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Cottage Industrialist – Phil Homburger of Synaptec Software’s LawBase (Part 6 of a series)

LawDepartmentManagementBlog is pleased to publish the submission of Phil Homburger, the founder and CEO of Synaptec Software, creator of the law department matter management system, LawBase. phil@lawbase.com

“We started programming LawBase in 1979. It became an actual product in 1981. We began before the IBM PC was announced and before any of the current tools were available. There was no affordable commercial database so we created our own. The first system LawBase ran on had a 23MB (yes, megabyte) hard drive that was 8 inches in diameter, weighed 40 pounds and was definitely bigger than a breadbox.”

“LawBase has over 1,000 users in law departments in companies as varied as hospitals, multi-national banks, restaurant holding companies, media companies and mortgage banks.”

“While most of our corporate clients use LawBase in the typical ways to manage matters, outside counsel, legal holds and litigation, one southern California bank has adapted it to perform risk analysis for underwritten loans. Factors such as a borrower company’s domestic vs. foreign ownership and geography of operation are entered. Using a formula, LawBase calculates a risk assessment and creates automatic reminders for periodic review.”