The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/34686
“Agile firms demonstrate the ability to communicate and compete more effectively using fact-based decision making.” The first step in evaluating each key capability is determining the firm’s level of execution and how the next level of higher performance can be reached. Intelligent Solutions for Greater Agility The development of the five capabilities outlined above can be greatly enhanced through the use of “intelligent solutions” — a combination of information, technology and services. The key is identifying how to develop these capabilities, determining the appropriate mix of information, technology and services to support development, and then knowing how, when and where to apply them. The previously mentioned Thomson Reuters survey of law firm leaders found that 81 percent of firms expect to see an increase in investments to make their practices more efficient. Such investments can pay enormous dividends in helping firms compete in a more challenging and complex legal services environment. Firm Strategy and Governance Today’s modern, cutting-edge law firm can often have thousands of attorneys scattered across offices in dozens of countries, generating more than a billion dollars in annual revenues. The rapidly expanding scale and reach of law firms often demands new business models for effective global management. The traditional law firm governance model is challenged as firms need to make better, faster decisions across the globe. Agile firms demonstrate the ability to communicate and compete more effectively using fact-based decision making. They blend the best aspects of the partnership model with the ability to align decisions up, down and across the firm using tools and information. Agile firms also utilize outside expertise and information more readily, which helps leverage best practices in these fast- changing areas. Faster, more flexible strategizing helps firms focus on what should be the core competency of every firm: the practice of law. 74 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer Business Development/Client and Industry Intelligence Clients are consolidating their legal spend and reducing the number of outside counsel they use. As a result, competition for clients is intensifying, and effective client management is becoming more critical every day. Business intelligence is an increasingly vital instrument for analyzing, tracking and reporting financial, client and matter data to support more effective decision making. One example is the surge in SharePoint-based applications creating an array of portals, dashboards, intranets and other information streams that can streamline operations, create processes, manage workflows and inform decision making. Other intelligent analytics can deepen a firm’s relationship with its existing clients. This can grow a firm’s revenues by capturing additional business from the same client, and stabilize the business by solidifying long-term client relationships. New generations of relationship management and competitive intelligence applications, for instance, can yield valuable insight into client relationships. They generate detailed analyses mapping the relationships between the firm and its clients. This can often reveal who has the strongest relationships, as well as useful connections that may not have been previously apparent. For example, it’s not uncommon for firms to find that their attorneys may have had previous working relationships with key client contacts dating from when one or both parties worked in previous positions. Similarly, competitive and industry intelligence can provide a comprehensive view of a client’s legal spend relative to other firms by showing legal work that may be available in other parts of the client organization or involving other practice areas, and which competitors are currently handling that work. The most agile firms blend tools, partner knowledge and platform integration to deliver client information within the existing workflows of partners and associates. These firms reap significant benefits and improve their capture of both new clients and more work from existing clients. click here to listen to the accompanying podcast