How can technology give your SME law firm a competitive edge over bigger firms?

Technology can help law firms move towards digital working and away from the paper approach. Some would say this is only for the big law firms, but in today’s world there is affordable and scalable technology for the SME law firms too. Arguably paper is holding SME law firms back from increasing their business efficiency and client services. They should utilise technology that is now available for them; to save costs and compete with larger type firms.

LPM Magazine’s research ‘Paper to Process’ asked their audience what they have done to cut paper from their internal processes, and how they’re trying to digitise their work. They found that 88% of firms agree that they would be more efficient if their work was digitised*. Many lawyers still keep and print hard copies of important documents to organise them into files and matter, making digitising their work seem like a challenge. They may well have started to store some electronic files in a document management system, but this is a key area firms need to improve. In doing this they should no longer need to keep the paper file if it is all stored electronically. However the resistance to keeping the paper file, and hence not doing enough electronic filing, is the constant need to review these documents and ultimately lawyers up until recently have felt more comfortable dealing with paper. There is a change happening and there is technology out there to help. Digitally reviewing multiple documents stored in a document management system is now just as easy, if not easier, than reviewing a paper file.

LPM Magazine* also found that ‘a third of firms keep more than 75% of their paper files on-premise’. Storing files on premise can leave them vulnerable to damage and take up valuable office space, which can be limited for some SMEs. How much of a law firms expensive floor space is taken up by stacks of paper, boxes or filing cabinets. The answer isn’t necessarily to store these files offsite, as there is still an expense related to storing and retrieval, but it is to store them electronically.

The next problem for SME law firms, when storing documents electronically, is making these documents mobile, be that taking them to court or sharing them with clients. Implementing a solution that allows your lawyers to review a whole matter on the move or access individual documents is critical in the less paper process. If you don’t give the lawyers the tools to work with the electronic document they will soon fall back to the paper file and start printing out all those documents you scanned into your DMS. Storing the documents on a secure online file sharing platform, that integrates with your internal document management system, is far more secure than carrying the paper document. In today’s world you cannot risk a lawyer leaving a paper document in the back of a taxi, or run the risk of hacking on a non-secure files sharing platform. Just because you are electronic, doesn’t mean there isn’t a risk however.  being able to set security levels on files, allowing some users to read only, and others to download and keep a full audit trail to see who has downloaded or looked at any files and when it occurred is crucial. Lastly being able to control and remote wipe these documents from a lost or stolen mobile device is key.

So you have scanned your documents, stored them in a document management system, given your users the tools to work with these documents and make them mobile. Far too many firms stop here and think that is the loop closed, but it isn’t. Having a solution to share electronic documents with clients is the final link in the chain and these need to be more than just a file sharing solution. Yes these systems offer the basics, but they are more tailored towards individual document sharing and not collaborating on a whole matter. By collaborating on a matter we mean more than just documents, but financial information, matter knowledge and project time lines and critical dates. Law firms have lots of valuable information pertaining to a client’s matter stored in internal systems, which if they made available to their clients, would significantly increase their client engagement.

Technology can be easier to implement at smaller companies, as there’s less staff to train, so they can make sure that staff is competent with new hardware and software. Consequently SME law firms should take full advantage of affordable technology, as it can attract customers as well as new lawyers. Business is harder to win today than ever, so law firms have to be leading edge with the technology they use in order to retain clients and compete with the bigger firms.

In order to move your users from paper to electronic you need to give them the right tools. These tools need to make working with electronic documents easier than it was with paper.

* LPM Magazine Paper to Process, October 2015 

Is your firm making these collaboration mistakes?

We recently found an interesting article from the Tech Fest Conference ‘The Four Collaboration Mistakes You Need to Stop Making Today’. In this article we have highlighted the points we found most telling and tailored it to the collaboration mistakes law firms are making.  

With so many collaboration tools out there, it is important for law firms to choose the right tool to align with their goals. However, they cannot expect collaboration to simply just happen once they have selected a tool. We explore some of the collaboration mistakes your firm might be making that inhibits the potential to achieve your collaboration goals and make the most of your collaborative tool.

Mistake #1) Using technology to initiate collaboration

One of the biggest mistakes law firms make is using technology to initiate collaboration, before there is already a culture in the firm to encourage lawyers and other employees to collaborate. For a collaborative tool to be advantageous it should enhance collaboration as well as making it easier by minimising geographical distances, and bringing ideas together.

Furthermore, this collaboration culture doesn’t just need to be internal; it can be external with clients too. For example, we have found firms report that their clients want a portal where they can access all information about their matter in one place. If firm’s have this underlying demand already, then it is an appropriate starting point to initiate collaboration. Collaborative tools can provide one centralised space to present up to date information from different systems, keeping everyone (including the client) working on the matter informed with the same data, no matter where they are.

The need to collaborate will lay the way for a successful collaboration tool. Therefore, a firm should already be encouraging their employees to work together, and share ideas internally and externally before implementing any tool.

Mistake #2) Assigning the responsibility of collaboration to one person or department

Another mistake is forgetting that collaboration needs to be a team effort, and assigning the responsibility to one person or department is setting it up for failure.

Law firms should be encouraging everyone working on a matter to collaborate; if only one department is being encouraged to collaborate then others may think it’s not their job. Whilst those assigned to the role of collaboration may only collaborate with others assigned to this role, preventing collaboration on a wider scale. With an increase of mobile working, and law firms opening up offices across the country and the globe, it has become necessary for lawyers in different geographical locations to collaborate, but firms must be encouraging all employees to collaborate for enhanced communications and for a collaboration tool to be a success.

Mistake #3) Not involving key players in collaboration

Collaboration needs to be a team effort; it should be led by key players in the firm to encourage others. Partners need to lead the way in collaboration, if they do not recognise the benefits collaborating and collaboration tools bring, then the project will be at risk of failing. The task should not be left to CIOs or IT Directors, because if there is not support for the collaboration project from lawyers and other employee’s direct manager, then it is likely to sink and fail.  Partners should encourage lawyers and other key players who are working on a matter to utilise the tool.

Mistake #4) Making collaboration compulsory

Collaboration should not be compulsory; you cannot force lawyers to use a collaborative tool, they need to see the clear benefits it will bring. For example, if a client has requested a portal that presents all information about their matter as part of the deal then this is a clear benefit.  It’s beneficial as not only has helped win the client, but also improves the relationship with the client because they can access up to date information about their case whenever they want, which increases trust. In addition, another benefit for law firms is the ease of employees collaborating, sharing resources and ideas no matter where they are geographically. Users can give feedback, and deadlines can be marked clearly, laying out benefits like these will help to show how a collaborative tool will help lawyers personally as well as the law firm as a whole.

Mistake #5) Not organising collaboration

If collaboration is not organised it can lead to a lack of success. Clearly defined goals and what problems you are trying to solve should be coordinated before deciding to use a collaboration tool. However, if you create a clear implementation plan, which involves organising appropriate training, defining what the firm’s goals are and how you will achieve them. If this is organised properly and made clear to everyone at the firm, then the tool will be a success and inspire collaborative work. 

Therefore the things to keep in mind to make your firm’s collaboration tool a success are; already having a company practice encouraging collaboration. Furthermore, firms should not assign the role of collaboration to one person or department; it needs to be a team effort with those at the top leading the way, as well as other key players encouraging it. There needs to be a happy medium so that collaboration is not compulsory but also make sure that employees are organised and supported.

Read Tech Fest’s article; http://www.techfestconf.com/enterprise-collaboration/aus/blog/collaboration-culture/the-four-collaboration-mistakes-you-need-to-stop-making-today/

Why switch from Adobe Acrobat to PDF Pro?

PDF standard has become the legally recognised format for sharing and archiving case information. One of the reasons for this is that; PDF can be viewed across all platforms without change in the document, whereas documents of other formats may alter. Furthermore, for an electronic document to be admissible in court it must be created in a format that can’t be altered without leaving a trail. Consequently PDF is one of the most widely used document formats in legal.   

Therefore it is essential for lawyers and other professionals in the legal industry to have a tool that converts paper into PDFs. Most lawyers will have a PDF application on their desktop, but which PDF tool that it is varies from firm to firm. Here we explain why Nuance PDF Pro is the right solution for law firms.

Enhancing business efficiency           

Nuance PDF Pro, the powerful PDF tool, is the optimal solution for the legal industry. It seamlessly converts paper into PDF, enhancing business efficiency by eliminating the need to manually retype information. Additionally it converts PDFs into documents of an accurate format, so that they are fully editable Microsoft Office documents. Where Adobe Acrobat doesn’t PDF Pro also converts PDF forms into fillable Microsoft Word forms. Furthermore, another area that Adobe Acrobat lets you down in is its inability to convert PDF to XPS and Corel WordPerfect (.wpd). With PDF Pro you can convert a selected area of a page using OCR, to a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, or PDF document, which Adobe Acrobat can’t, making PDF Pro the clear winner in terms of its conversion options.

Speed up productivity further with PDF Pro, as you can create PDFs from any printable PC application, so time and energy is not wasted unnecessarily entering data. As lawyers work with PDFs so frequently, it is important to have a solution that allows you to edit your PDF files, like in a word processor, for example using the PDF Pro Advanced Edit feature. The extras PDF Pro give you in terms of conversion and editing, which enhance efficiency, puts it above Adobe Acrobat.

Security

PDF Pro is ideal for the legal industry because it ensures that confidentiality is never compromised, and the tightest security regulations can be kept to. The security features include; encryption and secure storage, user authentication, redaction and an audit trail that tracks any changes made to the documents.

PDF Pro has increased levels of security compared to Adobe Acrobat converters, for example you can drag and drop security profiles to quickly and easily secure documents. You can also add annotations to documents such as; text boxes, stamps and mark ups etc. or filled form field fixed and permanent, preventing unwanted changes.

Integration

PDF Pro is a fitting choice for firms because of its ability to seamlessly integrate with your DMS, so that all documents converted into PDFs are stored in one central location to streamline work. Furthermore, unlike Adobe Acrobat, PDF Pro allows you to open and save your PDF files to your cloud storage service, using the Nuance Cloud Connector, to make archiving simple. Additionally you can access your documents stored in your chosen cloud platform, enhancing business efficiency, as time is not wasted entering data unnecessarily, with automated conversion of both paper files and PDFs.

Cost

Firms should consider switching to Nuance PDF Pro, because it is the smartest value in PDF software. Its features match Adobe Acrobat, whilst offering compelling extras, such as; more conversion options, additional security and seamless integration with your DMS and cloud service. Therefore PDF Pro should be the obvious choice for firms because of the matching features and its competitive pricing, which means it is considerably cheaper than Adobe.

Why Nikec?

When firms are considering switching to Nuance PDF Pro they need to choose a suitable provider by determining key priorities for the firm. For example Nikec Solutions has been providing solutions to law firms for 19 years, and prides itself in its technical support, making it the optimal supplier of Nuance PDF Pro. 

Next Up, the new event in legal IT

On 23^rd February we attended Next Up, the one day event aimed at mentoring, developing and guiding future leaders of IT in legal. The event was held in London at Tanner Warehouse, and throughout the day we heard from various different speakers, and interactive round tables were held to discuss a variety of topics. Key ideas we took away from the day were about networking, what it takes to be a good leader and how to be a good leader in legal IT.

The day began with a session from Jacqui Thornton, who started things off with networking bingo. This entailed everyone going around and speaking to different people in the room in order to fill in a sheet of statements, finding one person per statement. After this icebreaker Jacqui spoke about the importance of networking and gave us some tips. Key things we took away included; prepare- decide what you’re objectives are and set up follow up meetings, Batari’s box how you think and act affects how the person you’re networking with thinks and acts, and vice versa, 93% of communication is non-verbal, therefore it is important to pay attention to what someone is not saying and react similarly. 

A panel discussion was led by Rupert Collins-White of LSN, and on the panel was Christina Blacklaws of Cripps LLP, Maurice Tunney of Keystone Law, Oliver Morris of Picture More and Moira Slape of Travers Smith, who discussed ‘Climbing the Ladder’.  Key ideas to come from the session were; to be a good leader you should be able to read people, make tough decisions, communicate effectively and engage and influence others. Furthermore, leaders should be passionate about what the people they are trying to lead are passionate about. Another point was that law firms don’t do enough for managerial progress, as daily work gets in the way and leadership is a skill we should be developing regardless of if the employee is a fee earner or not.

Chris White, of Clyde & Co discussed ‘Strategies for Success’ for leaders in legal IT, stating that IT needed to be viewed as a discipline, business needs to be thought about first then technology. Furthermore, when speaking to decision makers, those in IT should talk about the benefits of technology, not the technology itself. He also encouraged future leaders to push the boundaries, and being proactive to work out how you can help the business grow.

Luan de Burgh, of de Burgh group topic was ‘Breaking Through to the Next Level’, he spoke about what it takes to be a good leader;  you need to be likeable so that people will want to do what you say, you need to lead by example and do what you want others to do. He suggested that it is important to be a people developer and provide them with the right tools to develop.  The qualities of a good leader are; the ability to engage others, make decisions, anticipate problems before they happen, find opportunities, be emotionally predictable and be able to praise people. Luan de Burgh stated that leaders should not seek approval; it’s not about your ego, you should put yourself last.

In between the sessions there were interactive round tables, covering the topics; effective communication, better business insight, embracing agile, managing the disconnect between users and systems, security challenges for 2016, monitoring and measuring service availability, and the future of collaboration and mobility. We hosted a table on ‘Effective Communication’, and some really interesting ideas came up. Phil Wood, Head of IT at Bristows, spoke about the pain point they are reaching trying to manage email at the firm. As every email is filed there are duplicates, and the amount of storage space it is taking up is excessive. Law firm’s feel under pressure from clients to move away from email as it’s not secure, and are concerned about security breaches releasing their personal data. Bristows have selected Nikec Hub to help move communications, so clients can securely access on demand information without having to contact the firm. They want to change the company culture and create a better experience for the client, by putting all information in one centralised space.

The event was a great success, and we took away some interesting ideas from the day about leadership and technology. In particular, the conversation around what it takes to be a good IT leader within the legal sector brought out some inspiring ideas, we look forward to attending the next event!

Nikec reviews ILTA’s 2015 Technology Survey and highlights a few common problematic areas for law firms

ILTA’s published their 2015 Technology Survey back in December, which reports the input of 420 firms representing more than 88,000 attorneys and 185,000 users.  In this article we highlight the finds we think are most important, and discuss the solutions to resolve common problems raised in the survey.

Security issues

The survey asked firms what the top 3 technology issues or annoyances are within their firms, security/risk management was at the top of the list with 42%. However, when asked what large file transfer or host file sharing solutions does your firm all or provide to attorneys, Dropbox came in  second with 18%. This is surprising because it is a consumer base solution which does not provide the levels of security that firms need to share sensitive files and confidential data. Firms should be looking for an enterprise solution that provides levels of security appropriate for their law firm’s security policy to resolve the issue of sharing large files.

Mobile Working

ILTA’s survey asked ‘Does your firm provide any firm-owned devices that provide wireless access when travelling while away from the office?’ 21% of firms answered with none or N/A. Additionally, when asked about which hosted file sharing solution their firm uses, 7% answered with none or N/A. In order for people to work remotely, it would be essential to have a file sharing platform agreed to by the firm, to access files the necessary files to work on. This is interesting, as the stats suggest many firms are not encouraging employees to work whilst away from the office. However, more and more people need to work remotely and whilst on the move, with the enhancement of technology to make this easy why are firms not making the most out of this? This indicates that firms are limiting employees by not providing them with the appropriate tools to work whilst away from the office.

Improving Client Relations

Furthermore when asked; ‘Does your firm have an extranet?’ 44% answered none or N/A. As well as providing a space for internal collaboration, an extranet provides a place for clients to access documents and files related to their case. Additionally, along with many firms lacking an extranet 54% do not use any enterprise social networking tool for internal or client communications. Firms do not have the right tools to communicate internally and with clients, whilst out of the office. Firms should look for a tool that will encourage collaboration and enhance communications both internally and externally, to help improve client relations.

Cloud Technologies

ILTA found 51% of firms predict their adoption of cloud-based solutions will increase over the next year. Security is the biggest barrier for firm’s moving technology to the cloud with 44% of the vote, whilst cost comes in second (36%).  Therefore firms should be looking for a cloud-base solution that fits inline with their security regulations, encryption, two factor authentication and audit trails are just some features that they should consider. Moreover, to ensure security protocols are kept to, firms can choose to have data in the cloud hosted by a vendor, or on premise in a data centre run at the firm. With affordable cloud solutions available for firms of all sizes cost should not be considered a barrier. 

ILTA’s survey has brought attention to some of the key issues law firms are facing today, with security at the top of the list. Law firms should look to technology made specifically for them to comply with their strict regulations, rather than using consumer based goods, which could result in breaches. It would be beneficial for firms to encourage mobile working, and provide their employees with the right tools to do so. They also would give themselves a competitive edge by providing clients with a secure tool to communicate and access data on demand, without having to go through the firm. The adoption of cloud-based solutions in law firms is predicted to increase over the year, selecting solutions that provide proper levels security will ensure that this is not a barrier restricting the adoption of cloud-based solutions for firms.