Peer to Peer Magazine

68 PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | SUMMER 2017 ILTA's Strategic Relationship with Thomson Reuters Elite ILTA's Strategic Relationship with Thomson Reuters Elite MEMBER RESOURCES What are the biggest challenges facing law firms in the near future? One big challenge for law firms is how to address the pressure to evolve and quickly adapt to changes requested by their clients. To make these transitions successful, firms must up their game regarding engaging clients differently while delivering cost-effective work products. This is not a new challenge, but one we see growing in importance, with much of the pressure from legal clients ending up on the shoulders of lawyers. Firms are pushing lawyers not only to deliver the best legal services but also to deliver that value in the most cost-effective way possible while staying on top of maer issues, client questions and maer status. Further, they must do more with less, with greater transparency and efficiency, to guarantee that clients receive the excellent service they demand. Finally, in this new world, firms must be able to articulate the value they bring to clients, be able to prove and monitor this value internally, and ensure that they consistently deliver value across practice areas and different client industries. Why should law firms be hyper-focused on customer experience, and what has changed in the workplace to make this so important now? The push from legal clients for more transparency, alternative fee arrangements, increased responsiveness and proactive business arrangements has forced firms to rediscover their processes and determine where they are in need of updating. Because of technology, lawyers should expect that clients have as much information as they have, or even more, regarding how the legal services are provided. This means lawyers must build on their roles as trusted advisors, offer more transparency, respond at any given time to client issues and be more engaged with clients in this modern, technology-linked world. To meet client expectations, lawyers must project self-sufficiency, allow open lines of communication and deliver on value as defined by the client. They need to be armed with all that technology has to offer, so they instantly have the tools and utilities needed when working with clients. In addition, to meet firm business objectives, lawyers must be involved in the business operations and practices that ultimately affect their firms' performance. What is Elite doing to help lawyers improve the customer experience? We have a strong emphasis on helping lawyers do their jobs. For instance, 3E Workspace helps lawyers work in every possible environment, whether it's in the office or on their mobile devices. What we call "The Lawyer Experience" is our way of highlighting these capabilities, of demonstrating that we have what it takes to help them be a beer partner, lawyer and client advocate. We are saying to law firms and their lawyers: "Wherever you need to operate, whatever you need to do, we have the capabilities to help you do it." How can ILTA members learn more about The Lawyer Experience? We encourage any interested ILTA members to contact our account executives or representatives with questions by calling 1-800-977-6529 or filling out an information request form at hp://www. elite.com/ebms. Elite will also be at ILTACON 2017 in August, so aendees can look us up then as well. We welcome questions any time! P2P Justin Farmer Senior Director of Product Management Thomson Reuters Elite Strategic Relationship Liaison Tracy Franklin Systems Analyst at Perkins Coie LLP Strategic Vendor Liaison Greg Brown Manager of Thomson Reuters Elite Global Strategic Alliances Program Learn more about ILTA's Strategic Relationship Liaisons at www.iltanet.org/about/ilta-srls.

• Cover