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London, England – 7 January 2002 – Ashurst Morris Crisp is dispensing with the traditional analogue tape and rolling out BigHand's digital dictation software in the largest ever uptake of digital speech technology in the legal industry. BigHand TotalSpeech has already been installed acrossthe whole of Ashursts' real estate, litigation and tax departments, with over 300 people now using the technology instead of a tape-based system. BigHand TotalSpeech will continue to be rolled out departmentally to 700 users in the firm's London office between now and March 2002.

Ashursts' real estate department also used BigHand TotalSpeech during the UK's largest ever property transaction in November last year. Ashurst MorrisCrisp advised British Telecommunications plc on theoutsourcing of its UK property portfolio for a price ofapproximately £2.38 billion to Terereal HoldingsLimited. BigHand TotalSpeech was used throughoutthe transaction and facilitated quick turnaround ofdocuments, easy prioritisation, and allowed lawyersto check the progress of their work on screen. In addition, lawyers were able to send dictations fortranscription from remote locations.

Ashursts' head of real estate, Simon Cookson,commented:

"The move to digital dictation is a further step toensure our lawyers are equipped to deal with thebiggest and most demanding transactions. We arecontinually looking for ways to improve the servicewe deliver to clients - BigHand TotalSpeech has notdisappointed."

With BigHand TotalSpeech, fee earners dictatedirectly onto a computer using a hand-heldmicrophone. This sound file is then saved on the firm'snetwork and picked up instantly by the secretary onhis or her PC. The system has proved popular withAshursts' secretaries, who receive dictationsimmediately after they are recorded, in smallersegments of work, and can see the priority ofdocuments on screen. The improved sound qualitycan also lead to better typing accuracy and typingspeed.

Paula East, head secretary of Ashursts' real estatedepartment, comments:

"BigHand TotalSpeech has been much less disruptivethan we originally imagined. Admittedly, at first thesystem was quite a change from analogue tapes,but now we find it a much more efficient way ofworking."

Prior to the roll-out, Ashurst Morris Crisp hadassessed the leading digital dictation systems onthe market, but BigHand TotalSpeech was seen asthe most user friendly and reliable product. In addition to the benefits for users, management are able to generate productivity reports, redistribute dictations if certain areas are overloaded and make savings on temporary staff as a result. Digital software also means the firm saves on analogue hardware, the annual costs of which can be substantial for a large firm.

Ashursts' director of administration, Robin Farey, said: "BigHand TotalSpeech has already brought real benefits to our fee earners and secretaries alike,all in all it has proved a most successful project runby a wholly professional and committed team!"

BigHand originally began life in the mid-1990s as aspeech recognition reseller, but quickly developed their own digital dictation software in response to feedback in the legal market. As a result BigHand is now able to tailor its TotalSpeech product to fit theneeds of individual clients, and this flexible approachhas meant it now maintains the highest number ofdigital dictation installations in the legal sector.BigHand is the leading digital speech consultancy in the UK legal marketplace.

Ashurst Morris Crisp is one of Europe's biggest law firms and consistently ranks in the top three law firms with the highest number of clients listed on the London Stock Exchange.