5 Long-Term Automation Advantages that Increase Your Law Firm’s Competitiveness

At mid-year 2022, legal technology companies had already seen a record level of venture capital inflows, reaching over $1 billion for the first time. Automation lies at the core of many legal technology solutions, as it can eliminate tedious tasks, accelerate service delivery, increase accuracy, and save time and resources.?

As investors' eagerness indicates, legal workflow automation tools have now been in use long enough to prove the value of their long-term impact on law firm operations. Over time, automation can help firms create low-stress work environments, improve client relationships, boost profits, and gain the following five long-term advantages:

1.?Work smarter, not harder, as processes scale.

To implement automation successfully, you must first define legal workflows from start to end. For example, you may opt to create a set of rules that define and execute the necessary steps to complete client intake forms and perform conflict checks.?

The steps will be automated, and the rules applied consistently. In the first few iterations, you start to eliminate unnecessary and redundant tasks, identify and ease bottlenecks, and streamline workflows.?

Over time, you learn what actions lead to more optimal results (e.g., faster service, greater accuracy, etc.). You may also update the rules as the firm expands into new practice areas, adds new attorneys or staff, or changes policies and procedures.?

You can continually evaluate the impact of any alterations, ensuring lawyers and staff work smarter, not harder, as business scales and you automate more functions.

2.??????????Monitor and measure workflows to make objective and cost-effective decisions.?

You can also measure and control what you automate, e.g., after establishing an automated matter intake system, track data points on the approval routes and time to open new matters.?

Monitoring automated processes can deliver insightful case and matter management metrics, such as how lawyers spend their time, the traditional resource costs for various matter types, productivity and profitability rates, and much more.

Automation over the long haul gives firms the consistency and control required to effectively apply data analytics when making critical decisions, such as which types of matters to pursue and when to hire new attorneys or staff.?

A recent Lex Machina survey found that nearly seven of 10 law firms use legal analytics to pitch or demonstrate expertise to their clients. Half use analytics to gain competitive intelligence for finding and evaluating new business. Similarly, data on lawyer skills and availability can help your firm allocate legal work more equitably and objectively.?

?A law firm that monitors and measures its workflows can also provide clients with more accurate price estimates—a significant advantage as 82% of 800 UK and North American) law firms surveyed report increased client demand for financial transparency since the pandemic began.

3.??????????Communicate with clarity and reduce risk.

Legal automation allows you to set up templates for commonly used documents such as engagement letters, fee agreements, discovery requests, and contracts.?

Over time, regular users learn what language routinely raises questions or is misunderstood. They can then revise the templated text, ensuring everyone in the firm communicates with greater clarity.??

It’s similar to how contract management software can allow firms to track contract performance data, enabling lawyers to discover high- and low-performing contract clauses. They can rewrite contract clauses and revise templates to help reduce risk and enter more favorable deals.?

4.??????????Meet deadlines and stay up to date.?

Schedules, regulations, contract terms, email addresses—many things change and change again. Automated updates ensure stakeholders are aware of every change, and lawyers can use the most up-to-date information to their client’s advantage. This helps your firm avoid noncompliance issues, mistakes, omissions, and awkward client conversations.

Automated notifications and alerts ensure lawyers don’t miss critical deadlines. When asked, lawyers ranked preventing missed deadlines and tasks as a highly impactful and unaddressed technology need, ranking second at 8.3 on a scale of 1-10. (Automating repeatable tasks came in first at 8.6.)?

5.??????????Reallocate saved hours and promote mental health and well-being.

Legal automation frees lawyers, administrators, marketers, and professionals across the firm to work on higher-value activities, such as business development, strategic planning, and staying current with the latest industry developments.?

The resulting benefits can lead to higher job satisfaction and improved mental health and well-being. Lawyers are happier performing activities they want to do instead of tedious manual tasks. More team members working to attract new clients, develop deeper and more productive relationships, and increase client satisfaction can only benefit your firm’s bottom line.?

Amicus Capital has helped many law firms work with legal workflow automation to improve work quality, clarify communications, and pursue more strategic initiatives. Call 1-877-926-4287 or visit us online to learn how we can help your firm work smarter at every turn.