The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/448505
IT STARTED WITH CORPORATE MERGERS To thrive in the face of these challenges, many firms have turned to mergers and acquisitions as a means to transform their culture, technologies, practices and client connectivity. However, starting in the early 1980s, it was corporations that entered into an era of massive technology-driven expansion. This generated major revenue opportunities for large law firms.Merging corporations were diligently focused on delivering shareholder value through continuous revenue growth and increased profitability. To accomplish this, they invested heavily in technology and continuous improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma, Lean and kaizen, which facilitated the rationalization of resources and market execution. This period of corporate M&A activity created unprecedented growth for the legal industry, as capacity grew to meet demand. Both corporations and law firms rode this wave of expansion for almost 30 years — right up to the Great Recession. Post-recession, however, corporate growth and productivity — and thus the demand for outside counsel — have flatlined. Today, corporations are striving to be lean and productive, and they are implementing new technologies to support these growing efforts. These factors, along with a surplus in capacity, have led us to witness the transformation of legal services from a seller's market to a buyer's market. Predictably, these market pressures have led to a new round of merger activity within the legal services sector. As firms struggle to gain the efficiency needed to cost-effectively support a global customer base and compete globally against peer firms, others are finding advantages in scale. NAVIGATING DIFFICULT TERRAIN Once a merger or acquisition is confirmed in the legal community, the firms face three key connectivity challenges: PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 30 CHALLENGE ONE CLIENT AND EMPLOYEE CONNECTIVITY Law firms undergo mergers to achieve the goals of driving additional revenue, improving profitability and increasing their total number of client relationships. However, poor merger planning and execution can lead to a decrease in client service and an overall deterioration of hard-earned relationships. Some law firms have learned the hard way that "more" isn't always better for clients. If a firm is not successfully structured post-merger, they will not be able to properly service their new or existing client relationships. Key to this is creating an effective intake and conflict process that connects the collective experience of the firm FEATURES And it's all powered by our SQL Contact BEC Legal for a demonstration. Client/Matter Scheduling from Outlook — is it really that easy? BEC Schedule Express provides client/matter scheduling directly from the Outlook calendar. BEC Docket Enterprise backs it up with centralized controls for distribution, reminders, reports and rules-based docketing. • Client and employee connectivity • Process connectivity • Analytics connectivity