The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/271291
WWW.ILTANET.ORG 57 • Reduce training-related calls to the helpdesk. Attorneys lose valuable time trying to get answers to questions that could have been mitigated through training. Measurement: Number of helpdesk calls and time saved per helpdesk call. For example, the average helpdesk call is seven minutes long. That can translate to $55 in lost billable time per call. If a firm is receiving 40 calls a day, of which 40 percent could be reduced by better training or available coaching tools, that equates to an annual savings of $211,000. Other metrics could be: • Performing tasks in less time (documents, pleading motions, briefs, indices, summaries) • Reducing overtime due to document revisions • Shortening the time for associates to be productively billing • Reducing the costs of floaters • Reducing time lost over corrupt documents THE NEW TECH CORE COMPETENCIES We know that attorneys and users need to improve their skills, but which of all those skills could possibly help them be more productive? With this in mind, a group of like-minded law firms have been working to establish a set of legal technology core competencies for both attorneys and staff. These firms have pooled their collective expertise to define the competencies based on common workflows in law firms. The group, called LTC4™ for Legal Technologies Core Competencies Certification Coalition, to focus on upskilling their associates (as well as support staff, and — in some cases — partners). Even so, the case still needs to be made internally about how to justify the cost of upskilling attorneys, as this does require a change (or ramping up) of strategy and can be perceived as taking away from billable hours. THE INCENTIVE IS THERE The 2013 Neochange/Capensys Legal Industry Adoption Survey highlighted the direct correlation between firms with the highest rates of technology adoption and those with the highest percentage of time billed. This survey, subtitled "The Grand Irony — Fear of Productivity Loss Leads to Revenue Loss," shows that firms with higher rates of technology adoption billed 25 percent more time than those with low adoption rates. Previous surveys done by Neochange (among 500 firms outside the legal industry), showed the average user productivity loss due to lack of IT skills is 17 percent. Neochange said this figure was the same or higher for the legal industry. Many firms are offering, or being asked to offer, alternative fee arrangements, where productivity is going to impact the profitability of an engagement directly. There is every incentive for firms to drive user adoption of IT systems, as it will increase the percentage of time billed by attorneys and increase profitability. MORE SKILLS, MORE BENEFITS While most firms recognize the general need to increase productivity, few firms demonstrate how increasing user skill levels improves the firm's bottom line and helps the firm be more competitive. Yet, this is quite easy to do. By setting business and user goals for each project — defining what will be measured, how it will be quantified and where the data will be found — firms can produce a return on investment/return on expectations management dashboard which becomes the demonstrable proof of improvements and savings made. In the case of an upskilling project, the business goals and measurable criteria could include: • Improve the secretary-to-attorney ratio. Increasingly, attorneys are doing their own work, relying less on support staff. This means attorneys need to be more skilled, and their secretaries need to have a wider range of skills to be able to support more attorneys. Measurement: The reduction in secretarial salaries and benefits. • Reduce the time attorneys spend searching for and profiling documents. Attorneys spend non-productive time searching for documents as a result of not understanding the full features of their DMS search engine or by misfiling documents so they are not easily retrievable. Improving their knowledge could save them minutes each day. Measurement: Time saved per billing attorney. For example, the average attorney billing rate is $475 an hour. A 250-attorney firm could see annualized savings of $200,000 if each attorney saved one minute per day. • Increase the number of email messages filed to the DMS. This would have the dual benefit of reducing the size of inboxes and increasing compliance and accuracy in matter management. Measurement: Data storage costs and litigation hold costs. About the Author Sue Pasfield is a founding director of Capensys. She has enjoyed a career at the forefront of training methodologies for over 30 years with Control Data's PLATO and ICL Fujitsu Training. Sue and the Capensys team work with law firms to improve user adoption via a goal-based approach to make training relevant to how users work. Capensys is the originator of LTC4™, the Legal Technology Core Competencies Certification Coalition, who used a goal-based approach to establish industry standards. Contact her at spasfield@capensys.com.