When I’m asked for the best resources to improve overall contracting processes and outcomes, there are two that I can recommend knowing they will provide excellent insights and return on investment.

While particularly relevant for in-house legal teams and contract managers (who can get immediate benefits), they offer significant value to commercial lawyers in law firms who want to understand how they can really add the most value to their clients’ businesses.

Looking ahead to the coming year, I think (maybe with a bit of hope thrown in) several themes will be key. This is what we will be focussing on helping our customers with, and in our own business.

When evaluating new technology, a proof of concept can be a very helpful way of ensuring you get what you think you are getting while avoiding unnecessary costs.

However, we sometimes see proof-of-concept projects that go off the rails, don’t achieve the expected outcomes, and cost a lot of money.

There is one particular mistake that we frequently see people make.

When selling a house, an owner has a choice about whether to sell the house "as is, where is" or to do it up before putting it on the market.

It might seem like an unnecessary amount of cost and effort to replace the kitchen, bathroom, and 20-year-old carpet when you won't be the one who is around to enjoy using it. Why not just let the new owner put things in how they want them?

But not everybody in the market to buy a house wants to go through the whole effort of a significant renovation. Those that do are probably DIY renovators looking for a bargain. The number of people willing to take on a significant renovation while paying full value is much lower.

Given the choice, many people think it's easier and better to build their own home exactly as they want rather than try and retrofit it into someone else's home and clean up someone else's mess.

Similar issues apply when selling a law firm.

Introduction: 

As legal automation experts, we understand the immense potential of improving and automating common legal processes to save time and streamline operations. We have a great track record of delivering successful automation projects for in-house legal teams with very strong returns on investment.  

However, law firms have been different.   

We have realised that merely automating tasks may not always yield the expected benefits for law firms. The true value – and requirement - lies in a holistic transformation, where automation plays a crucial role but is just one piece of the puzzle.  

In this blog, we delve into the importance of a comprehensive transformation strategy and how collaboration with experts is necessary to propel law firms towards success. 

Law firms are known for their profitability, but often the challenge lies in translating such financial success into capital value for the owners when they are looking to exit their practice. In this blog, I look at how forward-thinking law firm owners can create more value and recover much of it upon selling their ownership share by investing in digital solutions for their clients on a subscription basis. 

Effective task management and collaboration are crucial for in-house teams and matter management, with various methods available to track and organise tasks based on personal preferences and collaboration needs.

While dedicated legal matter management systems offer task management functionality, Microsoft provides powerful tools within your existing subscription that can streamline task management and collaboration.

Leveraging these tools can help maximise productivity without additional costs.

Let's explore some of the options available within Microsoft 365.

Scheduling and managing meetings efficiently can be challenging (see this earlier post for how to make it easier!), but ensuring that meetings are concise and results-oriented is equally important.

While in-person meetings have their benefits, I have found that Microsoft Teams meetings often lead to greater productivity. Despite the usual delay caused by computer updates or Apple earbuds that won’t connect, Teams meetings tend to focus on what matters and allow participants to end the meeting as soon as its purpose is complete to continue with their day. There’s no travel time, and the shambles of waiting for earlier meetings to end and people to vacate the room you booked is avoided. The visual aspect of video calls adds a personal touch that phone calls lack. Personally, I prefer seeing the people I'm talking to, even if it's through a screen.

Arranging meetings can be time-consuming, often involving numerous back-and-forth emails to find suitable dates and times.

Even for a simple two-person meeting, the coordination can be challenging, let alone when multiple participants are involved.

While popular paid tools like Calendly have gained popularity, not every legal team can access separate tools. Microsoft also offers a powerful yet often overlooked solution in the form of Bookings.

One of the key motivations for legal teams in adopting legal matter management solutions is often to generate comprehensive reports showcasing their active matters and demonstrating the value they provide.

Additionally, these solutions are intended to enable effective matter and team management by identifying potential issues early on and managing workloads more efficiently.

However, in reality, inflexible intake processes and user aversion to data entry often lead to insufficient data capture, undermining the expected value of analytics and reporting.