Change in the legal profession has become a constant, and in recent years, many firms have realised the need for continued innovation to deliver better efficiency, value, and expertise to their clients. Today’s clients are demanding more from their legal partners, and to keep pace with evolving client expectations, law firms are tapping into legal technology to deliver better client experiences. 

One area that has proved especially challenging for law firms is managing the sheer volume and complexity of legal requests. In fact, a recent survey found that nearly 80% of legal professionals struggle to cope with increased workloads and the complexity of information, yet only 34% say they are very prepared to handle it. 

Spoor & Fisher Jersey, the Channel Islands division of Spoor & Fisher, knows this challenge well. The firm employs more than 80 staff responsible for managing around 200,000 trademarks in all jurisdictions of Africa. Each week, the firm receives around 1,000 status update enquiries from its international and multi-industry client base. To help its trademark formalities team efficiently and effectively manage this increasing workload, Spoor & Fisher Jersey teamed up with Sysero to create a new digital workflow, leveraging the power and flexibility of a low-code platform.

Modernising Workflows with Low-Code Solutions

Prior to undertaking this new initiative with Sysero, Spoor & Fisher Jersey’s trademark formalities team had been handling an ever-increasing number of status update enquiries by referencing multiple systems and manually managing status updates by emails. Though the process worked, Jen Colantoni, Director of Spoor & Fisher Jersey and head of the trademark formalities team, wanted to uncover a way to streamline the entire request process.

The solution came in the form of an automated workflow system built on Sysero’s low-code platform. Colantoni teamed up with Sysero to create a custom, robust workflow designed to overcome the unique challenges facing the trademark formalities team. The new Sysero Trademark Enquiry Handling Workflow enables team members to easily turn Outlook emails into outstanding enquiry requests and add them to a workflow queue. Once staff is ready to process the requests, they simply access the request from within Outlook or the workflow web interface, provide the case number, and the relevant case information is automatically pulled in from the firm’s IP system and merged into a ready-to-send email template. Users can then choose to update the email or directly send it to their clients. Once the email has been sent, it’s automatically filed and recorded against the case in the firm’s iManage DMS. 

The entire system took less than two weeks to build, and the low-code platform provided Spoor & Fisher Jersey with the flexibility to customise the workflow where and when required. For example, when the team realised that around 1 in 10 cases in the firm’s IP system had sub-cases that were not supported by the firm’s DMS, they were able to easily add additional code to enable the Sysero workflow to successfully handle these edge cases. 

Revolutionising the Client Experience

Since launching the new workflow, Spoor & Fisher Jersey has been able to deliver a much more efficient process for its clients. The new workflow system streamlines and automates the entire process of responding to status update enquiries, providing the trademark formalities team with significant productivity gains. This has translated into faster response times for clients, which has not only delivered obvious benefits to the firm’s clients, but has also improved internal morale and helped teams more efficiently manage their workloads.

Yet, Spoor & Fisher Jersey know that the need for innovation is constant. That’s why the firm is planning to continue to add to its workflow system and expand the technology into other areas of the firm to further deliver an enhanced client experience. 

To learn more about Spoor & Fisher Jersey’s client-focused workflow, you can read the full case study here. 

Ready to revolutionise your firm’s client experience? Get in touch with our team to discuss your project.