Peer to Peer Magazine

P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | S U M M E R 2 0 1 9 21 uncertainty and help to set expectations appropriately: whether it's to say that "our firm represents employers, not individual employees"; "we will not automatically represent all entities within a corporate family tree without further exploring potential conflicts"; or "when clients dictate that counsel will not represent competitors, the client must identify and communicate who is regarded as a competitor." For the conflicts team, a well- documented playbook can help to supplement training and improve overall performance. Having clearly documented guidelines enables conflicts staff to work more efficiently, leverage automation within conflicts management systems, and onboard new hires more quickly. A powerful tool within the playbook is decision trees, which enable the conflicts team to visualize the steps they need to take in clearing conflicts or escalating for additional review and approvals. Align Client Matter Evaluation Criteria With Business Strate Try as we may, the reality is that it simply isn't humanly possible to mitigate all risks to the firm. It also isn't efficient for the firm to apply the same level of scrutiny to each and every new matter. Most firms aim to be more responsive to key clients, and unnecessary delays — particularly in opening new matters with a low level of risk — can be costly for the firm. This is why it's essential to ensure that your client matter evaluation criteria and processes are aligned with the firm's business strate and priorities. In some cases you may be able to reduce the number of steps required during a conflicts check. For example, if your firm has a policy of only representing the named entity and never representing other companies in a corporate family tree, you may be able to minimize the need for corporate family tree research. Known clients presenting similar work can have standing conflicts searches which are "refreshed" instead of performed from scratch. Of course, there will always be exceptions — but if those exceptions are clearly documented you can ensure that they won't be overlooked. On the other hand, if your firm is prioritizing certain types of work (e.g. "patent litigation in the pharmaceutical industry") which could trigger business, commercial or subject matter conflicts, you need to ensure that your conflicts evaluation processes are designed to support this with the appropriate level of due diligence, and the right types of research and review (e.g. "keyword searches"). For financial due diligence, one approach is to set thresholds for when new matters can progress more quickly through business acceptance processes versus when more thorough review is required. For example, new work at standard rates for clients with a good payment history might skip certain approvals. Some firms are now introducing ways to help evaluate potential new business much earlier in the sales process by integrating their intake and conflicts systems with their CRM. By creating placeholders within the intake and conflicts system for prospects, the business development team (and lawyers themselves) can assess the attractiveness of potential clients — not only in terms of avoiding conflicts, but also examining financial health and associated risks. This enables the firm to take a more informed approach to targeting potential clients in line with its business strate, determining whether to invest time in responding to RFPs, and preparing for pitches. Later in the cycle, it can also help to accelerate the new business acceptance process and avoid conflicts with clients where significant business development time and effort have been expended. Involve Clients, Prospects and Laterals More Directly in New Business Intake Many lawyers are accustomed to keeping their client relationships close to the vest. At times, this can make things challenging for others in the firm who need information — particularly from new clients. Providing a direct line of communication between new clients and the new business intake (NBI) team can help to accelerate the intake process significantly. This is already standard practice across many regulated industries. Rather than making individual lawyers responsible for collecting information about new clients and having the lawyers (or their assistants) fill out forms to open new matters, the firm can send the client links to secure online forms to fill out themselves. The forms, which link to the firm's main intake system, can be designed for maximum Providing a direct line of communication between new clients and the new business intake (NBI) team can help to accelerate the intake process significantly. This is already standard practice across many regulated industries.

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