily accessible, and fully traceable.”

Donna Marks

Head of Legal, BANES Council

Reducing Administrative Burden & Enabling Collaboration

A major challenge for BANES was the high volume of manual administrative work required for case tracking, document bundling, and information retrieval. The legal team also struggled with handover issues, particularly when staff were on leave or away from their desks.

Iken Cloud’s workflow and integrated document bundling capability provided a direct solution. Legal teams could now:

One of the biggest challenges for West Northamptonshire Council was consolidating legal data extracted from the previous systems of Northampton BC, South Northamptonshire and Daventry DC into one centralised database. Iken’s expertise in data migration ensured that this process was managed successfully and without disruption to the legal team’s day-to-day work. Judy noted that the migration was managed with clear communication and a well-structured project plan, making what could have been a difficult transition much easier to manage.

In addition to the data migration, Iken Cloud’s self-service capabilities have ****allowed the legal team to manage user accounts and system updates independently, freeing up IT resources. This is particularly important for a fast-growing council, as it has allowed the legal team to respond quickly to staffing changes without needing to wait for IT support.

This flexibility in user management is a prime example of how Iken Cloud empowers legal teams to be more productive and independent, enabling them to focus on legal matters without being delayed by technical issues.

Automatically generate case bundles, reducing manual preparation time.

See real-time case updates, improving transparency and preventing duplication.

Ensure smooth handovers, as case details and document history were now fully accessible at any time.

“We needed a system where multiple users could access case files, see the latest updates, and pick up work seamlessly. Before Iken, if someone was off, retrieving case details wasn’t straightforward.”

Donna Marks

Head of Legal, BANES Council

Improving Time Recording, Billing & Strategic Oversight

Prior to Iken, BANES lacked an effective way to track billable time. This made it difficult to justify costs, demonstrate value, or recover legal expenses in cases requiring external billing. Additionally, there was no way to generate reports on case progress, legal team workload, or operational productivity.

Iken Cloud’s time recording and reporting functionalities solved both issues:

Lawyers could now log time directly within case files, ensuring accurate billing and accountability.

The legal team could generate data-driven reports on case volumes and workloads, supporting better decision-making.

This data played a crucial role when BANES sought approval for an additional legal post. By using Iken’s reporting dashboards, they were able to clearly demonstrate workload pressures and justify the need for more resources.

“With Iken’s reporting, we provided concrete evidence of case volumes and lawyer workloads—securing approval for an additional legal post.”

Donna Marks

Head of Legal, BANES Council

In conclusion

The transition to Iken Cloud has been a major success for BANES Legal Services, addressing long-standing challenges around case file management, collaboration, billing, and administrative productivity.

Through its cloud-based architecture, integrated workflows, and powerful reporting tools, Iken Cloud has empowered BANES Legal Services to operate more effectively, reduce administrative burdens, and make strategic decisions based on real-time data.

As BANES moves forward with its digital transformation strategy, Iken Cloud remains an essential tool in enabling a modern, connected, and productive legal service.

Cardiff City Council’s successful migration to Iken Cloud demonstrates how adopting the right legal software application can lead to significant improvements in service delivery, team collaboration and productivity.

By maintaining stakeholder engagement throughout the project, coupled with a robust support service available to end users from day one, Iken has enabled the Council to modernise its legal processes, integrate with other technologies and prepare the team for future challenges. The Council’s journey also illustrates the value of choosing a supplier that prioritises the needs of its clients and is always seeking opportunities to collaborate and share ideas.

“Iken Cloud has completely transformed the way we manage legal cases at BANES. We’ve moved from a fragmented, manual system to a fully integrated, secure, and accessible cloud-based solution. The ability to track time, automate workflows, and generate reports has not only saved time but also strengthened our ability to demonstrate value to senior management. The Iken team has been exceptional throughout the process, offering hands-on support and taking on board our suggestions for system improvements. We would highly recommend Iken to any legal team looking to modernise and streamline their case management.”

Donna Marks

Head of Legal, BANES Council

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© 2025 Iken Buisness Ltd. First Floor, PS21, 21 Prince Street, Bristol, BS1 4PH, UK
Registered in England & Wales | Company Registration Number:- 2776536 | VAT Registration Number: GB 609526041

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Get started

© 2025 Iken Buisness Ltd. First Floor, PS21, 21 Prince Street, Bristol, BS1 4PH, UK
Registered in England & Wales | Company Registration Number:- 2776536 | VAT Registration Number: GB 609526041