The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/34686
“We needed to not lose sight of the increased need to attract and retain clients.” Norm: Natalie, can you provide some more detail? Natalie: Well, we’ve touched on some of it already — workflow, project management and the like. A key step for us was finding ways to better measure the true effort and the total cost and time of executing each matter. And we focused our business systems ecosystem around tasks and activities. Ultimately, what we learned from this gave us the power and insight to create new packaged and innovative services offerings. In some instances we even leveraged technology to enable client self- service as a way to develop closer relationships and business while further differentiating ourselves in the market. At the same time, our IT investments in a master data management initiative and our use of an effective software integration platform gave us the freedom to pursue a best- of-breed application strategy. We were able to effectively connect people, information and processes regardless of the specific applications we were using at any particularly time. This integration platform was especially important as applications began moving to the cloud, and today, enables us to consider what the new Ether model might do for us. Norm: As we move on to Tenacity, I was just thinking about our joint discussions and work on your technology strategy earlier in the decade. You really challenged your software vendors to keep up and support your automation, integration and matter disaggregation and measurement efforts. What was that experience like? Natalie: I just touched on our data and integration efforts in terms of software strategy. We worked closely with a few key partners to streamline our business processes and collect and present a broader set of accurate business information internally. Along the way, we had to do a bit of vendor education around open data standards. On the tenacity front, we adopted a policy of “zero tolerance” for vendor shenanigans. 114 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer Thankfully, most were customer-focused and were already responding to the need to support this integrated future, but early in the decade, we had one in particular that repeatedly tried to lock down our firm’s own business information by adding application-level encryption and even removed API functionality when they “upgraded” our system. We decided that if a vendor wasn’t willing to give us true choice and control, we would choose other partners to work with who put our interests first. Norm: Okay, so you’ve all touched on the history and process side, can you talk about the role of equity value? Regina: One of the ways our management team aligned the firm was by adopting some corporate elements. As we focused on growth, we took a fresh look at our internal investment strategy and successfully realigned our approach. Once we proved you could leave a dollar in today to produce two tomorrow, it made perfect business sense. Michael: And we created shared incentives across the firm as part of this. Regina: Right. We put structures in place that gave everyone a shared interest in the overall performance of the firm. We had no illusions about the clear distinction between partner/owners and staff, but incentives that rewarded team commitment, execution and success over the long term had a big motivational impact. Norm: In the transition from Franklin Peters LLP to LawFirm Inc., you were one of the first and few who took advantage of access to outside investment when it became an option for U.S. firms in 2016. Why is that?