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PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | FALL 2016
BEST PRACTICES
Steps To Streamline Your Processes
Efficiency can only be enhanced by combining the
insight of legal team members with the expertise of IT
to tailor soware and procedures to the firm's needs.
Streamlining processes requires an understanding of
in-house functions and needs, an analysis of existing
processes and soware to locate areas for improvement,
and the creation of policies to ensure compliance.
To accomplish these tasks, IT must work with
other departments within the firm to understand
business requirements before beginning process
improvement. Here are some things to remember as
you work through the streamlining process:
» Analyze the capabilities of existing products.
Many firms already have products that can help
achieve greater efficiency but do not realize
the products' functional capabilities. Check to
see if your soware products have overlapping
capabilities; if so, ensure that end users are
choosing the right product for the right task, and
downsize where feasible. Analyze what problems
still need to be resolved before considering new
soware.
» Keep unaudited document movement to a
minimum. Ensure internal links to documents
are sent only to people within the firm. Use
products that allow sharing of documents while
maintaining a full audit trail on activity.
» Develop curricula that provide continuing legal
education (CLE) credits. Most aorneys do not
For many years, there has been a bright spotlight focused on the need for training for greater
efficiency in law firms. This illumination has boosted demand in the legal profession for both
project management personnel and products to improve efficiency.
by Rebecca Sain
Steps To Streamline Your Processes
REBECCA SATTIN
Rebecca Sattin joined World Software
Corporation in August of 2015 as
CIO. She was formerly at Mitchell
Silberberg & Knupp LLP for 18 years,
where she was the director of
information technology. She has more
than 20 years of experience in the
area of law firm technology. Contact
Rebecca at rsattin@worldox.com..
