Category: Enterprise Legal Management

AI for Legal: Making Sense of the Hype

Posted on February 8, 2021 by - Enterprise Legal Management

John McCarthy, the computer scientist and “father of AI,” defined artificial intelligence as the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs.

When AI gets mentioned in the context of enterprise legal applications, it is usually referring to “machine learning.” In machine learning, systems learn from outcomes and decisions and improve with experience without being directly programmed to take certain actions or reach specific conclusions. These machines analyze data and discover patterns without significant human intervention, typically requiring only a training dataset.

Machine learning is often confused with rules-based automation, workflows based on pre-programmed “if this then that” algorithms. Legal buyers need to recognize the difference when looking to deploy AI within their departments. If the machine isn’t analyzing and learning from the data but is using pre-programmed, non-evolving rules to automate processes and outcomes, then it’s not AI.

Legal teams usually bring in machine learning to improve efficiency and productivity, as machines can perform tasks faster than humans, freeing legal counsel to do higher-value work. These applications include:

  • Legal Research: reviewing, tagging, and ranking documents relevant to a matter or eDiscovery, highlighting questionable ones that need human review.
  • ReviewAI: Identifying and flagging clauses for review, searching for missing clauses, and redlining in bulk and at speed.
  • Invoice Review: Coding, approving, rejecting, or flagging line items and invoices (where rules-based automation isn’t an option.)
  • Data Extraction: This can apply to invoices, contracts, documents, or any requirement where a mass of non-structured data must get organized and classified.
  • Litigation analytics: Analyzing trial data to predict outcomes of litigation.

GETTING THE MOST FROM MACHINE LEARNING

The above use cases and benefits can transform the legal profession. However, legal departments currently implementing an AI-powered legal solution may be disappointed by the true scope of these tools, especially if they are at the start of their digitalization journey. Buyers do not see the promised benefits and are beginning to question the hype.

The very nature of machine learning is that it needs data to deduce the patterns that help it to evolve and learn. This data doesn’t just need to be abundant in volume; it needs to be complete, accurate, fair, and free of bias. Improved accuracy vs. a human is a benefit often touted, but this is only the case if the data from which the machine is learning is accurate in the first place. Poor or insufficient data will mean the machine does not have enough data to learn from and will not fully deliver the anticipated outcomes and benefits.

Perhaps even more concerning, however, is that the machine will draw partial or incorrect conclusions from a deficient dataset and take the wrong action or reach the erroneous conclusion – thereby creating hidden risk. Ironically, AI can negatively impact productivity if a human must go back over the work, identify issues, and correct them. More severe, though, is if these incorrect conclusions result in damaging actions for the business, even litigation. The reliability of your machine learning needs to be a factor when accounting for legal risk, and legal teams need to understand their role in feeding machine learning tools with quality data and training to avoid these issues; as the saying goes, “you get out what you put in.”

If this sounds paranoid, some examples from other industries will help show why it is critical to be careful when deploying AI. In 2018, Amazon created a tool to review engineering CVs and flag the top ones for an interview. The intention was to automate a time-consuming process. To train the machine, they used the dataset of current Amazon engineering employees plus applications from the last ten years, which happened to be predominantly men. The machine “learned” that ‘more male’ candidates were the best for the role. Amazon soon ditched the tool. Poor data was also at the heart of IBM Watson’s failure to accurately diagnose and treat cancer patients. The data used to train the machine was hypothetical rather than real patient data and frequently gave poor advice. These examples demonstrate not only the importance of complete data for machine learning but the fact that it is hard to predict unexpected consequences before they happen.

The above examples demonstrate the importance of quality and unbiased data, even when the aims are straightforward. AI is not for complex legal work; it speeds up routine tasks, supports better decision-making, and sometimes takes actions based on those decisions. In fact, some of the best examples of AI deployment are where machine learning tools have been combined with rules-based systems to first identify and categorize data and then take defined steps based on that categorization.

MACHINE LEARNING AND E-BILLING

Spend management is a legal-specific application using rules-based automation and machine learning together. For example, Onit’s European legal spend management solution BusyLamp uses the following AI functionality for clients and/or law firms that prefer not to use LEDES files:

  • Data extraction: Pulling relevant information from PDF invoices, relieving smaller law firms from the burden of generating complex invoice files.
  • Invoice Reviews: Some law firms struggle to code invoices in a way that clients can understand. BusyLamp AI takes unstructured invoice data and auto-classifies every task to enable automated invoice review.
  • Legal Analytics: Unstructured invoice and matter data can be analyzed to enhance strategic decision-making.
  • Block Billing: English time narratives can be analyzed so that block billing, a practice that usually contravenes billing guidelines, can be identified.

IS AI RIGHT FOR YOUR LEGAL DEPARTMENT?

Using point solutions such as the e-billing example above allows legal departments to take advantage of machine learning benefits for gains in specific areas of legal operations. But machine learning is by no means critical to make efficiency and productivity gains; most BusyLamp clients start small and aim big by tackling the issues of collating knowledge, structuring, and cleansing their data sets, and then building automated workflows.

When you gather requirements for your next legal technology project, start by mapping out your current processes, roadblocks, and desired outcomes before looking at any specific technology tool. As you evaluate software vendors, you will discover various solutions and workflows to your problem, which may or may not involve AI.

Remember, you should never use AI for AI’s sake – it is rarely the silver bullet. Almost every legal technology tool uses rules-based (non-AI) automation to relieve the legal team of admin and mundane, repetitive tasks; this will be a fantastic starting point for most teams setting out on their digital journey.

There is no doubt that machine learning is playing a huge role in improving the productivity of the legal profession and will allow in-house teams to take a more pivotal, strategic role in their businesses. But as a profession familiar with risk mitigation, a degree of caution must be applied when looking to reach the machine learning “promised land.” Accurate, high quantities of data alongside a careful selection of technology tools will significantly reduce your exposure to these risks and help you make a success of your team’s digital transformation.

Because AI is so dependent on the data it receives, the real transformational tipping point will not be in using these solutions within the legal function alone but in the enterprise-wide application of machine learning tools. Imagine the insights and outcomes achieved by analyzing documents and data across an entire organization, not just the legal function. This is only achievable with integrated legal and enterprise tech tools and robust, extensive, consistent data.

The “power of AI” and its ability to change the legal profession are beyond question. However, it is essential to proceed with caution and lay the groundwork to ensure that your legal department sees the benefit of machine learning rather than learning that it has been sucked in by the AI hype machine.

Request a demo of BusyLamp eBilling.space today. 

KI IM RECHTSBEREICH: WAS STECKT HINTER DEM HYPE? 

Posted on February 8, 2021 by - Enterprise Legal Management

KÜNSTLICHE INTELLIGENZ (KI) UND MASCHINELLES LERNEN IN DER RECHTSBRANCHE 

Der Informatiker John McCarthy gilt als „Vater der KI“. Er definierte den Begriff als Wissenschaft und Ingenieurskunst bei der Herstellung intelligenter Maschinen, insbesondere intelligenter Computerprogramme. „Er war sehr unglücklich mit einem Großteil der heutigen KI, die zwar einige sehr nützliche Anwendungen bietet, sich aber allein auf maschinelles Lernen konzentriert.“ (Daphne Koller, Professorin, Stanford University) 

Spricht man bei juristischen Anwendungen von KI, handelt es sich in der Tat meist um maschinelles Lernen. Es beschreibt den Prozess, bei dem Systeme aus Ergebnissen und Entscheidungen lernen und sich durch diese Erfahrung verbessern. Dabei ist das System selbst zunächst nicht direkt darauf programmiert, bestimmte Aktionen durchzuführen oder eigenhändig Schlussfolgerungen zu ziehen. Diese Anwendungen analysieren vielmehr Daten, erkennen und lernen Muster ohne nennenswerten menschlichen Eingriff – dabei brauchen sie normalerweise nur einen ersten Trainingsdatensatz, um loszulegen. 

Maschinelles Lernen wird oft mit regelbasierter Automatisierung verwechselt, also mit Workflows, die auf vorprogrammierten „wenn, dann“-Algorithmen beruhen. Rechtsabteilungen sollten den Unterschied kennen, wenn sie KI einsetzen wollen. Wenn das Programm nicht in der Lage ist, selbständig Daten zu analysieren und aus ihnen zu lernen, dann handelt es sich folglich auch nicht um KI. 

Rechtteams implementieren maschinelles Lernen in der Regel, um ihre Effizienz und Produktivität zu verbessern. Bestimmte Anwendungen können administrative Aufgaben schneller erledigen als ein:e Mitarbeiter:in. Die freigewordenen Arbeitszeiten können Rechtsberater:innen dann für ihre eigentlichen Aufgaben nutzen. KI-Programme können u.a. folgende Aufgaben in der Rechtsabteilung übernehmen: 

  • Legal Research: Überprüfen, Markieren und Bewerten von für Matter oder eDiscovery relevanten Dokumenten und Hervorheben von fragwürdigen Unterlagen, die manuell gesichtet werden müssen. 
  • Vertragsprüfung: Identifizieren und Markieren von Klauseln zur Überprüfung; Suche nach fehlenden Klauseln sowie Redigieren von immensen Textmengen in hoher Geschwindigkeit. 
  • Rechnungsprüfung: Codieren, Genehmigen, Ablehnen oder Markieren von Line Items oder ganzen Rechnungen (wenn eine regelbasierte Automatisierung nicht möglich ist). 
  • Datenextraktion: Dies kann für sowohl für Rechnungen, Verträge, wie auch Dokumente gelten: überall dort, wo eine Masse von unstrukturierten Daten organisiert und klassifiziert werden muss. 
  • Prozessanalytik: Analyse von Prozessdaten, um den Ausgang von Rechtsstreitigkeiten zu prognostizieren.  

MASCHINELLES LERNEN MAXIMAL NUTZEN 

Die oben genannten Use Cases und Vorteile einer KI-Software könnten künftig die Rechtsbranche verändern. Rechtsabteilungen, die derzeit eine KI-gestützte Rechtslösung implementieren, sind jedoch anfangs möglicherweise enttäuscht – vor allem, wenn sie noch am Anfang ihrer Digitalisierungsreise stehen. Die Investoren sehen die versprochenen Vorteile nicht direkt und beginnen daher, den Hype in Frage zu stellen. 

Zunächst muss verstanden werden, dass maschinelles Lernen Daten benötigt, aus welchen das System Muster ableitet. Im zweiten Schritt lernt es dann daraus und entwickelt sich so eigenhändig weiter. Die Daten müssen dabei nicht nur im Überfluss vorhanden sein, sondern auch vollständig, genau, fair und frei von Verzerrungen. Ein oft genannter Vorteil von KI ist die höhere Genauigkeit der Funktion im Vergleich zu einem Menschen. Voraussetzung dafür ist aber, dass die Daten, aus denen das Programm lernt, sehr genau sind. Schlechte oder unzureichende Daten bedeuten, dass das Programm nur unzureichende Informationen hat. Folglich kann es nicht lernen und liefert somit auch nicht die erwarteten Ergebnisse und Vorteile. 

Im schlimmsten Fall kann das Programm aufgrund des unzureichenden Datensatzes unvollständige oder falsche Schlüsse ziehen und dadurch falsche Maßnahmen ergreifen oder zu einer falschen Schlussfolgerung gelangen – entsprechend birgt es auch ein gewisses Risiko. Daraus kann wiederum resultieren, dass die Produktivität durch KI schlussendlich negativ beeinflusst wird, wenn das Team die Arbeit noch einmal durchgehen, Probleme identifizieren und korrigieren muss. Noch schwerwiegender können Folgen aus falsch gezogenen Schlüssen wiegen, die zu schädlichen Handlungen für das Unternehmen oder sogar zu Rechtsstreitigkeiten führen. Die Zuverlässigkeit Ihrer KI-Software muss ein wichtiger Faktor bei der Bewertung rechtlicher Risiken sein. Rechtsteams müssen ihre Rolle bei der Versorgung von maschinellen Lerntools mit qualitativ hochwertigen Daten und Trainings unbedingt verstehen, um die genannten Herausforderungen zu meistern – wie das Sprichwort sagt: „Wir ernten, was wir säen“. 

Auch in anderen Branchen findet man schnell Beispiele, die zeigen, warum es so wichtig ist, beim Einsatz von KI gewisse Punkte zu beachten. 2018 hat Amazon ein Tool entwickelt, um Lebensläufe von Ingenieur:innen zu prüfen und die besten unter ihnen für ein Vorstellungsgespräch zu markieren. Die Absicht war, einen zeitaufwändigen Prozess zu automatisieren. Um die Anwendung zu trainieren, wurde der Datensatz der aktuellen Amazon-Engineering-Mitarbeiter:innen sowie die Bewerbungen der letzten 10 Jahre verwendet, bei denen es sich überwiegend um Männer handelte. Die Maschine „lernte“, dass „eher männliche“ Kandidaten am besten für die Rolle geeignet waren. Amazon stoppte die Nutzung des Tools wenig später. Schlechte Daten waren auch der Grund für den Fehlschlag von IBM Watson. Sie versuchten anhand einer Software Krebspatienten richtig zu diagnostizieren und zu behandeln. Die Daten, mit denen die Anwendung trainiert wurde, waren allerdings keine echten Patientendaten, deshalb gab das Tool häufig schlechte Ratschläge. Diese Beispiele zeigen nicht nur, wie wichtig vollständige Daten für maschinelles Lernen sind, sondern auch wie schwer es ist, unerwartete Konsequenzen schon vor dem eigentlichen Eintreffen zu prognostizieren. 

Die Wichtigkeit von qualitativ hochwertigen und unvoreingenommenen Daten wird schnell deutlich, selbst bei einfachen und überschaubaren Zielen. KI ist nicht dazu gedacht, komplexe juristische Arbeit zu erledigen; sie beschleunigt vielmehr Routineaufgaben, unterstützt die Entscheidungsfindung und ergreift in manchen Fällen eigenständig Maßnahmen, die auf diesen Entscheidungen basieren. Tatsächlich sind einige der besten Beispiele für den Einsatz von KI dort zu finden, wo Tools für maschinelles Lernen mit regelbasierten Systemen kombiniert wurden. Daten werden so zunächst identifiziert und kategorisiert, damit zuvor definierte Schritte dann auf der Grundlage dieser Kategorisierung unternommen werden können. 

MASCHINELLES LERNEN UND EBILLING 

Das Legal Spend Management ist eines der Beispiele für rechtsspezifische Anwendung, bei der regelbasierte Automatisierung und maschinelles Lernen gemeinsam genutzt werden. Onit’s Legal Spend Management-Lösung BusyLamp eBilling.Space verfügt beispielsweise über die folgenden KI-Funktionen für Mandanten und/oder Kanzleien, die keine LEDES-Dateien verwenden möchten: 

  • Datenextraktion: Relevante Informationen können aus PDF-Rechnungen gezogen werden, was kleinere Kanzleien von der Erstellung komplexer Rechnungsdateien entlastet. 
  • Rechnungsprüfung: Manche Kanzleien haben Schwierigkeiten, Rechnungen so zu kodieren, dass sie für Mandanten verständlich sind. Die KI von BusyLamp nimmt unstrukturierte Rechnungsdaten und klassifiziert automatisch jede Aufgabe, um eine automatisierte Rechnungsprüfung zu ermöglichen. 
  • Legal Analytik: Unstrukturierte Rechnungs- und Vorgangsdaten können analysiert werden, um die strategische Entscheidungsfindung zu verbessern. 
  • Block Billing: Englische Zeitangaben können analysiert werden, sodass Block Billing, eine Praxis, die in der Regel gegen die Billing Guidelines verstößt, identifiziert wird. 

IST KI DAS RICHTIGE FÜR IHRE RECHTSABTEILUNG? 

Der Einsatz von Punkt-Lösungen ermöglicht es Rechtsabteilungen, die Vorteile des maschinellen Lernens für sich zu nutzen. Aber maschinelles Lernen ist keineswegs entscheidend, um Effizienz- und Produktivitätsgewinne zu erzielen; die meisten unserer BusyLamp-Kunden fangen klein an und haben große Ziele. Sie beschäftigen sich zunächst mit dem Sammeln von Wissen, dem Strukturieren und Bereinigen ihrer Datensätze und dem Aufbau automatisierter Workflows.

Wenn Sie Ihr nächstes juristisches Technologieprojekt planen, beginnen Sie damit, Ihre aktuellen Prozesse, Problematiken und gewünschten Ergebnisse festzuhalten, bevor Sie sich eine bestimmte Softwarelösung ansehen. Wenn Sie Anbieter evaluieren, werden Sie verschiedene Lösungen und Workflows für Ihre Anforderungen entdecken, die KI beinhalten können oder nicht. 

Setzen Sie KI nie um der KI willen ein – denn nicht immer ist künstliche Intelligenz zielführend. Fast jede juristische Anwendung verwendet eine regelbasierte (nicht KI!) Automatisierung, um Ihr Team von administrativen und sich wiederholenden Aufgaben zu entlasten. Diese Automatisierung ist für die meisten Teams, die sich auf ihre digitale Reise begeben, ein fantastischer Ausgangspunkt. 

Es besteht kein Zweifel daran, dass maschinelles Lernen eine große Rolle bei der Verbesserung der Produktivität der Anwaltschaft spielt. Auch steht fest, dass es den Inhouse-Teams ermöglicht, eine zentrale, strategische Rolle in ihren Unternehmen zu übernehmen. Da KI jedoch so sehr von den Daten abhängt, mit denen sie gefüttert wird, wird der wirkliche transformative Wendepunkt erst durch eine unternehmensweite Nutzung von Machine-Learning-Tools erreicht. Die Erkenntnisse und Ergebnisse aus der Analyse von Dokumenten und Daten aus dem gesamten Unternehmen sind viel größer und wertvoller als solche, die allein aus der Rechtsabteilung stammen. Die Umsetzung ist aber nur mit integrierten juristischen und unternehmensweiten Tech-Tools sowie robusten, umfangreichen und konsistenten Daten zu erreichen. 

Die „Macht der KI“ und ihre Fähigkeit, die Rechtsbranche wirklich zu verändern, steht außer Frage. Es ist jedoch wichtig, mit Vorsicht vorzugehen und eine Grundlage zu schaffen. Nur so kann sichergestellt werden, dass Ihre Rechtsabteilung einen tatsächlichen Nutzen daraus ziehen kann und nicht einfach auf den KI-Hypetrain aufspringt. 

Aus dem englischen Original-Blog übersetzt. 

Looking to Control Legal Spend? Don’t Forget These Enterprise Legal Management Features

Posted on January 27, 2021 by - Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

When it comes to legal spend, corporate legal departments share a unanimous thought: It’s time to control costs. A recent survey from Gartner showed that the proportion for legal spend for outside counsel has decreased from 50% to 44% since 2018 – a trend predicted to evolve further as the effects of the pandemic influence companies’ priorities.

Before you can right-size legal spend, you have to understand how you’re spending. That’s where an enterprise legal management solution (ELM) comes in. Comprised of legal spend management and matter management, modern ELM solutions no longer land in the “nice to have” category. GCs and legal operations professionals are quickly outgrowing (and getting more and more frustrated with) dated ELM systems with non-intuitive interfaces and limited functionality that cannot meet their business needs.

Six Must-Have Enterprise Legal Management Features You Need Now

ELM solutions give users the tools to analyze legal spend, manage matters, minimize company risk and drive process efficiency, giving legal operations managers the ability to reduce legal spend with surgical precision.

The leading ELM solutions offer several crucial features (outlined here) that can help control costs and increase efficiency – an overall win on multiple fronts. However, here are six additional legal spend management and matter management features to consider when evaluating ELM options.

  1. Flexible Workflow

Corporate legal departments need flexible enough workflows to match business requirements. The workflows also need to be simple enough to manage or change without IT personnel reliance. Different work types, such as matters related to employment, litigation, or mergers, can have their unique workflows. Likewise, workflows change based on participants or collaboration with other departments such as sales, procurement and marketing.

  1. Timekeeper Management

Corporate legal departments need the ability to keep track of authorized timekeepers and rates and do it in one solution. This informs not only legal spend but other essential initiatives such as diversity. (For an example of using technology to drive diversity and inclusion, visit Hack the House and select “Team Diversity” for a demo. They created and deployed an app in less than three weeks.)

  1. Billing Guidelines

When a corporate legal department’s outside counsel spend reaches beyond $100 million, the number, size and amounts of legal bills go beyond manual processing capabilities. Submitted invoices may contain charges that do not comply with billing guidelines. ELM will enforce billing guidelines, automatically flagging or denying payment for suspect charges and supporting legal spend managment.

  1. Reporting and Analytics

When it comes to having insight into reporting, a leading ELM solution will provide you with a dashboard view that makes it easy to analyze invoices, evaluate performance and see trends in matter portfolios, which are vital for understanding and controlling legal spend.

  1. Advanced Security

Each day, news breaks of security breaches. Corporate legal and the law firms they work with are now prime candidates for hacking attempts. Industry-standard security and bank-level encryption ensure billing and matter data remains confidential. A three-pronged approach is optimal: custom-hardened Unix kernels, managed virtual private cloud and continuous firewall monitoring.

  1. Outlook Integration

For years, there has been one cry that continually arises when it comes to technology and communications: Email is dead! However, it remains a highly used tool for knowledge workers such as lawyers and operations professionals. Synchronizing matter information between Outlook and associated matters is a quick way to ensure your ELM information remains up-to-date and eliminates duplicative, manual work.

For more ELM and legal spend inspiration, take a look at the following resources:

 

January Digest: Current Legal Operations Trends and Industry News

Posted on January 19, 2021 by - Artificial Intelligence, Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

From COVID to cost-cutting, here are some of the leading industry articles on legal operations trends. This blog post represents a new monthly feature that shares the latest industry news for corporate legal and legal operations professionals.

#1

Legal Ops May Still Struggle for a Seat at the Table in 2021

(source: Legaltech News)

COVID has forced many professions to pivot in how they approach their jobs. Legal operations is no exception. In this article, experts share how 2020 will shape legal operations trends in 2021. Nick Whitehouse, GM of Onit’s AI Center of Excellence, discusses the importance of building smart processes and workflows to remove low-value work from in-house and the growing adoption of AI-enable contract lifecycle management, automated third-party contract reviews and document automation. Roycee Hasuko, director of product engagement for SimpleLegal, advocates for the importance of clean data and systems to convey business priorities and how remote working will require legal ops to continue investments in communications strategies and cross-functional collaboration. You can read the full article here.

#2

Legal departments cut outside spending, focus on managers and specialists, study shows

(source: ABA Journal)

Legal departments have always been under pressure to cut costs, but last year has taken this to unprecedented new levels. The current pandemic has been responsible for the largest part of this pressure. This article examines legal operations trends uncovered by a Gartner survey, highlighting the fact that more legal spending (57%) is staying in-house compared to previous years, participants are expecting reductions in their budgets and 94% say their headcount will remain the same or be reduced. Find the full article here.

#3

Forging Into The Unknown: How COVID-19 Has Already Changed Legal Department Budget Planning

(source: Corporate Counsel)

We always like to maintain a sense of optimism about getting back to normal after the pandemic, and rightfully so. But some believe that things in legal departments will get much more complicated before there’s a return to normalcy. Budgets are the topic of discussion in this article, from opinions on tweaking budgets from previous years,  the role of analytics and “giving smarter haircuts.” The full text of the article is published here.

#4

COVID-19 Proved the Value of Legal Operations In-House

(source: Corporate Counsel)

Despite COVID challenges, many forward-thinking legal ops professionals have made significant strides in finding ways to save money. This article looks at how these individuals have discovered new ways to use their existing technology instead of acquiring additional technology, as well as how they were able to smoothly transition from the office to home. You can read the article here.

#5

Artificial Intelligence Trends Impacting Corporate Legal Departments

(source: Reinventing Professionals)

After ringing in the New Year, it’s that time again to examine current trends in our industry. Ari Kaplan of Reinventing Professionals recently interviewed Nick Whitehouse, general manager of Onit’s AI Center of Excellence. In this thought-provoking interview, they cover several aspects of AI and legal operations trends and how they translate to efficiency and savings for corporate legal. You can listen to the podcast here.

Additional Resources for Legal Trends

If you’re interested in more resources related to legal operations trends, here are some recommendations:

  • To support our customers and colleagues in the legal operations field, Onit offers free Business Continuity Apps to support remote workers and their families that are sheltering at home.
  • Interested in hearing more about how to trim spend? In our Virtual Legal Resourcing Debate with Buying Legal Council, three teams of legal professionals debate different approaches and their pros and cons.
  • In this on-demand webinar, the legal operations team at Pearson shares how they radically transformed how they manage contracts, cutting costs annually by roughly 30%.

We hope you find these articles helpful. We’ll return in February with another industry update on legal operations trends.

Overcoming Law Firm WIP Reporting Challenges

Posted on January 12, 2021 by - Enterprise Legal Management

While e-billing has brought new transparency, control, and clarity to the billing process for in-house teams, one criticism of “conventional” e-billing is that the client is still not able to see the time and expenses being charged by their external law firms until the final invoice is sent (whether that is a draft or an engrossed version).

The goal is to be able to see the work carried out and the associated costs during the life of the matter itself and be able to query or even reject items early in the billing cycle. This is necessary for accurate cost control, forecasting, and avoiding invoice surprises. This WIP (Work in Progress) information has long been the subject of discussion between in-house legal teams and law firms. Until recently, law firms have only been able to provide rough estimates of accruals – usually at the end of each month – without any detail.

The key areas that an in-house legal team should be able to monitor to stay in control of its legal spend are:

  • Cost overruns against budget/forecast.
  • Counsel’s pre-billing time entries
  • Large amounts of a single activity (e.g. research, drafting etc.).
  • Wide date ranges between the work carried out and the time/fees submitted to the client.

WIP REPORTING IS BENEFICIAL FOR LAW FIRMS AND CORPORATE LEGAL TEAMS

Modern legal spend management solutions such as Onit’s BusyLamp includes WIP reporting as a key feature. It adds an extra dimension to the relationship between corporate legal teams and their external law firms. Some of the advantages of WIP reporting for both parties include the following:

  • The law firm adds value for the client through enhanced billing data – over and above the provision of quality legal advice.
  • The law firm has confidence that the work performed (so far) has been accepted by the client, and there will be no pushback when presenting the final invoice.
  • The client has more certainty that the work is done correctly and in line with the billing guidelines. Detailed actual spend versus budget can be monitored early in the transaction and through all its phases

CHALLENGES OF WIP REPORTING FOR LAW FIRMS

Despite these benefits, implementing WIP reporting has its challenges. While some law firms have embraced the requests from their clients to provide timely and accurate WIP information, several law firms still need to fully meet the WIP reporting requirement.

A common concern is that firms view the “raw” WIP information as law firm data that the client should not see. Many large international firms have specialist revenue controllers working within the legal teams and closely with the deal partners. These firms also have well-established billing processes, a crucial part involving revenue staff and partners reviewing the WIP for each matter before finalizing the bill. They will decide which items of time to charge. More importantly, they will also check that time narratives are worded appropriately and are suitable for the client’s view.

In most firms, lawyers get advice regarding appropriate content for matter narratives. Still, several hundred associates can work on matters, and it is impossible to “police” what they enter before the bill data is “cleaned up.” The firms are reluctant to go through this cleaning-up process on the WIP data (even though it may be for a small number of bills) as partners see it as doubling up on work. Furthermore, no partner wants to be the first to allow a client to review WIP information in case it contains inappropriate content.

Another reason sometimes quoted by law firms for not wanting to provide WIP revolves around the timing and process issues associated with WIP information. What are the consequences if the client rejects some or all of this information? Some firms argue that if WIP information must be re-submitted, it may fall outside the acceptable time limits between the work done and when it gets billed. These firms often seek to establish reasonable windows and processes for WIP review and resubmission if any line entries are not approved.

A final objection is that producing WIP files in the LEDES e-bill format requires development work to be scheduled by the Finance/IT Systems team. Some firms have implemented manual workarounds for supporting WIP submissions, but this is not sustainable in the long term and for a growing number of invoices.

OVERCOMING WIP REPORTING CHALLENGES

E-billing vendors, in-house legal teams and law firms have together come up with a number of compromises to address these challenges, which include:

  • Line-Item Narratives: If this is a concern, parties may agree to drop narratives from the WIP upload or substitute them with holding text saying that the narratives will be on the final bill. If approved, the clients would at least see costs and the associated activity or expenses based on the LEDES code (e.g., communicating, drafting and so on).
  • Billing Cycles and Accruals: The client can achieve similar output if the billing cycle is reduced to a calendar month, allowing them to view that month’s work. Another option would be to improve the information supplied as accruals. This would not give all the time details to the in-house team but would meet some of the requirements.
  • LEDES Output Requirement: To address the concerns of law firms about possible additional IT development work, Onit has developed two alternative methods used with BusyLamp:
    • Firms can output their WIP information as an Excel spreadsheet, which can then be uploaded into the e-billing application as required by the client. As all law firms have access to Excel as standard and have staff who can use it, the issue of needing expensive billing system changes gets minimized.
    • AI functionality in BusyLamp can extract non-LEDES-format, unstructured WIP data into meaningful and useful reports for the in-house legal team.

For a successful WIP reporting implementation, legal teams should engage with the law firm partners early in the process and discuss the requirement for WIP reporting. This should include why the in-house team requires WIP and what they aim to achieve from tracking it. It will help overcome some of the arguments against providing WIP and help all parties explore suitable alternatives that still give the in-house legal department what they need to succeed.

Request a demo of BusyLamp eBilling.Space today.

WIE KANZLEIEN DIE HINDERNISSE DES WIP-REPORTS ÜBERWINDEN KÖNNEN 

Posted on January 12, 2021 by - Enterprise Legal Management

WARUM TRANSPARENZ BEI WORK IN PROGRESS (WIP) SO WICHTIG IST 

Durch die elektronische Rechnungsstellung (eBilling) gewannen Inhouse-Teams neue Transparenz, mehr Möglichkeiten Kosten zu steuern und ein gewisses Maß an Klarheit bezüglich der Abrechnungen. Dennoch blieb ein Kritikpunkt beim “herkömmlichen” eBilling: Fehlende Einblicke in die bisherigen Kosten und erfassten Zeiten auf aktuellen Projekten. Erst nach Erhalt der finalen Rechnung, beziehungsweise eines Drafts, erhielt man einen Überblick. 

Es ist verständlich, dass Mandanten die durchgeführten Arbeiten und die damit verbundenen Kosten bereits während der Laufzeit der Matter verfolgen wollen, um so Positionen frühzeitig im Abrechnungszyklus zu hinterfragen oder sogar ablehnen zu können. Dies ist für eine genaue Kostenkontrolle und -prognose sowie zur Vermeidung von Überraschungen in der Rechnungsstellung notwendig. Diese WIP-Informationen sind schon lange Gegenstand von Diskussionen zwischen Mandanten und Kanzleien. Bis vor kurzem konnten Kanzleien nur grobe Schätzungen der Rechnungshöhe – meist am Ende eines jeden Monats – ohne jede Detailtiefe liefern. 

Einige der wichtigsten Bereiche, die ein Mandant typischerweise nachverfolgen möchte, sind: 

  • Kostenüberschreitungen gegenüber dem Budget/der Prognose 
  • Hohe Mengen einer einzelnen Art von Aktivität (z. B. Recherchen oder Entwürfe) 
  • Große Zeitspannen zwischen der durchgeführten Arbeit und den an den Mandanten eingereichten Zeiten/Honoraren. 

WIP-REPORTING BIETET AUCH KANZLEIEN MEHRWERTE 

Eines der Kernfunktionalitäten von Onit’s Legal Spend Management-Lösung BusyLamp eBilling.Space ist ein solches WIP-Reporting. Durch diese Funktion lässt sich die Beziehung zwischen Mandant und Kanzlei auf eine ganz neue Ebene heben. Einige der Vorteile des WIP-Reporting, die beide Parteien genießen, sind: 

  • Die Kanzlei liefert nebst hochwertiger Beratung einen weiteren Mehrwert in Form von verbesserten Abrechnungsdaten. 
  • Die Kanzlei hat die Gewissheit, dass die (bisher) geleistete Arbeit vom Mandanten akzeptiert wurde und es bei der Vorlage der Schlussrechnung keinen Push-Back geben wird. 
  • Der Mandant hat mehr Gewissheit, dass die Arbeit korrekt und im Einklang mit den Billing Guidelines durchgeführt wird. So kann schon früh ein Soll-Ist-Vergleich durchgeführt werden, um die Einhaltung des Budgets in allen Phasen der Transaktion sicherzustellen. 

HERAUSFORDERUNGEN DES WIP-REPORTINGS FÜR KANZLEIEN 

Trotz der Vorteile bringt ein WIP-Reporting auch gewisse Nachteile mit sich. Zwar erfüllen viele Kanzleien ihren Mandanten den Wunsch, zeitnahe und präzise WIP-Angaben zu übermitteln, einige wenige sträuben sich aber noch immer dagegen oder können die Anforderungen an WIP-Reporting einfach nicht erfüllen. 

Häufig sehen Kanzleien die “unverarbeiteten” WIP-Informationen als interne Daten an, die der Mandant nicht sehen sollte. Viele der großen internationalen Kanzleien setzen daher spezialisierte Revenue Controller ein, die innerhalb der juristischen Teams und eng mit den Deal-Partnern zusammenarbeiten. Solche Kanzleien haben auch gut etablierte Abrechnungsprozesse, bei denen die Mitarbeiter der Finanzabteilung und die Partner den WIP für jede Matter überprüfen, bevor die Rechnung fertiggestellt wird. Sie entscheiden, welche der erfassten Zeiten in Rechnung gestellt werden sollen. Noch wichtiger ist, dass sie auch überprüfen, ob die Zeitangaben angemessen formuliert und für den Mandanten geeignet sind. 

In den meisten Kanzleien werden die Anwälte hinsichtlich des Inhalts der Matter-Beschreibung beraten. Manche Projekte werden allerdings von mehreren hundert Associates gleichzeitig bearbeitet und es ist unmöglich zu überprüfen, was sie eingeben, bevor die Rechnungsdaten bereinigt werden. Die Kanzleien scheuen diesen Bereinigungsprozess (auch wenn es sich nur um eine kleine Anzahl von Rechnungen handelt), da die Partner dies als doppelte Arbeit ansehen. Außerdem möchte kein Partner der erste sein, der einem Mandanten die Einsicht in WIP-Daten erlaubt, falls diese unangemessene Inhalte enthalten. 

Ein weiterer Grund, der manchmal von Kanzleien angeführt wird, dreht sich um die zeitlichen und prozessualen Probleme, die mit WIP-Informationen verbunden sind. Genauer gesagt, was sind die Konsequenzen, wenn der Mandant einige oder sogar alle Informationen ablehnt? Einige Kanzleien argumentieren, dass, wenn WIP-Informationen erneut eingereicht werden müssen, die akzeptable Zeitspanne zwischen der Erledigung der Arbeit und ihrer Abrechnung überschritten werden kann. Sie versuchen oft, angemessene Zeitfenster und Prozesse für die Überprüfung und Wiedervorlage von WIP-Informationen festzulegen, für den Fall, dass Line Items nicht genehmigt werden. 

Ein letzter Einwand ist, dass die Erstellung von WIP-Dateien im LEDES-eBill-Format Entwicklungsarbeit erfordert, die vom Finanz-/IT-Team eingeplant werden muss. Manche Kanzleien haben manuelle Workarounds zur Unterstützung von WIP-Einreichungen implementiert, aber das ist auf Dauer und für eine wachsende Anzahl von Rechnungen nicht tragbar. 

WIE MAN DIE HERAUSFORDERUNGEN DES WIP-REPORTING ÜBERWINDET 

Anbieter von eBilling-Software, Mandanten wie auch Kanzleien, haben zusammen eine Reihe von Kompromissen als Lösungsansätze gefunden. Darunter: 

  • Positionserläuterungen: Parteien können vereinbaren, dass Line Items aus dem WIP-Upload gestrichen oder sie mit einem Platzhalter versehen werden. Letzterer könnte besagen, dass die Line Items nur auf der endgültigen Rechnung erscheinen. Wenn dies vereinbart wird, können die Mandanten zumindest die Kosten und die damit verbundenen Aktivitäten oder Ausgaben basierend auf dem LEDES-Code sehen (z. B. Kommunikation, Entwurf, Recherche usw.). 
  • Abrechnungszyklen und Abgrenzungen: Der Mandant kann ein ähnliches Ergebnis erzielen, wenn der Abrechnungszyklus auf einen Kalendermonat reduziert wird, sodass er einen Überblick über die Arbeit dieses Monats hat. Eine weitere Möglichkeit wäre, die als Abgrenzungen gelieferten Informationen zu verbessern. Dies würde dem Mandanten zwar nicht alle Zeitdetails liefern, aber einige der Anforderungen erfüllen. 
  • LEDES Anforderung: Um den Bedenken von Anwaltskanzleien über möglichen zusätzlichen IT-Entwicklungsaufwand zu begegnen, haben wir zwei alternative Methoden entwickelt, die im BusyLamp-Modul verwendet werden können: 
    • Kanzleien können ihre WIP-Informationen als Excel-Tabelle speichern, welche dann in BusyLamp hochgeladen werden kann. Da alle Kanzleien standardmäßig Zugang zu Excel haben, werden teure Änderungen am Abrechnungssystem minimiert. 
    • Die KI-Funktionalität in BusyLamp kann unstrukturierte WIP-Daten, die nicht im LEDES-Format vorliegen, in aussagekräftige und nützliche Reports extrahieren. 

Abschließend kann gesagt werden, dass für eine erfolgreiche Implementierung des WIP-Reports der Mandant frühzeitig mit den Partnern der Kanzlei zusammenarbeiten und die Anforderungen an das WIP-Reporting besprechen sollte. Dabei sollte geklärt werden, warum der Mandant WIP-Informationen benötigt und was er mit den Informationen erreichen möchte. Dies wird einige der Argumente entkräften, die gegen die Bereitstellung von WIP vorgebracht werden. Beiden Parteien wird so geholfen, geeignete Alternativen zu finden, die der Inhouse-Rechtsabteilung immer noch das geben, was sie für ihren Erfolg braucht. 

Englischer Original-Blog von Bryan King und übersetzt ins Deutsche 

Reporting Tips from Legal Operations Professionals: How to Get It Done Right

Posted on December 15, 2020 by - Enterprise Legal Management

There’s a business quote you might have heard about analytics: “Data will talk if you listen.” Indeed, savvy corporate legal departments are increasing their investments in legal operations and technology to “hear” how they are performing. In return, legal operations professionals have evolved into dedicated analytics experts, turning data from sources such as e-billing and matter management into cross-departmental bastions of intelligence.

Viatris (formerly Mylan), a global Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company with products marketed in 165 countries and territories, is no exception. Its legal operations team is well versed in capturing and interpreting legal data.  Kristi Anne Gedid, Sr. Director Global Legal Operations, Eric Wallas, Legal Finance Manager and Brandt Gray, Sr. Manager Business Analysis, recently partnered with Onit to share their best practices on legal reporting.

How to Maintain Data Integrity

One of the fundamental steps of reporting is data integrity. We’ve all heard the saying “garbage in, garbage out.” To bypass that result, the legal operations experts at Viatris have these seven tips.

  1. Keep data clean, consistent and concise – It all starts with intake. Any information – whether e-billing, invoices, timekeeper rates or financial data – must be kept clean and compatible with expectations or it won’t tell a true story.
  2. Monitor data moving between systems – Typically, once approvals are reached for invoices, that data moves into a company’s financial system. Then, it often cycles back into an enterprise legal management system to update payment records. Monitor that lifecycle of data movement to ensure no wires are crossed and all data is transferred/updated appropriately.
  3. Remember currency conversions – When you’re working with law firms in different jurisdictions, data undergoes changes based on countries and currency conversions. Ensure the data is always aligned, especially as it moves year-to-year and throughout different companies, benchmarks and exchange rates. Report in the same and consistent currency.
  4. Set consistent parameters – However your accounting function is set to track invoices (billing period dates, invoice payment dates, etc.), keeping this consistent helps with alignment between different business units.
  5. Consider taxonomy – Lean on this scientific process of naming, defining and classifying groups of information based on shared characteristics. This is especially important when you’re moving data from an old e-billing system to a new one. Don’t give a thousand drop-down options when 20 will suffice.
  6. Blend data – If you’re introducing other data sources from other systems or even spreadsheets, try to keep blended data clean.
  7. Update data – Ensure everyone is aligned when making modifications to your enterprise legal management system, such as adding fields. These changes will have to be incorporated into reporting and accurately reflected.

The legal operations team also shared their tips on identifying basics like big numbers, providing data-driven answers and the best ways to drill down into data. Visit here to hear their entire discussion. Titled “Legal Operations Reporting Done Right,” it is part of Onit’s Lean into LegalOps online learning initiative. You can sign up to join the complimentary program that connects legal operations professionals around the world here.

 

Four Compelling Ways Corporate Legal Departments Use Matter Management and E-Billing Solutions

Posted on November 10, 2020 by - Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

Roughly 30 years ago, the idea of computers managing in-house matters and outside counsel billing was an appealing concept. Paper ruled those processes, with lawyers slogging through reams of bills and digging through filing cabinets for documents.

Thanks to advances in software, hardware, the cloud, mobile computing and more, matter management and legal e-billing solutions are now fundamental parts of corporate legal departments’ toolkits. The technologies help legal professionals understand data, create efficiencies and increase business contributions. With this in mind, here are four exciting ways in-house professionals are leveraging eBilling and matter management.

Workload Management

Internal time tracking for in-house legal professionals can shed light on the type of work lawyers and staff members are assigned and performing and enable immediate changes based on this data. With reporting, you can identify surface administrative versus substantive assignments, as well as unique, high-risk matters versus repetitive work. G.C.s can review data to ensure equitable matter staffing and projects. Such data may also be used to guide recruiting efforts, justify budgets and navigate future hiring.

Diversity and Inclusion  

In March 2019, more than 60 U.K. and European general counsel – including G.C.s from the GC 100 and the European G.C. association – signed a letter demanding more diversity from their law firms. The U.S. has also prioritized diversity, with G.C.s signing pledges and joining forces with law firms to jump-start new diversity-related innovations. Now, matter management and eBilling support the cause. Using these systems, in-house counsel can review demographic information on timekeepers from law firms. The data reveals how work was assigned, guides changes, allows monitoring of those changed practices and leads to a continual cycle of improvement.

The same tactic can be used in-house, with G.C.s reviewing internal staff to ensure they reflect the company’s efforts to move the needle on diversity and inclusion programs within the law department and across the overall company.

Proven Value

The pandemic has forced many companies to rethink and reset. As a result, initiatives arise to increase efficiency and control costs. Automation with matter management and eBilling supports both of those priorities, streamlining administrative work and decreasing the time it takes to complete work. By capturing the new efficiencies, time saved, advances in work made possible by time savings and increased output, corporate legal departments can align with corporate initiatives.

More importantly, matter management and legal eBilling solutions enable a legal team to justify why funds are being spent and effectively communicate and quantify how much risk was mitigated through legal spend. For example, consider a high-stake matter that may significantly impact a company and its abilities. In a situation like that, any amount of spend less than that value may be seen as a win.

Enterprise-Wide Operations

Corporate legal work stretches beyond the corporate legal department’s boundaries and across the entire enterprise, touching H.R., compliance, marketing, sales and more. Having a single platform for technology, including matter management and eBilling, allows corporate legal to use Apps to increase cross-departmental efficiencies and responsiveness. The Apps also encourage adoption since most of the users are already familiar with the platform and its solutions’ general look and feel.

This approach also enables a legal team to work cross-functionally and eliminate the “black box” perspective. Other groups can send information to legal for review and work with legal to appropriately engage outside counsel. Legal still has oversight but is also able to see broad risk management wins.

Here are a few examples of how Apps amplify the power of matter management and spend management:

  • An international automotive manufacturer uses an App to automate reporting for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act, reducing manual work and ensuring the company complies with the act.
  • A Fortune 500 global consumer products company relies on an App to centralize marketing challenge requests, increasing knowledge management and enabling analytics to understand the consistency and success rates of challenges.
  • One company uses an App to help manage all of the necessary business processes, reviews and approvals for the transfer of assets between portfolio companies and generates the legal documents needed to memorialize the transactions. As a result, the company can handle even more complex financial transactions with the same size staff.

Doubtless, use cases for matter management, legal e-Billing solutions and other vital legal operations systems will evolve as technology does. Automation, AI and more will continue to help legal operations further the efficiencies, insight and savings for their corporate legal departments. 

Many thanks go to Rodolfo Christophersen, Regional Legal Operations Manager of Mercado Libre, who joined Onit experts for this piece. It was originally posted on the International Legal Technology Association’s blog here.

Ahead of the 2020 CLOC Global Institute, Here Are Our Favorite CLOC Resources

Posted on November 4, 2020 by - Company News and Events, Enterprise Legal Management

The annual Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) Global Institute is just around the corner, meaning hundreds – if not thousands – of innovative professionals devoted to legal ops will (virtually) gather to talk trends, benchmarks, structures and best practices. Attendees will hear from significant changemakers like EY, Harvard and VMWare as well as general counsels from Coca-Cola, Easy Jet and Microsoft.

The goal of the CLOC Institute is to disseminate actionable steps that can be taken to drive specific changes – things many can get excited about, get involved in and make happen, rather than talking about a tipping point and change. With educational sessions provided by practicing industry leaders, the 2002 CLOC Global Institute offers unrivaled opportunities to stay on the cutting edge of today’s legal operations trends and technologies.

Top-Three CLOC Resources

Onit is proud to be a sponsor of the event because what CLOC does is genuinely empowering.  CLOC unites a global community of experts focused on redefining the business of law. By helping legal operations professionals and industry players collaborate, including law firms, technology providers, and law schools, CLOC works to set industry standards and practices for the profession. As part of this process, it also provides legal ops professionals with tools and insight.

If you haven’t had a chance to explore their website or join, we highly recommend both. As a start, we’ve highlighted some of our favorite CLOC resources.

  1. The 2020 CLOC State of the Industry Survey – How does your corporate legal department compare to others? Take a deep dive into this annual report to discover average staffing, preferred technologies, law firm review criteria and priorities for the year. For example, did you know that 61 cents of every dollar spent on legal costs goes to external legal costs? You can read our analysis of the report’s most interesting points here.
  2. What is Legal Ops? – Successful legal operations professionals master numerous skill sets. As one legal industry expert described it, “Not only are they juggling 20 balls, all the balls are different sizes.” Their work sows operational excellence across disciplines such as financial management, firm and vendor management, service delivery models and strategic planning. CLOC created this one-stop guide to dive into precisely what legal operations does and why – as well as results – in this document.
  3. Legal Ops Tech Roadmap – Whether your corporate legal department is two or 200, this how-to guide proves useful. IT contains pointers on everything from defining key value propositions to developing a budget and presenting to stakeholders. For those corporate legal departments transitioning to more modern operations, it is a blueprint. For larger ones, it serves as a reminder of valuable basics to keep your legal ops tech roadmap on target.

Visit Onit at CLOC 

We will have some big news to share very soon. Visit us in the exhibit hall and you’ll find out how to be the first to know. Plus, if you sign up for a demo or schedule one, you’ll get lunch on us in the form of a DoorDash gift card.

See you at the CLOC Global Institute.

4 Core Benefits of the Leading Enterprise Legal Management Solutions

Posted on October 20, 2020 by - Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

In today’s fast-paced and quickly evolving business environment, corporate counsel and legal department professionals want to work faster, smarter and more efficiently. One of the best ways to do this is by automating manual processes with enterprise legal management solutions.

Manual processes are sneaky. They manage to irritate most knowledge workers but don’t always provoke a full-fledged resistance. The work has to get done, so the processes – which often include manual components – have to be completed as well.

However, the time spent on manual process accumulates drastically during a week. According to this survey, over 40% of workers spend at least 25% of their week on repetitive tasks and nearly 60% say they could save six or more hours a week with automation.

A Modern Approach to Enterprise Legal Management

Modern enterprise legal management solutions are systems of engagement, built on a platform that can easily accommodate new Apps and solutions to handle evolving business process needs. They employ automation, such as the review of documents and assigning tasks, to help law departments better serve their businesses while improving operational efficiency. While they provide valuable matter management and legal spend management, they aren’t limited to those solutions. The one-two punch of a platform combined with automation offers a  foundation for current and future needs, accommodating solutions such as contract lifecycle management, legal holds, Apps and more.

With this in mind, here are four simple, core benefits that an enterprise legal management solution can provide.

  1. Maximize Savings

Process automation with an enterprise legal management solution can cut operating costs by up to 90%, while at least 45% of current paid activities can be automated. It allows you to easily manage, track and analyze legal spend to minimize company risk and exposure. With these tools, legal departments can create visibility into spend and a strategy to manage it going forward.

  1. Increase Efficiency

An enterprise legal management solution drives process improvements in all areas of legal operations. It helps corporate legal realize more efficiency with reduced billing error fees, increases productivity and reduces time spent on matter management. Optimal enterprise legal management solutions are simple to configure, easy to deploy and address complex everyday problems.

  1. Enhance Collaboration

Collaborative tools are proven to have a high impact on businesses, regardless of department size or geographic location – especially now with a rise in remote working. A solution that supports and tracks the multiple contributions often associated with each piece of legal work improves collaboration between internal and external stakeholders. It also encourages greater collaboration across the enterprise, as corporate legal departments automate intake and speed response times with HR, procurement, compliance, marketing and more. Two items offered by modern enterprise legal management solutions enable all of this. First, they provide a consistent and familiar App-based interface, thanks to the platform. Second, a platform that allows unlimited users encourages higher usage and adoption in-house, across departments and with outside counsel.

  1. Simplify Work

With automation, enterprise legal management software streamlines the way lawyers and their legal staff work and get work into the department. It integrates data-driven decision making into standard work processes. It also offers an App-based approach to legal operations that breaks complex tasks into individual, task-based solutions and processes. Both elements simplify work drastically.

If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of enterprise legal management solutions, here are some helpful resources: