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Does your contract approval process need improvement?

Posted by Gene Turner on 25-Mar-2024 18:14:17

An area where improvements might easily be made to overall contracting speed is in the approvals process.

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Topics: Document Automation, Legal Technology, In-House Legal, Document Assembly, Legal Automation, Matter Management, Legal Operations, Contract Management, Productivity

Document Automation – An Analysis of the Time Well Saved, Time Well Spent and Time Well Invested Framework

Posted by Gene Turner on 18-Mar-2024 08:39:53

 

I found the latest podcast by Ron Baker and Ed Kless in The Soul of Enterprise (The Time Tax: The Crime of Stealing Customers’ Time) very thought provoking. I recommend it highly.

It is based on an article by B Joseph Pine II and James H Gilmore – Competing for Customer Time.

While there is ongoing discussion about the hourly billing model and lawyers charging for their time, the focus in the podcast and article is on the value of the client’s time and how to avoid wasting it.

Pine and Gilmore come out strongly:

"While not crimes against humanity, time-wasters are certainly offences against human customers. The worst thing you can do is waste your customers’ time – yet companies do it all the time.”

They go on to say:

“Companies can create value for customers by eliminating activities that waste their time; saving their time when so desired; offering experiences where time is valued; and even helping customers to wisely invest their time.”

and

“No company should impose wasted time on customers. The primary strategic choices today focus on time well saved and time well spent.”

This made me think about how this applies to our business, LawHawk, and the legal automation solutions we design, build and support. I have set out my thoughts below.

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Topics: Document Automation, Legal Technology, In-House Legal, Law Firm Management, Self-Service Legal Automation, Legal Automation, Matter Management, Legal Operations, Contract Management

What type of relationship should Legal and IT teams have?

Posted by Gene Turner on 18-Feb-2024 17:29:46

Thinking back over many of the projects we have been involved with over the years, one thing that stands out is the importance of, and key dependency on, the legal team's relationship with their IT team.

What happens without a good relationship?

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Topics: Document Automation, Procurement, Legal Technology, In-House Legal, Legal Automation, Legal Operations

What to do if my boss says no to my legal automation project

Posted by Gene Turner on 13-Feb-2024 18:32:01

 

It's not uncommon for someone to show some initial interest in a legal automation project, get excited seeing how it could make a real difference in their work and that of their team, and then be told that it is not possible.

What can you do in that situation?

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Topics: Legal Technology, In-House Legal, Document Assembly, Law Firm Management, Compliance, Legal Automation, Matter Management, Legal Operations, Contract Management, Law Firm Profitability

Costs, Benefits, Price and ROI for Automation Projects

Posted by Gene Turner on 06-Feb-2024 08:30:00

 

A common concern we hear when talking to prospective clients about legal automation is that they haven't got a budget, and they don't think they can get one.

Often, however, this is before we have discussed the size and cost of the problem or the opportunity to be addressed and the expected benefits, and therefore, it needs more context before a price can be agreed and a budget could be obtained.

What should you do before worrying about price and budget for an automation project?

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Topics: Legal Technology, In-House Legal, Document Assembly, Law Firm Management, Compliance, Legal Automation, Matter Management, Legal Operations, Contract Management, Law Firm Profitability

Best resources for improving contracting processes and outcomes

Posted by Gene Turner on 22-Jan-2024 14:00:41

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.

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Topics: Document Automation, Procurement, Legal Technology, In-House Legal, Document Assembly, Law Firm Management, Legal Operations, Contract Management, Law Firm Strategy, Productivity

How not to waste money on a proof of concept

Posted by Gene Turner on 21-Nov-2023 08:35:10

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.

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Topics: Document Automation, Legal Technology, In-House Legal, Document Assembly, Legal Automation, Matter Management, Legal Operations, Contract Management

You don't have to automate everything

Posted by Gene Turner on 26-Nov-2022 15:30:26

Because of our focus on document and legal automation, you might expect us to advocate for automating everything, but as with most things, it’s about context.

Automation is great when you have very high volumes, many standard options you need to choose from, and/or details that need to be entered multiple times. In those situations, you can save 75% or more of the drafting time while ensuring that the right clauses are inserted in the correct format. It can get you 90% or more of the way there, allowing you time to add the final 10%.
You don’t need to automate all documents, though.

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Topics: Document Automation, Legal Technology, In-House Legal, Document Assembly, Self-Service Legal Automation, Legal Automation, Legal Operations, Contract Management

The value of making contracts easy to read and follow

Posted by Gene Turner on 26-Nov-2022 14:54:22

“A good contract can go in the bottom draw and never be looked at again” was what people said when I started as a lawyer in the 1990s. Contracts were seen as legal documents to be written by lawyers, negotiated by lawyers, and read by other lawyers - if there was a dispute. 

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Topics: Document Automation, In-House Legal, Legal Automation, Legal Operations, Contract Management

Microsoft Word Styles for Lawyers

Posted by Gene Turner on 26-Nov-2022 14:20:00
An issue that affects almost every organisation that we have worked with is formatting of their Word templates.  

In most cases they are consistently inconsistent and terrible.   

It not only reflects badly on the organisation and how the substance of the document may be perceived, but it’s a huge cost as it takes a lot of time for highly paid staff to fix, and refix, formatting each time a document is created.

If you want to automate your documents, its really important to fix your Word styles first.  Even if you don't want to automate right now, it's still worth fixing your templates. 

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Topics: Legal Technology, In-House Legal, Legal Automation, Legal Operations, Contract Management

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