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Clients of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP sometimes spend
long periods in the law firm's Toronto office. For instance,
says Chris Pinnington, managing partner at Fraser Milner's
Toronto office, an international client might be in
Toronto closing a business deal and use Fraser Milner's
office as a "home away from home." For such clients,
the firm likes to offer the comforts of home, including
guest offices. Now, starting this month, such clients
will also be able to connect to the Internet using wireless
hotspots like those that have been springing up in airports
and cafés.
Mr. Pinnington says he believes his is the first Canadian
law firm to offer hotspot access to clients in its offices.
In fact, he says he doesn't know of another law firm
anywhere that has done quite what his is doing. But
wireless access for visitors could become a common feature
in law offices before long. Fraser Milner's wireless
Internet access service, which the firm calls FMC hotspOt,
will also serve clients on shorter visits to its Toronto
office. From the firm's meeting rooms and reception
areas, they'll be able to check e-mail or retrieve information
during meetings.
"It will increase efficiency where clients can retrieve
information or documents that they may not have brought
with them in paper form," Mr. Pinnington says. Unlike
users of public hotspots, Fraser Milner clients won't
have to pay -- but only those clients issued user IDs
and passwords by the firm will have access to the service.
Fraser Milner has a wireless
local-area network for the use of its own staff
in Toronto. But rather than simply let visitors log
on to this network, the firm brought in Spotnik Mobile
Inc., a Toronto-based commercial hotspot operator, to
set up the service for its visiting clients.
Murray McCaig, co-chief executive officer of Spotnik,
says the FMC hotspOt service uses the same physical
hardware as Fraser Milner's internal wireless network
but is a distinct "virtual network" to which users log
on separately. When visitors to the law firm's office
log on to the hotspot, they do not gain access to Fraser
Milner's interior network but to the same Spotnik servers
that provide Internet access to Spotnik customers sitting
in coffee shops and restaurants. Setting the service
up so it is completely separate from the internal LAN
is a security measure, Mr. McCaig adds.
The firm used the technology expertise of Spotnik and
of IBM Canada Ltd., to plan and deploy the service.
"The Internet access source can't even be traced to
our office," Mr. Pinnington says. Mr. McCaig hopes the
Fraser Milner service is just the beginning of a new
hotspot market. He says the law firm is the first customer
for a new Spotnik service called GuestSpot, which will
offer wireless Internet access to guests in all kinds
of offices. "We will offer it to all shapes and sizes
of business across the country," he says. "Spotnik Mobile
is negotiating with several potential customers for
the service, including other law firms," Mr. McCaig
says, though he is not ready to name any.
For its part, Fraser Milner plans to expand the FMC
hotspOt service from its Toronto office to its five
other Canadian offices, in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary,
Ottawa and Montreal, some time next year. While no other
law firm has announced a relationship with a commercial
hotspot operator, McMillan Binch LLP will be offering
wireless access to some clients once it completes a
move into new office space in Toronto's BCE Place this
month. Bruce McWilliam, a partner at the firm, says
McMillan Binch has sometimes provided a wired network
connection to clients who had to spend a lot of time
at the firm's office.
Though McMillan Binch has had a wireless LAN for internal
use since October, 2002, it waited until now to add
wireless access for clients because of the move. There
are two main reasons for law firms to offer such services.
One is convenient access to information, which benefits
both the client and the firm. If a client needs access
during a meeting at McMillan Binch's office to documents
on the client's own computers, Mr. McWilliam says, it
saves time for all concerned if they can be called up
then and there through a wireless connection. "It just
makes things more efficient," says Mark Quigley, research
director at Ottawa-based telecommunications market research
firm the Yankee Group in Canada.
By saving time in meetings between lawyers and clients,
Mr. Quigley adds, such a service could indirectly save
clients money. The other reason is client service. "We
see it as fundamental to every successful client relationship
that we have that client service is paramount," Mr.
Pinnington says. There are alternatives to wireless.
At Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, another Toronto-based
law firm, clients can use high-speed wired Internet
connections in all boardrooms. Spokeswoman Tiffany Schier
says the wired connections are faster than wireless
and Borden Ladner has no plans for wireless service.
Mr. Pinnington thinks wireless Internet access will
catch on in large law offices, though.
"We operate in a highly competitive environment,
as do most businesses," he says. "I expect when our
announcement and our rollout becomes known to our competitors,
there will be a certain amount of me-tooism."
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