11 minute read
Four Legal Process Automation Benefits You Need in 2021
4 Legal Process Automation Benefits You Need in 2021
by Aneesa Needel
McKinsey estimates that a whopping 23% of work done by lawyers today can be automated by existing technology. Just think of the efficiency this could provide to your organization. But does it mean you need 23% fewer lawyers?
Not to worry though—as outlined by the UCLA Law Review, leading experts on automation believe that technology complements the work done by lawyers, rather than replaces them. In 2018, the total legal technology spend in the U.S. exceeded $3 billion—and this number has increased steadily since.
Corporate legal departments are, of course, under unrelenting pressure to reduce costs while increasing efficiency. This is where legal process automation comes in—it allows companies to streamline, automate, manage, and measure all manner of legal tasks.
Chances are, you may have a legal process automation solution in place already—but is it doing the most it can? Sliding into 2021, this is the perfect time to evaluate (or re-evaluate) whether or not you’re benefiting from your chosen solution. Here are three major potential benefit areas to take into consideration when looking for the best automation solution.
1. ROI and Cost of Ownership
Let’s face it—no matter what legal process automation solution you look at, it all boils down to ROI and the cost to your organization. With the new pressures brought on by 2020, this is as important as ever.
An effective legal automation solution provides immediate access to the entire set of tools needed for intuitive, drag-and-drop workflow automation and process transformation. Why wait to see what kind of return on investment you’re getting? A good solution demonstrates immediate ROI and scales easily with greater deployment across more processes, while giving you valuable insights into how your business processes are functioning so you can continually optimize them.
On the same note, the best automation technology will lower your total cost of ownership. You can reduce total costs because you’ll eliminate infrastructure requirements, have predictable pricing, reduce training and support costs, and be equipped with the ability to embed risk and compliance best practices within processes, which also ultimately saves money.
2. Ease of Adoption and Use
Any effective legal process automation solution should be built for ease of use and deployment, providing a level of self-service allowing you to design and publish workflows for any process with no coding, IT, or developer involvement necessary. Not only does it simplify your life, but this flows into your reduced cost while lowering the margin of human error. It’s a win-win!
You should have the ability to configure custom integrations, and/ or integrate your solution smoothly and easily with major software applications, such as eSign integrations. One SaaS solution should be sufficient to use for your processes across multiple functions and departments. It should be flexible and scalable, with the ability to respond quickly to changing needs with an agile methodology enabling implementation.
3. Better Compliance
In terms of reporting and analytics, it’s important to have the ability to access reports in a variety of formats, as this provides visibility and transparency across your whole organization. This leads to increased accountability and better compliance.
You should be able to track and monitor every transaction across all workflows, with a single-source of truth and audit trails. This is more vital than ever now that we’re dealing with remote workforces. Ideally, your solution should provide managed access to centralized documents, workflow statuses, and analytics with real-time collaboration. An effective solution would have been developed with top security experts and compliance managers to meet the toughest security standards, protecting your organization from changing rules and regulations and the dangers inherent in having a widely disseminated staff.
4. Added Agility
What did 2020 impress upon nearly every department in nearly every company globally? That the ability to quickly pivot to address new circumstances, like remote workforces or the legal implications of a massive pandemic, is paramount.
Legal process automation can deliver that agility like practically no other technological enhancement available to enterprise legal teams and other departments that work with them. The right solution can cross departmental boundaries and embed legal best practices in the workflows used by other corporate units, while also imparting the same efficiencies it does to the legal department. If that doesn’t make Legal a hero in the boardroom, we’re not sure what else would.
You Should Expect a Lot From Legal Process Automation
It may sound like you’re asking too much of a single solution—but your organization deserves the best. Especially as organizations rebound from a difficult 2020, and stress agility, productivity, and efficiency more than ever before.
Legal process automation can provide all of the above while saving your Legal Operations team and staff counsel from mundane, routine tasks and soul-killing paperwork, while liberating them to focus on more important tasks. Legal process automation can transform your company—your bottom line, employees, and clients alike will thank you for it. n
Aneesa Needel is a Product Marketing Manager for Legal Operations and is dedicated to ensuring Mitratech’s platform and tools are understood and provide continuous value in the market.
The Original Legal Malpractice Firm IS BACK!
We are pleased to announce the return of Stanford And Associates, the original legal malpractice firm founded three decades ago.
Dan Stanford
OWNER & FOUNDER
We’ve reassembled our original team of lawyers, with a combined 50 years of prosecuting and trying legal malpractice claims throughout the state.
Don’t be fooled by others claiming to be a legal malpractice firm. Stanford And Associates is the original legal malpractice law firm and we: • Never charge a consultation fee • Never bill our clients by the hour • Never represent or defend lawyers • Never handle fee disputes between lawyers We are pure contingency fee lawyers and
we pay referral fees!
101 W. Broadway, Suite 810 San Diego, CA. 92101 TEL: (619) 695-0655 FAX: (619) 810-7766 TOLL-FREE: (833) 309-6236
www.stanfordandassociates.com
COMPASSIONATE Treatment RELENTLESS Pursuit of Justice RESULTS-Driven
Practice Areas:
• Auto Accidents/Car Crashes • Brain Injuries • Construction Injuries • Dog Bites • Medical Malpractice • Premises Liability/Slip and Fall • Product Liability/Dangerous Products • Sexual Assault and/or Harassment • Spinal Injuries • Toxic Tort Injuries • Whistleblower/Qui Tam • Wrongful Death
Results:
$5,000,000 Motorcycle Collision/Wrongful Death $3,250,000 Medical Malpractice/Brain Injury $2,100,000 Slip and Fall/Brain Injury $2,000,000 Horse Accident/Brain Injury $1,800,000 Jury Verdict: Car Accident/Neck Injury $1,800,000 Construction Accident/Neck Injury
4660 La Jolla Village Drive, Suite 575 San Diego, CA 92122 619-436-1990 | info@sandiegolawyers.com
Kacie Vinel Co-Founder/Partner Ben Coughlan Co-Founder/Partner
Easy, Proven Strategies for Reaching Your Full Potential on LinkedIn
by Stefanie Marrone
I didn’t always have a strong LinkedIn network or presence. Just like everyone else, I had to start from scratch. And there was a long time where I didn’t do much on LinkedIn except for accepting connections.
I dipped my toes into using LinkedIn by first building a strong profile and a wide network of connections.
I made a connections plan and thought about who I could connect with from college and graduate school as well as all of my past jobs and volunteer positions. (When it comes to LinkedIn, having more connections is better to raise the likelihood that your posts will be seen.)
Then I focused on my interaction on the platform, first liking, sharing, and commenting on my network’s posts.
When I became more comfortable and confident, I started creating posts myself. Those included sharing articles I found that were relevant and useful to my network.
I used Twitter to help me source articles by following various publications of interest to me and my connections. I thought of myself as a news aggregator, bringing important information to my network.
I was able to differentiate myself by adding a few lines of text with each article explaining why it was important or insightful for someone to read. And that is such a key step to build in as part of your social strategy.
You can’t just share an article without any introductory text. You get extra points if you tag an entity or a person in the post as well. And a gold star if you start to use a hashtag strategy (hashtags help your posts become more discoverable on any social platform).
I reached my full LinkedIn potential when I began to create my own content, providing my network with helpful tips and insights. I paid attention to when my connections were on the platform so that they would be most likely to see my posts. I refined my content based on how well each post did. I started to use images and hashtags for each post.
And most importantly, I had confidence in what I was posting. I didn’t become discouraged if a post had a low number of likes, instead I tried to learn from it and refined my content strategy based upon the performance of each post.
Here’s what I did to grow my LinkedIn network and turn it into a business. If I can do it, so can you!
• I focused only on the social channels where my target audience was (this meant LinkedIn)
• I liked, commented, and shared others’ posts
• I started writing about my speaking engagements and created takeaway posts
• I turned my PowerPoint slides into social posts recapping the webinar or event
• I built an editorial calendar to plan future posts
• I shared only value-added content
• I created visuals for each post
• I made my content interactive and used video
• I gave away free content, tools and helpful info
• I looked at others for inspiration/ideas
• I told personal stories and injected my personality into posts
• I developed a hashtag strategy to enhance visibility of posts
• I regularly engaged with my followers—respond to each comment on your posts. It’s very helpful in terms of
LinkedIn’s algorithm as well as just being a great way to interact with those who like your content.
• I built a strong profile and regularly updated it, using new features released by LinkedIn (such as the amazing Featured section which enables you to pin certain posts to the top of your profile
• I cultivated my network—adding new connections every week
• I checked my LinkedIn messages, and actively sent messages to connections with whom I had lost touch or who were important to me so that I was top of mind with them
• I recycled my greatest hits—reposting past content that did well using my editorial calendar to help me plan out content
• I set up a sharing “pod” with 4 LinkedIn connections
• I used analytics to refine my efforts
• I posted at least 3X a week (then increased that to 5X), and I didn’t get discouraged if no one liked my posts. I knew that the audience would come if I posted good content. The greatest thing about LinkedIn is that it’s never too late or early to start using it. You have to start somewhere. We all did.
I have a lawyer client who’s in his early 60s who never used LinkedIn other than to create a profile and accept connections. He successfully started using it to bring in leads and build his brand within just 18 months of making LinkedIn part of his business development strategy. I hope this shows you that anyone can achieve success on LinkedIn and why it’s worth making LinkedIn part of your marketing strategy.
Stay the course. Social media success is a long-term investment in you! n
Stefanie Marrone advises law firms of all sizes, professional service firms, B2B companies, professional associations, and individuals on the full range of marketing and business development consulting services designed to enhance revenue, retain current clients, and achieve greater brand recognition. She also serves as outsourced chief marketing officer/marketing department for smaller firms. Over her nearly 20-year legal marketing career, she has worked at and with a broad range of big law, mid-size, and small firms, which has given her a valuable perspective of the legal industry. Connect with her at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefaniemarrone.
Monty A. McIntyre, Esq.
Mediator, Arbitrator & Referee ADR Services, Inc.
Organized, succinct summaries of EVERY new published California civil and family law case, published every month for $50.00 a month. Subscribe at www.cacasesummaries.com
To schedule, contact Christopher Schuster: (619) 231-1323 or christopher@adrservices.com
