publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/231030
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN NEW BUSINESS INTAKE with the needs of the firm. Here are some of the trends that might necessitate a realignment of NBI: counsel guidelines must be captured, translated, evaluated and made accessible. sometimes been necessary to make up for gaps in available technology. •Firm Growth, Diversification and Internationalization: The potential for conflicts increases as your attorneys and clients increase. Internationalization and a changing regulatory environment also add new knowyour-customer requirements. Internally, growth and internationalization introduce attorneys with different expectations and different understandings of the firm's risk tolerance. •Firm Requirements: Changing firm operations are also adding complexity to new business intake. Alternative fee arrangements require an additional review to ensure the firm does not take on undue economic risk, and they might necessitate the creation of matter budgets prior to approval. Other functions (marketing, business development and knowledge management) are looking to NBI to capture data for their downstream processes, and this process complicates the intake form. •Traditional Business Process Modeling/ Workflow Tools: These are the first-generation workflow tools that firms implemented. Suitable for highly complex business processes, firms tailored them for intake, but their complexity makes them difficult for some firms to implement and cumbersome to alter. •Lateral Hiring: According to Anne Scott, Director of Professional Responsibility at Arnold and Porter, a particular challenge is the recent wave of lateral hiring. Lateral intake adds volume and complexity for NBI, which must vet and integrate the laterals' clients and matters quickly. Retainer letters and conflicts waivers must also be reviewed and rationalized with those already existing at the firm for that client. •Client Requirements: Gone are the days when clients would accept a single-line bill for legal services rendered. As they add requirements for your invoices, such as e-billing numbers and task codes, you must have a reliable way of capturing those requirements and communicating them to finance. Outside EVOLVING TECHNOLOGY New business intake has been underserved by technology for many years, having to make do with custom solutions that require firms to adapt their processes to the technology, rather than vice versa. However, the landscape seems to be changing as more mature and flexible products are emerging. Here is a brief overview of NBI technology options: •Paper, Spreadsheets and Email: Some firms still deploy a combination of these old-school tools to collect information, track approvals and store documents. They are not well-suited to large and complex firms. However, they have •NBI-Specific Workflow Tools: These nextgeneration NBI tools are more tailored for law firm NBI out of the box. Leveraging platforms like K2 and Windows Workflow, their implementation can be supported by firms with specific experience in NBI. •Enterprise System Modules: Elite and Aderant both offer NBI modules of their enterprise applications. As you would expect, they offer the benefit of integration with their other modules but might lack all the functionality of an NBIspecific application. •NBI Applications: These are interesting new entrants in the marketplace: applications specifically designed for law firms that aim to go beyond workflow tools in their out-of-the box usability, features (e.g., reporting, auditing,