Peer to Peer Magazine

52 PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | FALL 2016 FEATURES The Industrial Revolution of Legal: From Artist to Cog in the Machine and increasingly complex — at times, comprising hundreds of pages, stipulating what might be onerous provisions regarding how work is delivered, who can do it and which third-party providers can be used. OCGs can also include an intense focus on data security and limitations on access to maers and maer data (i.e., all maers must be locked down to only those who require access to work on them) and what types of costs will be reimbursed, if at all. These are the business processes of the new market. Firms have years of experience on which to draw in order to meet the demands of the new revolution, and that experience already exists in time entries, historical bills, document management systems and any number of legacy systems the firm is running. The problem many firms face is that legacy systems were not architected for today's challenges, and pulling the necessary information into actionable intelligence oen proves too cumbersome and time-consuming to manage. OCGs are a prime example of this difficulty, as each includes a unique set of conditions that firms have lile ability to capture, correlate and track beyond what oen ends up in billers' notes — and yet payment is contingent upon contractual compliance. The Right Service Level at the Right Price Here we are in the industrial revolution of the legal profession: law firms are merely one cog in the commerce of legal, and lawyers are the primary producers of the product in a market mix of alternative service providers, downward pressure on fees and unilaterally imposed complex contractual agreements. Firms are tasked to deliver the right service level to their clients — allocating resources appropriately at a price this new market will bear, while still maintaining profitability. Lawyers are tasked with taking the ball over the goal line, which means monitoring their maers to ensure nothing goes out of scope. This is where OCGs and their exported billers' notes become more than just cumbersome provisions — if the lawyer is not directly engaged with the contractual stipulations that affect payment, it can result in write-offs and write- downs up to 40 percent of the time (according to the Altman Weil survey). Innovative firms are implementing structured processes such as legal project management (LPM) to beer manage workflows. However, LPM means different things to different firms based on a varying mix of capability, maturity and cultural challenges within the firm. The goal: to place more structure on the delivery of legal services. As the producers of legal services, lawyers need to be not only inspired by LPM but encouraged to implement structured processes. As pricing discussions occur and clients increasingly desire to be involved in the ongoing financial health of their maers, it isn't feasible for lawyers to wait for teams of administrative experts to collect the right data from disparate legacy systems and assemble the information into a consumable fashion. A consumable version must be at the lawyer's fingertips so those client discussions can happen fluidly. This is where the true value of well-integrated technology comes into play. Firms that understand the new reality and want to gradually and successfully implement processes to accommodate it need intuitive systems designed for lawyers to understand. Partners, especially, need to be more engaged with such technology as their roles have shied from being timekeepers to managers — maer managers and project managers. Systems must be intuitive yet simplistic and provide powerful, real-time information and integrated workflows to both enable and encourage lawyers to use them in order to implement a more structured approach to the delivery of legal work. Lawyers are no longer the artists who can generate unique works and name their price, leaving back-office teams to bill clients for the lawyers' perceived value. They are now part of a larger assembly line — one that incorporates structured processes and relies on efficient technology to ensure its optimal performance and delivery. P2P The World Has Changed for Law Firms The sources referenced in this article brought to light some interesting data about how the world has changed for law firms. • The Am Law 100 recorded near flat growth • 37% of all legal departments increased in-house staff in 2015 and 40% decreased outside counsel spend • Procurement is on the rise, managing: » 86% of routine legal services purchases » 64% of so-called "bread-and-butter" work » 45% of high-end legal services • AFAs have grown to 37% of total legal spend • Discounts account for up to 40% of total fees Firms that redesign their models to better respond to the changing demands and expectations of their clients will have a substantial competitive advantage and long-term sustainability.

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