publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/395170
ILTA WHITE PAPER: OCTOBER 2014 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 27 A BUSHEL OF APPLES At Bryan Cave, we weren't sorting apples from oranges; we were presented with a situation where we knew we were getting thousands of apples. More accurately, we were awarded a nationwide portfolio of loosely related litigation matters that would trickle in over the next few years. After some discussion, we agreed that such a large matter base presented us with the opportunity to perform a secondary sort. In other words, by aggregating and analyzing data about our apples, we would be able to identify more quickly which were best to eat fresh, which were the easiest to turn into a tasty pastry filling and which were the bad apples that threatened to spoil the bunch. But before we could start the sorting, there were three large problems to solve: • How to aggregate data for thousands of individual matters • How to ensure attorneys would provide quality data about those matters • How to leverage that data to benefit both the firm and our client COMPARING APPLES Although it was tempting to hit the ground running, we knew we must take the time to select an appropriate repository for the data. Too often, we saw our teams utilizing hastily constructed databases or Excel spreadsheets, only to quickly realize they were too rigid, cumbersome or unwieldy to maintain good data for anything but short-term assignments. Whatever our final structure, we realized it must be: SORTING APPLES: LET TECHNOLOGY MAKE THE MOST OF MATTER WORKFLOWS TECHNOLOGY WORKFLOW BOTH WORKFLOWS NON-TECHNOLOGY WORKFLOW Client and Attorney Conversation PGL and Czar Approval Submit New Matter Intake Matter Opened Track Progress SharePoint • Proposal exemplars • Sample budgets Excel and Redwood • Financial modeling Excel and SharePoint • AFA approvals list AgliePoint • AFA Section — Is it an AFA? — AFA type, description • Area of law • Attach approval • Intake workflow is searchable Aderant • Workflow enters data into Aderant • Data verification • Email alerts Excel and SharePoint • Update AFA approvals list with matter status • AFA coded matters appear on AFA dashboard • Sort matters by attorney, practice group, AFA type Excel • Budget tracking/updates Redwood • Dashboards • Matter planning/tracking AFA Processes and Procedures AFA Guidelines Review discrepancies with records, czars Monthly call with czars Provide czars with monthly update of AFA approvals list Approvals sent to legal project manager CURRENT INTAKE WORKFLOW AT SHEPPARD, MULLIN, RICHTER & HAMPTON LLP