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In the law department, workflow defines efficiency, collaboration and productivity. Every task has an associated workflow with steps to accomplish the end result. How is a legal workflow defined, and what is a legal workflow designed to do? Beyond defining a legal workflow, selecting the right technology to automate legal workflow is part of the overall success of making law departments more efficient. In this post, we look at the benefit of creating workflows to the legal department that help legal operations run more efficiently.
To define a legal workflow, imagine a structured sequence of steps that a legal team follows to complete a process. Each of these processes has a built-in system of automated steps that make repetitive tasks more efficient. Examples include client intake and triage, document review, invoice and billing guidelines, contracts, and matters. These examples have repetitive steps in their workflows. The goal of a legal workflow is to optimize and automate steps in a process to make work more efficient.
Also important is to ensure that legal workflows are compliant with regulatory issues, and consistent and accurate in legal matters. Building and incorporating a workflow helps outside counsel collaborate with the corporate legal team. This ensures communication, facilitation of deadlines, ensuring accurate completion of each task by all parties, and the ability to keep management and leadership informed about the status of projects.
Legal workflows can be simple or complex, depending on the associated task. A standard contract without intricate terms or conditions is simple; whereas, managing litigation with multiple parties and deadlines is much more complex.
When multiple parties work on a task and workflow is unstructured, this creates chaotic collaboration. Deadlines are missed, and often inaccuracies lead to compliance issues. Putting a legal workflow in place helps organize and automate mundane tasks that every project requires.
Optimization and team management are other reasons for establishing workflows. Outside counsel teams pose management challenges, so having a systematic workflow to manage outside counsel makes collaboration more efficient. Many other systems and project pathways in the legal department can be automated with workflow optimization. Enterprise legal management technology is the preferred solution to help do that.
Until a workflow is developed, teams continue working with manual systems. They don't realize that an automated workflow optimizes how work gets done. Once new systems are created, legal teams realize greater efficiency in fewer steps with enhanced productivity. Here are basic examples of legal workflows in the law department that create enhanced collaboration and efficiency:
Legal operations professionals create processes for the legal department. Developing legal workflows and automating repetitive tasks often fall under the responsibility of legal ops.
Selecting the right software to automate these department workflows is critical to creating efficiencies, collaboration and streamlined work.
LexisNexis CounselLink+, an enterprise legal management software, automates tasks in customized dashboards. CounselLink includes a professional services team and strategic consulting team to assist those in the legal department with developing processes, structure, tasks, roles, and more.
CounselLink+ integrates contract lifecycle management and matter management into a single unified dashboard. This is where workflow automations create the highest efficiency and productivity. Contracts integrate with respective matters, which saves time for the legal team. Contact CounselLink to learn more about legal workflows.
AI, delivered by LexisNexis, is incorporated in the CounselLink+ ELM software. Financial management benefits with AI-powered billing tools, called SmartReview. AI in matter management helps with matter summarization, which is a critical component to creating workflow efficiencies. To see how CounselLink+ systemizes the law department, schedule a demo.
What is a legal workflow? Too many professionals working in a law department or law firm may not even understand how a workflow helps create efficiency. Tasks are completed whether manual or automated. Once a workflow is added within a process, and a paralegal accomplishes work more efficiently, they realize that work is being optimized whether with AI or automation.
We define legal workflow, why it’s necessary, provide examples, and look at enterprise legal management software, like LexisNexis CounselLink, that helps develop legal workflows in the law department.