Smaller Firms of Lawyers Targeted by Alpha Micro for Computer Seminars : BUSINESS AND LAW
Lawyers who can’t figure out a no-break from a non-emitter can attend any one of dozens of educational seminars on computers put on by companies that want to peddle their wares--hard and soft--to law firms.
But Alpha Microsystems in Irvine believes that it is taking a slightly different approach in the seminars it has started to sponsor across the nation.
The maker of business computers, a small player with only 3% of the $6.7-billion market, figures lawyers want to hear about what computers can do for them. Most of the time, said Marie Miller, a company spokeswoman, lawyers hear more about the sponsoring company than they do about computers.
Alpha Micro’s approach is to bring on Phil J. Shuey, a Denver lawyer who is an expert on computer technology, along with one of the 50 law business consultants in its dealer network. They talk about how automation can do more than word processing. It can also be applied to the business area, such as billing, docket control and client accounting.
The idea, Miller said, is to reduce the time lawyers must spend on business matters and increase their opportunity to log more billable hours on their time sheets or play golf.
Alpha Micro, which has been targeting law firms for the last two years, put on its first “Legal Rights vs. Legal Wrongs” seminar in Washington, in February. But the big-city environment did not prove as successful as the company had hoped, Miller said.
So now, the company is aiming its show at smaller markets--smaller lawyer markets, that is--with its second seminar, which will be in San Diego on Sept. 15. Orange County will be host to a seminar soon afterwards, Miller said.
“Our typical installation is at law firms with about 25 lawyers,” Miller said. Alpha Micro hopes that it will find more of those smaller firms in suburban areas, not in the centers of major metropolitan cities, she said.
The firm also hopes that its sale price will be attractive. While big firms have paid $350,000 to $500,000 for a huge mainframe and related equipment, Miller said, Alpha Micro can install a similar system for $75,000 to $125,000.
