Chapman and Cutler, LLP. Time Never Wasted.
In 1913, Theodore S. Chapman opened his law office in the Harris Bank Building in downtown Chicago. One year later, he formed a partnership with attorney Henry Cutler. The law firm that still bears their name—and after almost a century, still occupies the same building — has grown in the intervening years to employ 221 attorneys with a total staff of 500. In 1981, the firm opened its Salt Lake City office and in 2003, and added another office in San Francisco.
For the past 25 years, Chapman and Cutler, LLP has handled more public finance transactions than any other law firm in the country. These deals often involve mind—boggling sums and enormous responsibility. In a business where time is very literally money, Todd Nugent, Chapman and Cutler’s Chief Information Officer, chose Apple Remote Desktop 3 to provide the quickest possible technical support for the firm’s attorneys and staff.
“Each of our 500 employees has a Mac,” Todd says. “Apple Remote Desktop 3 makes it possible for just five IT technicians here at headquarters to keep all 500 computers running smoothly and provide immediate, hands—on support for all our employees, whether they’re working on the company network or connected over the Internet from an off—site meeting room.”
Using Apple Remote Desktop 3, Todd’s IT technicians can access each of the networked Macs at a moment’s notice to provide support — anything from correcting a configuration error to helping an attorney format a complex document in Microsoft Office. Todd’s colleague Mike Kedzierski explains how the support team responds to help calls:
“When the clock’s ticking on an important deal, we don’t have time to waste trying to talk a frantic user through a trial—and—error troubleshooting process over the phone. We simply access the remote desktop, find and fix the problem ourselves. Apple Remote Desktop 3 usually lets us get the attorney back up and running in minutes.”
One of the tools the IT Team uses frequently is the Remote Spotlight search capability of Apple Remote Desktop 3. The ability to search a remote system’s disk drive for lets the IT Team find misplaced files, sort out document version issues, and address a host of other problems that might otherwise delay or distract an attorney whose effectiveness depends on staying focused.
“Nobody wants the deal to fall apart, or end up in court later, because the documents have problems,” explains Todd.
What the firm’s attorneys like about of all this is the fact that the IT team now handles most support issues — even those in the same building — right from their own workspaces, where they’re always available to answer the phone or respond in iChat. Consequently, people who need help are much less likely to have to wait in a phone queue or leave a message in voice mail. Because of this real—time connectivity, they can be sure that this complex financial transaction won’t be delayed by computing problems.
As a manager, Todd especially appreciates Apple Remote Desktop 3’s inventory reporting feature. “We replace our hardware every three years—not all at once, but on a rolling basis,” he explains. “Apple Remote Desktop 3 helps us efficiently keep track of machines, cards, and serial numbers, as well as software in all of our locations.”
Apple Remote Desktop 3 helps us efficiently keep track of machines, cards, and serial numbers, as well as software in all of our locations.
Todd’s group also uses Apple Remote Desktop 3 to remotely control the firm’s disaster recovery servers in Salt Lake City.
“Basically, I measure my support success by how many complaints I get,” Todd concludes. “And now that our attorneys can reach a live IT person right away when they call, believe me, they’re a whole lot happier!”
