Invitation to join SALI's Legal Matter Specification Standards (LMSS) BeNeLux + DACH Working Group

Have you ever wondered why we can unambiguously describe any retail product by its bar code but aren't able to do the same for a legal matter?

With the direct support of the SALI board and its leadership, a BeNeLux + DACH Working Group is forming to localise SALI's current Legal Matter Specification Standards (LMSS), currently focused on the Americas, for the respective jurisdictions and foster the idea of applying the LMSS in Continental Europe.

What is SALI.org?

The Standards Advancement for the Legal Industry (SALI) Alliance is an independent not-for-profit, member organisation that was formally established on May 15, 2017 with the goal of producing standards for the legal industry to accelerate innovation, and improve efficiency. The SALI Alliance includes a wide range of stakeholders including law firms, companies, service providers and legal industry associations.

SALI has set itself the ambitious goal to build a common standard for describing legal work, in effect a ‘common language’ to allow all lawyers to turn the opaque and variable into the clear, shared and identifiable.

What is the Legal Matter Specification Standards (LMSS) framework?

The LMSS is comprised of:

1. Code Sets — There are more than a dozen standardized code sets that define the “common language” for describing different aspects of legal matters.
2. A Structure — The LMSS structure is a database format that defines how the codes, descriptions and values relate to each other.

The code sets and the structure are currently available in Draft LMSS Revision 2.

What is the purpose of the working group?

• Introduce participants to the work already accomplished by the US colleagues at SALI.
• Identify areas for potential amendments to suit the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourgian (short: BeNeLux) and German, Austrian and Swiss (short: DACH) jurisdictions.
• Contribute “missing data” to the SALI LMSS framework for publication.

Who should volunteer for the working group?

• Members of corporate legal departments, law firms, alternative legal service providers and tech vendors with an interest in issues related to taxonomy, standardisation and legal operations management.
• Due to coordination capacities, we will focus on BeNeLux + DACH jurisdictions only and hence appreciate expertise related to those areas.

What’s the benefit for volunteers?

• Networking and sharing of latest insights in standards setting projects of peers and legal partners
• First-mover access to latest thinking and concepts related to knowledge management, fee modelling and, overall, legal operations standards
• Input and ideas for your current legal operations efficiency programs

What will be the expected “workload”?

• Active contribution is paramount to the success of the group and each volunteer will have an opportunity to tackle a specific part of the framework.
• Volunteers will be asked to attend a bi-monthly meeting (Zoom or Teams) to monitor progress and discuss latest updates and developments.
• As and when required, additional meetings may be scheduled.

Please nominate yourself or a colleague until 30 September 2020 by sending a short email to [email protected] or [email protected] containing the name, position and company as well as the specific interest and/or expertise in the subject matter.