Use this button to switch between dark and light mode.

ELM Solutions Transform Legal Departments

January 14, 2025 (4 min read)
Lawyer typing on laptop using ELM solutions for matter management, legal spend management, contract lifecycle management, and other legal software applications.

ELM solutions in the corporate legal department are gaining critical entry into global corporations. As a necessary foundation for efficient legal operations workflow, ELM solutions provide an integrated platform for the various functions that in-house lawyers and legal operations teams require. 

What Does ELM Stand For?

In corporate legal operations, ELM stands for enterprise legal management. Broadly, enterprise legal management software is a foundational technology that creates operational efficiency for in-house lawyers and operations teams. Within the ELM platform are financial applications and e-billing; matter management; contract lifecycle management; vendor relationship management; legal intake and workflow; analytical reporting; and various other critical tasks.

In the legal department, the roles and responsibilities of the chief legal officer and general counsel are expanding to other areas within the corporation. There is greater expectation for the law department to function like a well-oiled machine. To do that, ELM solutions provide that bottom-line layer of technology that connects disparate applications into one unified workspace.

What is Enterprise Legal Management?

Enterprise legal management supports critical components in the delivery of in-house legal services and managing external influences. Primarily, this legal software integrates matter management, legal spend and financial management, vendor management, contract lifecycle management, analytics, work intake, and much more. 

  • Matter management is the focal point of ELM software. Each matter opened by the legal team is handled directly within the ELM platform. In particular, the matter life cycle is complemented with document management, budgeting, uploading of vendor timekeepers, tracking matter status, and assigning tasks to respective team members.
  • Matter financials beyond budgeting that may include tracking invoices in real-time, to ensure accurate timekeeping and invoicing, legal spend management from firm to firm, the ability to benchmark performance with key performance indicators and metrics, and more detailed financial metrics.
  • Analytical reporting about matter status and duration of matters, assessment of vendor performance as it relates to established metrics, determination with a side-by-side comparison of vendor budgets based on various metrics e.g., geographic, by practice area, or size of firm.
  • Legal spend management requires advanced ELM software.
  • E-billing solutions wrap into the ELM software. This provides legal operations and in-house teams with ability to track real-time matter budgets, monitor legal spend, analyze other costs, and provide analytical reporting to leadership at any time. Invoicing is automatic with e-billing software that conforms with billing guidelines. Vendors uploading invoices know to comply with a client’s billing requirements by following the rules set by legal operations.
  • Most critically, ELM software provides actionable insights about vendors. The law firms hired by the in-house legal team may, on occasion, require a performance review. Legal spend management directly correlates with outside counsel fees, timekeeper tracking, matter budgets, alternative fees, invoice accuracy, payment schedules, and more.

Contract Lifecycle Management Integrates with ELM Software

In the legal sector, contract lifecycle management (CLM) integrates on the same platform as enterprise legal management software, especially the more robust platforms. This creates efficiencies and workflow automation for legal teams to more effectively manage matters, documents, contracts, cases, and more.

The CLM / ELM application links contracts with matters. Lawyers can save time by having all critical documents in one easily accessible dashboard. Essentially, CLM software automates each phase of the contract lifecycle from drafting the initial document, review and negotiation to approval, signature and execution of the final document.

CLM solutions put every contract into a central repository. Active and inactive documents can be stored in the cloud for easy access and reference.

Contract templates are usable for future drafting. When legal operations use advanced enterprise legal management software, templates are available to draft future contracts. These templates are available for each practice area.

Legal Work Intake a Critical Feature of ELM Software

As in-house lawyers are sought after for additional duties beyond their immediate roles within the legal department and talent is at a premium, a critical aspect of enterprise legal management software is the legal work intake feature.

Advanced ELM solutions have an AI-powered legal assistant that operates within the Microsoft 365 environment. A self-serve option within the ELM dashboard is available for business unit stakeholders who frequently ask for legal support. Answers, links and legal resources are culled from a company’s database of policies, procedures and general legal information. When questions are posed in the dashboard, the AI legal assistant provides these answers automatically using a Teams application. Depending on the type of questions, the legal team can develop answers to supplement the resource library. This feature helps automate work intake and workflow while reducing the time lawyers need to field answers to business units.

ELM Solutions Enhance Reporting and Analysis

Another critical luxury of ELM solutions is the enhanced reporting and analysis obtained from the various applications within the platform. In particular, understanding the status of legal spend at any time during a matter allows strategic decision-making. The data provided create transparency in the cost-cutting arena to improve bottom-line budget management.

These reports are not only valuable to legal operations managers but also to the chief legal officer, the finance team and others at the helm of corporate leadership. Forecasting legal spend in the dark is, obviously, impossible. ELM solutions provide the opportunity to improve and strategically determine and anticipate expected legal expenses.

Enterprise legal management software has many benefits and advantages in the corporate legal department. Vendors and outside counsel also benefit from ELM solutions with enhanced collaboration, streamlined billing, document management, case management, and overall improvement in the client relationship. Speak with us to learn how to take advantage of this advanced software.