Home > Consultancy > Our Consultants
Our consultants
Melanie Farquharson, Consultant
Melanie joined 3Kites Consulting in February 2007 from Simmons & Simmons where she had been a partner since 1994. From 2001, after more than 14 years of fee-earning experience she moved into a central role in the firm with responsibility for knowledge management.
During the following six years, Melanie became increasingly aware of the potential for technology to change the way that lawyers work, by dramatically improving both efficiency and client service. At Simmons & Simmons she was involved in a number of technology related projects, including the implementation of PMS and CRM systems, workflow and document management, as well as the more traditional knowledge management tools. This has given her a wealth of experience of specifying, purchasing and implementing technology in the professional services environment. She also brings experience of knowledge services for clients, both from her responsibility for Simmons & Simmons’ online legal resource, elexica and from the firm’s involvement in the ground breaking Banking Legal Technology (BLT) portal.
Melanie is a passionate believer in the power of technology to bring about transformation, even in a profession which is notoriously attached to established ways of working. And she is firmly convinced that market forces – in the form of clients - will increasingly force lawyers to change, by punishing inefficiency and rewarding innovation.
Having practised law in a major international firm and been involved in its management, Melanie sees her role as a consultant at 3Kites as helping to bridge the communication gap and assist firms in implementing solutions that lawyers can readily work with. This means not only finding and implementing the right technology but also identifying how working practices need to change so that the firm gets value from its investment and persuading lawyers to embrace that change.
Contact Melanie on +44 (0)7802 850932 or at melanie.farquharson@3kites.com
Paul Longhurst, Consultant
Paul has specialised in IT since 1984, with all but the first four being spent in the legal sector. Starting from a technical role at Allen & Overy in the late ‘80s, Paul was given responsibility for the firm’s entire global server and network infrastructure taking a key role in the transition from mainframe to client-server environments (including their Soft Solutions DMS implementation).
He followed this with a move to Herbert Smith as Development Manager, and ran a number of successful projects including an Outlook-centric desktop with integrated DMS (Interwoven) and CRM (Interaction), a new Know-How system, and a client extranet. A role at ResSoft as Head of Consultancy signalled a move into the supplier side of the business, where he helped re-establish the company with their first awards (based on client service) in 20 years. More recently, he has been Director of Business Consultancy Services at Hummingbird, working with consultants and clients to develop value-add concepts for existing products in the areas of Know-How, email archiving, and Litigation Support.
Paul started 3Kites in 2006 to provide business-based IT consultancy to professional services organisations, especially within the legal sector where he helps to bridge the gap between lawyers and IT teams to ensure that proposed solutions match actual requirements. He has an inclusive, down to earth approach which brings a clarity of vision where jargon often prevails. On a practical level, Paul is able to translate this approach into actions, helping firms deliver the same within an achievable schedule.
Contact Paul on +44 (0)7785 254909 or at paul.longhurst@3kites.com
Tony Pullman, Consultant
Tony has an extensive background in Legal IT, having worked for over 10 years with a number of different law firms on varying assignments. Starting in 1997, Tony worked at SJ Berwin in a training and Business Analysis capacity where his focus was initially on raising IT skill levels and awareness of the firms systems. Projects extended from the upgrade and implementation of Document Management to the introduction of electronic time recording. Following this, he moved to the role of Information Systems Consultant at Linklaters where his focus was on the business analysis, project and programme management of a number of business system implementations. The emphasis of the role was to provide the link between the IT Department and the Lawyers and Business Services users. During this time, Tony was involved in a wide range of projects from working with the Blue Flag team on specific system requirements and Document Assembly technology reviews to HR and Finance system implementation activity. He was one of the Project Managers involved in the delivery of SAP into Linklaters.
Tony then moved to Simmons & Simmons where he was recruited as Programme Manager, to manage a team of Project Managers and Business Analysts and to take an overview of the IT projects portfolio. He has since used his delivery focused approach and management ability to programme manage a number of large implementations including PMS and CRM system implementations and a significant IT infrastructure upgrade and system development programme.
More recently, Tony has worked at Clifford Chance heading up a team of analysts whose purpose was to gain greater understanding of the system requirements in the business and gain greater leverage from the technology available both internally and on the market.
Contact Tony on +44 (0) 7917 367872 or at tony.pullman@3kites.com
