Ian Lopez, Legaltech News
A common theme at this year's
ILTACON: experts are saying that client-vendor collaboration is the future of
legal.
While technology
has had a place in law for years, firms are only now increasingly leveraging it
to address new client expectations. In the case of Corrs Chambers Westgarth,
this trend began around a year ago, pushing the firm's client technology
solutions manager, Jason Jones, to put a business case forward to the firm's leaders.
In the ILTACON
session "Innovating Together: Building Partnerships Between Law Firms,
Clients and Vendors," experts from law firms and a vendor discussed
examples of collaborations for clients and provided some tips around how other
firms and vendors can begin working together to better meet their goals.
In the case of
Corrs Chambers, Jones says the firm began attending client meetings while
bringing clients to the partner meetings to better understand challenges and
develop a stronger relationship. Here, he notes, three things are relevant:
working together and forging relationships; introducing new service models that
rely on technology experts; and generating new revenue.
"Traditional
labor services alignment are becoming inadequate, and clients are looking
toward disruptive technology," he added.
Taking the
vendor angle was Glenn LaForce, Handshake Software executive vice president and
chief strategy officer. He said that over the past eight years, clients of
firms began pushing back on the quality of work.
"Law firms
had to really start to examine the efficiency of how they provide their
services to clients," he said. "This is an instant world and you need
instant results, and this put pressure on firms."
Yet often a
problem arises in that law firms "look at technology as the silver bullet
to deliver information to clients." However, technology for the sake of
technology can "be a recipe for disaster."
This means that
communication becomes key, as it's essential to understand what you're trying
to solve for a client, while knowing the best method of delivery and ensuring
that all sides know how to leverage the solution.
Davis Wright
Tremaine client service and engagement partner Lawton Penn noted it's important
to begin questioning what, in the tech-driven world, feels harder when you go
through your day. What would you love to bring to business leaders? she asked.
Additionally,
for in-house counsel, Penn said, "the most important question is, 'What's
standing in the way to getting you to the strategic work that drew you into
in-house work in the first place?" This, she noted, is changing the way
"we conduct our tasks and think about them."
An example of
this is finding that a "legal answer" doesn't mean a problem is
solved. Instead, providing expert insight from legal requires "bringing
different folks to the table, different kinds of questions and different skill
sets," she said.
"We've come
to realize that the bespoke hourly work is not the beginning to the end,"
she added. Now, it's "part of this bigger ecosystem" while using data
and technology "is causing a shift in the way we think at our firm."
"I think
there are a lot of firms that still think the lawyers and the firm are at the
center of the universe," she said. "And it has to be the
clients."
She also advised
lawyers to be comfortable with the change, and to always remember: They have to
go into this knowing that they're designing "something new that's never
been done before."
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