Peer to Peer Magazine

WWW.ILTANET.ORG 19 to expect from the insourcing process. The partner and firm will also work together on the technology implementation and data migration so everything is fully functional when the insourcing program begins. The partner should also confer with all key non-attorney stakeholders in the firm — IT, finance, HR — and make sure their needs and concerns are addressed. Finally, the partner must align with the culture of the firm. The partner must understand the firm's values, goals and business strategies, as well as the clients' expectations. Although the partner might have proven best practices, they must be able to selectively compromise to minimize friction. WHAT IS THE TIMELINE FOR PROCESS IMPROVEMENT? The length of the assessment period depends on the size and depth of the insourcing integration. After the assessment period ends and employees are retrained on the partner's best practices and proven processes, the firm should see immediate process improvements. HOW WILL INSOURCING BENEFIT MY LAW FIRM? WILL MY CLIENTS NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE? Insourcing fulfills the value that today's clients are looking for: better-faster-cheaper services, predictable pricing, lower risk and consolidated vendor relationships. A properly executed transition should be invisible to your clients and yield immediate improvements in services and lower costs. For law firms, the benefits of insourcing are numerous and tangible: • Immediate reduction in fixed costs (e.g., salary, benefits) • Increased quality of customer service through employee retraining, better processes and greater efficiency • Increased competitiveness via an end- to-end solutions offering, employees who receive frequent training in best practices and an expanding knowledge base gleaned through the partner's work with other firms on a broad range of matters • Increased marketability via an in-house solutions center that handles data collection, e-discovery, processing, document review and production • Reduced legal risk as the partner provides full transparency and the firm retains full control over its data, rather than outsourcing it to another vendor • Reduced financial risk with lower fixed costs and the financial burden of e-discovery being shared with the partner • Preservation of knowledge and capital investments as the firm retains its former employees' knowledge and expertise, which would be lost if they were terminated or if their positions were outsourced • Lower costs and reduced complexity with vendor consolidation • Constant innovation and improvement, with the partner taking over the burden of implementing and managing new technologies • Improved services because of the partner's concrete service-level agreements (SLAs) HOW DO I KNOW IF INSOURCING IS RIGHT FOR MY FIRM? The best candidates for insourcing are larger firms that store large volumes of data, have larger internal litigation support departments and are looking to streamline costs and improve performance. Smaller to midsize firms might not achieve the desired ROI, so it might be better for them to use vendors as needed for litigation support, document review and other functions. HOW WILL I KNOW IF I HAVE PICKED THE RIGHT PARTNER — OR THE WRONG ONE? HOW DO I MEASURE PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS AND ROI? SLAs between the firm and the partner should establish the metrics for process improvements, and failure to adhere to them is a problem that must be addressed sooner rather than later. Measurement and accountability are just as important — if not more so — for insourced employees, and firms should rate their performance on every project. The partner should also continue to showcase the value they bring to your firm by documenting workflows for evaluation at the end of the matter, highlighting the amount of data handled, the cost savings per case and so on. If they About the Author Lauren Leonard is the Senior Vice President of Litigation Services at UnitedLex, where she draws upon her 13 years of experience in managing the litigation support department at Shook, Hardy & Bacon in Kansas City, Mo. She is instrumental in framing and implementing processes and solutions for clients in order to affect great efficiency and cost savings as it relates to litigation. Contact Lauren at lauren.leonard@unitedlex.com. Insourcing fulfills the value that today's clients are looking for: better-faster-cheaper services, predictable pricing, lower risk and consolidated vendor relationships.

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