In these days of economic recession, many businesses are looking for ways to do more with less. Legal departments are no exception. As austerity becomes the norm, legal departments may have to do even more with less. How can technology help?
Making Legal Departments More Efficient And Productive
You can now automate document reviews, quickly find precedent cases, and search through millions of records in a fraction of the time — all with the help of technology. Such advances help lawyers and paralegals do more work in less time.
While some legal departments are already using technology to their advantage, there is still growth potential.
Reducing Costs And Expenses Associated With Running A Corporate Law Practice
Companies can save thousands in paper expenses while maintaining data security by switching to cloud-based document storage systems. Similarly, applications such as video conferencing can help to reduce the costs of travel.
During this period of economic uncertainty, companies need to be more mindful of their spending, which can sometimes entail more significant investment in technology.
Keeping Legal Departments Organized And On Top Of Their Workloads
With task management software, lawyers and paralegals can easily keep track of deadlines, document reviews, and other tasks on one easy-to-use dashboard. This streamlined approach to complex processes reduces stress, increases productivity, and ensures that nothing slips through the cracks.
Even though there are many task management solutions available, it is essential to research the one that best suits the needs of your legal department.
Improving Collaboration Between Lawyers, Paralegals, And Other Legal Professionals
By utilizing web-based collaborative tools such as wikis or Google Docs, teams can easily share documents and collaborate on legal issues. This streamlines the workflow and ensures that everyone is on the same page.
Since these tools are also cloud-based, they can reduce the need for in-person meetings and conference calls. The tools also enable legal departments to tap into their teams’ collective knowledge instead of relying on personal knowledge.
Improving Legal Departments’ Client Relationships
By utilizing customer relationship management software, lawyers can quickly access all the information they need about their clients in one place. This makes it easier to keep track of ongoing cases, exchange information with clients, and ensure that all questions are answered promptly.
Conclusion
All in all, technology can be incredibly useful for legal departments looking to do more with less. By taking advantage of technological advances, legal departments can increase efficiency, reduce costs, stay organized, collaborate better, and improve client relationships while maintaining the highest standards of excellence.
The bottom line is that technology can be an invaluable asset to legal departments, helping them make the most of their resources, and succeed in facing adversity.
Olga V. Mack is the VP at LexisNexis and CEO of Parley Pro, a next-generation contract management company that has pioneered online negotiation technology. Olga embraces legal innovation and had dedicated her career to improving and shaping the future of law. She is convinced that the legal profession will emerge even stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive than before by embracing technology. Olga is also an award-winning general counsel, operations professional, startup advisor, public speaker, adjunct professor, and entrepreneur. She founded the Women Serve on Boards movement that advocates for women to participate on corporate boards of Fortune 500 companies. She authored Get on Board: Earning Your Ticket to a Corporate Board Seat, Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security, and Blockchain Value: Transforming Business Models, Society, and Communities. She is working on Visual IQ for Lawyers, her next book (ABA 2023). You can follow Olga on Twitter @olgavmack.