Posted 5 March 2019

Law firms and legal departments face mounting pressure to be more responsive and efficient, while still delivering high-quality work. One technology that’s helping firms meet this challenge is legal workflow automation. Workflow automation is transforming the way law firms do business by accelerating processes, reducing risk, and allowing lawyers to reclaim their valuable time.

There are many use cases for workflow automation within law firms. Here, we look at three core areas ripe for innovation within today’s firms and how to use workflow automation to drive greater productivity, client value and service differentiation.

Internal Know-How

According to a recent report, lawyers spend about 48 percent of their time on administrative tasks, such as reviewing and drafting documents. By automating document assembly and template management, firms can significantly reduce the amount time lawyers spend on these non value-added tasks.

Take for example, how leading Swedish firm Vinge transformed the way the firm’s lawyers work by implementing a customised automated document workflow designed to ease the lawyers’ workloads. Vinge’s document automation system, called Vinge Dox, allows lawyers to quickly and easily create new documents directly from the knowledge library. To create a document, lawyers simply select the type of document they want and fill out a guided online questionnaire. By streamlining the document generation and assembly process, Vinge was able to shift lawyers’ focus from drafting documents to client development and service.

Custom workflows can help increase internal speed and accuracy by automatically prompting responsible parties to complete certain tasks within defined timeframes. For example, in the context of document automation, a firm may choose to send subject matter experts a notification to review the quality of clauses or documents at specific internals to ensure automated templates stay relevant.

Risk-Based New Client Intake

Compliance is a complex and ever-evolving challenge for today’s firms. At the same time, firms need to be able to quickly accept new business and onboard clients. Fortunately, workflow automation enables firms to accelerate the acceptance of new clients, while quickly identifying potential risks.

We recently partnered with one of Sweden’s top law firms to design and implement a customised business inception process to streamline the firm’s client intake and clearance processes, while subsequently reducing the associated risk. The new intake process includes a client scoring system, which formalises the evaluation of new business opportunities based on a predefined set of rules determined by the firm’s priorities. Take for example, professional risk, terms alignment, and Know Your Client (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations. A risk profile is created for each new client, enabling the firm to escalate high-risk clients for further review.

Compliance with AML, KYC and sanctions requirements continues to be a key focus for modern law firms. By employing automation to create a structured risk-based business inception framework, forward-looking firms can not only make it quicker to bring on new clients, but also proactively identify potential compliance risks with greater speed and accuracy.

Client Transactions

Another area ripe for disruption is the client delivery process. We’re seeing more and more firms turn to self-service client portals to drive efficiency and profitability, while creating service differentiation. Though self-service itself isn’t a new concept, the approach has only recently started to take hold in the legal sector. And it’s innovative firms in the Nordics that are leading the way.

Many leading Nordic firms have already started experimenting with client automation portals, with positive feedback from their clients. These client-facing portals use document workflow automation to enable clients to automatically generate firm-managed work product on a self-service basis. For example, a client could use the portal to access the template for a frequently-used document, such as NDA, and generate the final work product themselves by simply completing an online questionnaire. The NDA template would be fully managed by the law firm to ensure that the client is using the most up-to-date template at all times.

By giving clients immediate access to the documents they need, when they need them, firms are able to provide their clients with greater value, while also offering a broader range of services. At the same time, firms are able to increase their profitability for fixed-fee transactions and give lawyers back more of their time.

As competitive and client pressures continue to reshape the legal landscape, law firms must look for new ways to increase profitability, while improving client relationships and creating service differentiation. Join us for our upcoming webinar, From Library to Contract: Automating the Knowledge Lifecycle, to learn how firms are bringing these three areas of workflow together to automate the entire knowledge lifecycle - from know-how to executed contract.

Posted 19 September 2019

Today’s legal services clients want greater control, speed, and quality. One way that law firms are stepping up to the challenge is by tapping into the power of self-service client portals.

Self-service portals are a concept that has long been employed by customer service and support teams to provide immediate, on-demand service. However, the concept has recently started to make its way into the legal sphere - and for good reason. With service differentiation becoming a primary battleground for winning and retaining clients, more law firms are turning to self-service portals to provide clients with instant access to legal documents. 

This always-available model of service can provide a true competitive advantage for today’s firms. Not only does self-service save time, resources, and costs for the law firm, but it also empowers legal teams to create their own legal documents on-demand, without assuming any additional risk. 

Here, we look at some of the top advantages that self-service portal provide to legal clients. 

New services, no software required

As anyone who has worked in a corporate office knows, installing new software on your computer can be quite the challenge. With client portals, in-house counsel can easily gain access to digital legal services, without the need for additional software. They can simply log on from any computer and start generating legal documents. 

The cloud-based portals are hosted and maintained by the law firm, so clients can be assured that the documents they create are up-to-date and ready-to-use. Additionally, with a fixed, predictable fee, it’s easier for clients to project and budget across the services lifecycle. 

Enhanced data security and built-in compliance

As information security concerns mount, keeping data protected and secure is paramount for today’s organisations. Fortunately, self-service portals can come with enhanced data security and compliance built-in to the platform. 

For example, Sysero’s self-service portal ensures client data is stored, managed and protected in accordance to cybersecurity and compliance best practices: 

• Encryption: Personal data entered into a Sysero portal can be encoded and configured so that it is only visible to specific users. The encrypted data appears scrambled or unreadable to an individual or entity attempting to access the data without permission. 

• Pseudonymisation: The process of pseudonymisation adds an additional layer of security to protect sensitive data. The process involves replacing the most identifying fields within a data record, such as Social Security Number, with artificial identifiers. This ensures that even if stolen, data cannot be directly associated with an identity.

• Backups: Sysero’s client portals come with fully-managed, automated and secured data backups, which ensures that all client data is appropriately backed up and can be quickly accessed in case of down time. 

• Data Sanitization: One of the key principles of GDPR and data security in general is to not hold data any longer than required. As part of Sysero’s portals, data can be assigned an expiration date to ensure it’s removed once it’s served its purpose. The same concept can also be applied to documents and transactions to comply with regulations. 

Maintain greater control

Self-service portals provide clients with instant access to legal expertise, guide users through specific legal processes, provide options for different scenarios and offer a centralised platform for managing transactions. Many of our law firm clients partner closely with their clients to determine how their portal looks, works and integrates with the rest of the business.

Each client portal can be completely customised to suit the unique requirements of in-house legal teams to facilitate greater internal efficiency and enhanced collaboration with their firms. 

The potential for self-service legal portals is endless - for both law firms and their clients. Forward-thinking firms are already approaching clients to collaborate on customised self-service portals, and in the next year, we expect the trend to continue as client demands evolve with the pace of technology. 

To learn more about your firm’s clients can benefit from self-service client portals, get in touch with us or check out our client automation portal demo. 

Over the past several years, we’ve seen law firms breaking free from traditionally slow moving processes to become technology-enabled agile firms. There’s no doubt that the pandemic has influenced firms’ need to embrace advanced technology, and it’s clear that legal automation is no longer just ‘nice to have’ for the modern law firm. 

According to research from Wolters Kluwer, nearly half of law firms report that they are effectively using technology today, with 47% saying they can improve technology adoption and plan to do so. In today’s world, digital adoption - or a lack thereof - can quickly determine the success of a firm’s digital transformation strategy. 

For many firms, the biggest barriers to digital adoption have traditionally been training, onboarding and implementing new technology. However, if there’s anything that we can learn from the events of the past year, it’s the importance of agility and the ability to adapt. 

Today’s firms need to rethink how they approach technology adoption in order to drive greater efficiency, productivity and collaboration for their lawyers, staff and clients. Fortunately, at Sysero, we’ve had the opportunity to help leading firms around the world design and implement legal automation solutions to power their digital transformations. 

Here, we share some of the real-world lessons from leading firms who’ve successfully implemented legal automation and unlocked the power of digital transformation. 

Clearly Define Processes Upfront 

When it comes to implementing a new technology solution, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve from it. Before starting any new legal automation project, spend the time to create a detailed project plan, map out core processes and consider key stakeholders. By laying the blueprint for your project before moving forward, you’ll be more likely to realise a successful implementation and adoption. 

iManage, the leading provider of work product management solutions for law firms, took this approach when building its Implementation Portal. Over the years, iManage has perfected a process for tailoring and implementing iManage solutions for customers around the world, which relies on seamless configuration and successful onboarding.

With a rapidly growing partner network, iManage sought to empower its partners to replicate its proven approach and methodology. To that end, iManage used Sysero’s workflow automation technology to translate its proven process into a simple, automated solution for its partner network. The result: an easy, accessible way for partners to start new projects in accordance with the guidelines set by iManage. 

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

Many times, technology adoption fails because users find the technology either too difficult to use or aren’t interested in spending the time to learn a new tool. To bolster technology adoption, try to incorporate tools and processes with which your users are already familiar.

For example, one of the reasons Vinge, one of Sweden’s premier law firms, selected Sysero for its document automation was its ease of use. Sysero’s integrated Microsoft Office client enables the firm’s lawyers to quickly search for and generate documents directly from within Microsoft Word. As Carolina Landys, Knowledge Manager explained: “Lawyers love Word, and the closer you can bring the materials to them, the better.”

Find Your Internal Champions

As with any internal project, the right champions can have a significant impact on the success of your automation programme. Finding the right people to help promote and educate others on the benefits of automation is key to making legal automation work in the long-term. 

Peter Van Dam, Chief Digital Officer at the leading Norwegian firm Simonsen Vogt Wiig, realised the importance of this early on in bringing automation to his firm. Peter was mindful to include lawyers in the beginning stages of the planning process, and as such, identified the ideal internal champion within the firm’s Employment Law practice. As Peter explained: “The lead lawyer in the Employment Practice is very cutting edge, and she likes to work with automation and brings a lot of new ideas.”

By finding your ideal internal champion, you’ll be able to gain the feedback and support necessary to make your automation project a success. 

Make Automation Part of your Culture

When it comes to driving digital adoption, culture is key. Many of today’s most successful legal automation programmes recognise the importance of culture in creating effective, sustainable digital transformation.

Castren & Snellman (C&S), a full-service business law firm based in Finland, is one firm that’s mastered the art and science of technology and culture. In 2016, the firm launched its Signe automation tool, which uses Sysero technology to ease the workload of the firm’s lawyers and speed up the document drafting process, whilst ensuring quality. 

A key part of Signe’s continued success comes down to how C&S has embedded it into the everyday culture of the firm. Leading the project internally is the Knowledge Management team’s Legal Tech Trainees, who are responsible for maintaining and managing Signe. This includes automating documents and training lawyers and personnel to use the system. Over the years, the adoption of Signe has continued to grow largely due to the team’s ongoing training sessions, collaboration with lawyers and continued automation work. 

When it comes to implementing legal automation, we’ve learned a few key lessons: lawyers need easy-to-use technology to improve efficiency and the right support is crucial to long-term success. Learn more about how Sysero’s solutions can help power your firm’s digital transformations and prepare to take on the future world of work. 

Acquiring new clients is the lifeblood of any law firm. However, onboarding new clients can often prove cumbersome, time-consuming, and ineffective. A poorly designed process driven by manual input can result in disorganisation, lost productivity, and more importantly, noncompliance. 

The EU and UK GDPR and Money Laundering directives have made it imperative for law firms to ensure they are following the appropriate compliance procedures, which includes sufficiently verifying the identity of your clients. However, this often requires a considerable amount of internal (and nonbillable) time and manual input within disparate systems, which leads to a greater amount of risk. At the same, firms are also tasked with driving greater efficiency in the client onboarding process. 

The good news is that technology can play a crucial role in helping your firm conquer some of the most common client onboarding challenges. From time-intensive processes to client data security, here we look at the five most common client onboarding challenges that today’s law firms face - and how technology can help you overcome them. 

1) The client onboarding process takes too long

Perhaps one of the biggest hurdles to efficient client onboarding is a poorly designed process, which can result in too many process steps, an inefficient allocation of resources, and huge communication gaps. 

More often than not, law firms rely on manual processes and disparate technology solutions to accept new business. This can result in inconsistencies in client intake questionnaires and engagement letters, lead to the omission of crucial information and create risk management gaps. For these reasons, just over half (56%) of law leaders in the UK report that business intake and compliance process automation technologies are amongst the highest-priority technology projects within their firms. 

Digital onboarding solutions can help your firm streamline risk analysis, automate business acceptance processes, and also improve firm-wide risk management by ensuring consistent and comprehensive intake questionnaires and engagement letter templates. 

These solutions leverage workflow automation tools, like Sysero, to enable you to customise your onboarding process and integrate with your firm’s existing business systems, such as accounting and document management, to speed up processes, reduce errors from data duplication, and get to work faster for your clients.

2) There’s missing or incorrect client information

Another common challenge in client onboarding is obtaining the right information. When client information gathering is done manually, key data is often omitted or misentered. Inaccurate data entry, human error, and poor data quality is one of the top issues law firms face in compliance screening.

Instead, opt for a technology solution that allows you to gather information directly from clients. Imagine simply sending a potential client a link to a secure web-based form, where they are guided through a questionnaire to gather the required information. By having clients confirm and update their own data through user-friendly web-based forms, your firm can ensure the correct data is collected and held within the firm’s other internal systems.

Top-tier rated international law firm Wikborg Rein offers a prime example of how digital forms can be used as part of an efficient client onboarding solution. Using its digital client intake solution, which is based on Sysero’s workflow automation technology,  Wikborg Rein uses an intuitive web interface to register new clients and confirm the necessary information is collected and verified by clients and other data sources in accordance with current regulations. 

3) Poor record keeping puts compliance at risk

Siloed systems and manual data management can prove to be a major challenge if your firm is called upon by regulators. In today’s world, it’s not enough to simply just monitor your clients on an ongoing basis; you must be able to demonstrate compliance activity with a clear audit trail as evidence. 

By automating your client onboarding, you can create a controlled process and be confident that every step, action and approval is documented automatically. For example, Arntzen de Besche, one of Norway’s most sought-after firms, uses a digital client onboarding solution that uses a built-in risk matrix to automatically assess a new client against Money Laundering Act requirements. Any client that falls outside the requirements is automatically routed to a simplified workflow for further assessment to ensure compliance and once approved, automatically created in the firm’s integrated ERP system. Every step of the process is recorded, providing a complete audit trail. 

4) Client data needs to be kept secure

In today’s compliance environment, law firms must ensure that data is captured, stored, and maintained in a highly secure manner. With technology like Sysero, data security best practices like encryption, pseudonymisation, and data retention policies can be automatically built into your client onboarding solution. 

Opting for a hybrid cloud solution is another way that your firm can reap the benefits of cloud-based technology, whilst ensuring your data stays secure on-premise. Using a solution like Sysero’s Hybrid Cloud Workflow, you can easily capture data from external parties using web-based forms, and then share, manage, and use that information via a secure in-house system. Once the information is migrated in-house, it’s stored behind the safety of the firm’s firewall and can be integrated with any and all internal systems as required.

5) Technology doesn’t align with the firm’s requirements

Before you make the leap into digital client onboarding, it’s essential to understand your requirements and evaluate potential technologies. Ultimately, the success of your digital onboarding solution depends on the technology that powers it. 

When deciding on a technology solution for your firm, there are few things you should consider:

• Ease of use: How easy is it for staff to use? Will it require a significant amount of training? Opting for a low-code or no-code solution with a visual designer tool can help boost adoption.
  
  
• Customisation: Can the technology be customised to fit your unique onboarding? requirements? Is it able to integrate with key external verification sites or partners?
  
  
• Configurability & Flexibility: Will the technology integrate with your core existing systems? How easily can you adjust your compliance and data management rules and requirements?
  
  
• Security: How will the system keep your client data secure? What security features come built-in? 

At Sysero, we’ve helped top-tier law firms from around the world streamline, automate, and secure their client onboarding processes. If your firm is looking to conquer the common challenges of client onboarding, now is the time to transition to a digital onboarding solution. Get in touch with our team to learn more.