This case study highlights the success story of a specialist family law firm who partnered with Lawsyst case management system.
By Shazia Khan, Director Solicitor
Walk along Cranbrook Road in Ilford and you’ll see the name Alexander Rose Solicitors on a modest office front. It’s not the kind of place that shouts for attention, but inside the doors a team of lawyers are handling some of the most sensitive and life changing work in people’s lives: family and financial breakdown, children issues, domestic abuse and the challenges that come with navigating the family courts.
The firm was founded with a simple aim - to make family law accessible to those who need it most. Those clients with minimal means funded by legal aid, people in crisis who cannot always afford private fees but desperately need strong representation. From the beginning, director and solicitor Shazia Khan was clear that if the firm were to thrive, it would have to be efficient, resilient, and above all, to act in the client’s best interests at all times.
“We’re not here for prestige,” Shazia says with a smile. “We’re here for families, for parents trying to do right by their children, for people going through really difficult times. That’s always been our motivation.”
In 2018, Alexander Rose established itself as a specialist family law practice, but like many small firms, it was facing the pressures of running a business in an increasingly digital age. Legal aid, in particular, brings its own administrative hurdles. Forms, time recording, reporting to the Legal Aid Agency — it all has to be flawless. One mistake can mean hours of rework or delayed payments.
Shazia knew that relying on old-fashioned methods wasn’t sustainable. The firm needed more than just filing cabinets and spreadsheets; it needed a digital backbone that could take care of the background work and let the solicitors concentrate on their cases.
That’s when the firm turned to Lawsyst and never looked back!
Spend a day at A Rose and you begin to appreciate the rhythm of the work. One solicitor is on the phone to a parent worried about childcare arrangements whilst another is preparing documents for an Urgent Injunction Hearing where the work is imminent. At reception, a client arrives for their appointment with nerves but leaves reassured after a conversation with their lawyer.
Behind it all, Lawsyst is running quietly in the background. Case files are stored digitally but securely. Deadlines are tracked automatically with the use of its efficient Calendar. Court forms that once took hours are generated in minutes. The phone system, also managed by Lawsyst, ensures calls are routed to the right person with little disruption.
It is this unseen infrastructure that has allowed the firm to keep pace with rising demand. “When people think about law firms, they picture, courtrooms, solicitors in suits, and even contentious litigation, involving blood, sweat and tears!” Shazia says. “They don’t see the amount of admin that goes on behind the scenes. For us, having a system that can be best described as old faithful allows us to deliver the results that clients want”.
What started as a case management system has grown into much more. Today, Alexander Rose depends on Lawsyst for its telephone system, Office 365 integration, and even its website support and maintenance. It’s unusual for one provider to cover so many bases, but Shazia states that keeping everything under one umbrella enabled the firm to grow steadily with ease and efficiency and accessible support at the other end from Lawsyst.
“We don’t have to juggle ten different suppliers,” she explains. If there’s a problem with the phones, or we want to update the website, or we need help with the case system, it’s the same team on the other end of the phone and helps when you’re running a practice that predominantly deals with people’s lives, emotions and sensitive work. That consistency has saved us so much stress and to mainly focus on our clients’ rather than the infrastructure and running of the firm. "Lawsyst team are our IT department", says Shazia.
Seven years on, the relationship with Lawsyst has matured into something closer to a partnership than a service contract. The software itself has evolved - more automation, more integration, more tools to handle the particularities of family law - but so has the firm. Back in 2018, Alexander Rose was a relatively small outfit. Since then, it has expanded its team and taken on more cases. In January 2023 with the help of Lawsyst, the firm became paperless. The technology has scaled alongside it. New solicitors can be trained on the system quickly. Billing, whether through legal aid or private instructions, remains smooth and reliable.
Perhaps most importantly, clients see the benefits. Letters and forms are generated promptly. Calls are answered efficiently. Communication is clear and professional. All of it contributes to a sense of stability at a time when clients often feel their personal lives are anything but.
The years since 2018 have not been easy ones for legal aid practitioners. Funding pressures continue, and the demand for family law services in areas like Ilford has only grown. Yet Alexander Rose has not just survived; it has grown stronger. Part of that resilience comes from Shazia’s leadership and the dedication of her team. Part of it comes from the firm’s willingness to embrace tools that make a difference. Lawsyst has been central to that.
“It’s not just about saving time,” Khan says. “It’s about peace of mind. Knowing that our cases are being managed properly, that our communications are professional, that our billing is correct - it frees us up to think about how we can serve our client’s in the best possible way and provide the best solution to their situation as every case is so different”
The aim now includes plans to expand further, to take on more work and to deepen the firm’s roots in the community. With Lawsyst continuing to support its systems, Shazia is confident that the infrastructure is there to support that growth.
What emerges from conversations with Shazia and her team is that they see Lawsyst less as a piece of software and more as a safety net. It’s the reassurance that they won’t miss a deadline, that their phones won’t let them down, that their website will reflect the professionalism of their practice.
That safety net matters, because family law is not just about statutes and procedures. It is about people at their most vulnerable - parents worried about their children, spouses ending marriages, individuals seeking protection from harm. In such cases, solicitors need to be fully present, fully human Technology doesn’t replace that; it makes it possible!
Alexander Rose Solicitors is, at heart, a local firm with a local mission: to stand by families in Ilford where they need it most. But it is also a modern law practice, unafraid to embrace systems that allow it to punch above its weight.
Since 2018, its relationship with Lawsyst has provided the tools, the support, and the reassurance needed to grow steadily in a demanding field. From case management to phones, from websites to Office 365, the partnership has meant that Khan and her colleagues can spend less time worrying about operations and more time focusing on their clients.
Looking back, Shazia sees the decision as pivotal. “Lawsyst has been part of our story from the beginning,” she says. “Without them, we couldn’t have grown the way we have. It’s as simple as that.”
And so, as the firm continues to evolve, one thing remains constant: a commitment to families, powered quietly in the background by a partnership built on trust and technology.