The Blickstein Group’s Law Department Operations Survey revealed that professional services firms struggle when it comes to cost containment, managing budgets, and managing service requirements such as outside counsel guidelines (OCGs) and alternative fee arrangements (AFAs). Many firms lack the proper AI-based integrated technology to improve service delivery, which can lead to a loss of clients and a decrease in firm profitability.
“As legal services are being delivered, the ability to readily access information — including budget plans and actual budget activity — is very challenging in the manual environment,” said Jill Nelson, Senior Director of Growth for Operations & Finance at Intapp.
Discover how your firm can improve its matter lifecycle automation and how AI-based technology can help your professionals access the data they need to provide the best possible service to clients.
Communicate with Clients
When examining your firm’s processes, you must ensure that your professionals and clients can easily and clearly communicate with one another from the very beginning of the matter lifecycle. Sharon Scenna, Senior Director of Solutions Management for Intapp Operations & Finance at Intapp, provided seven key actions law firms should take when adjusting their processes to improve service delivery.
- Understand the client’s business goals and objectives, success metrics, and budget expectations
- Develop an agreed-upon budget and matter plan with the client and ensure you both fully understand and agree to the scope of the project
- Ensure the matter, fee arrangement, and budget details are properly setup to enable efficient time entry, monitoring, and tracking
- Establish a process to communicate both the budget work plan and the scope of work to the service team; if possible, involve the client
- Communicate regularly with your internal teams and review the status of the planned budget compared to actual expenses; share similar key reports with external stakeholders
- Keep clients informed of progress and immediately raise any concerns that may change the scope of work, extend the project, or create other key changes with the client, then promote proactive course correction
- Address client requirements, including compliance with OCGs, throughout the engagement
Firms must ensure that their teams and their clients know what’s expected from all parties and agree how to proceed. Above all, firms must communicate the value they bring to clients.
“You have to remind the client how your firm provides value and helps resolve their legal issues,” explained Scenna. “Leveraging unique knowledge of the client or industry can provide cost efficiencies the client may overlook since value is not easily quantified.”
Deliver Better Service with Intapp Operations & Finance
Firms should also consider replacing their time-consuming, manual processes with AI-driven integrated solutions built for purpose to improve and enhance matter management. Many firms looking to improve their business processes that center around service delivery turn to Intapp Operations & Finance, an Intapp cloud suite. Intapp Operations & Finance stores and analyzes historical data and past engagements, and provides professionals the insights they need to easily determine a reasonable budget plan to achieve firm profitability. The software also sends alerts about the budget, matter activity, and other key factors.
“These notifications allow lawyers or legal project management (LPM) teams to be more proactive and have greater visibility into matter progress,” said Nelson. Lawyers and LPM teams can ensure they keep all engagements on track, and they can make any necessary course corrections earlier and more efficiently.
Additionally, firms can use Intapp Operations & Finance to help comply with regulatory requirements. “For example, Intapp Operations & Finance now helps firms comply with Precedent H, the U.K.’s cost budget requirements for civil litigation matters,” said Scenna.
Understand the Value of Intapp Technology
Fredrikson & Byron, a leading Midwest law firm, is just one of many firms experiencing the benefits of using Intapp solutions and the AI technology embedded across the solutions. One of the Intapp solutions in place at the firm is Intapp Pricing, part of the Intapp Operations & Finance suite. Intapp Pricing allows the firm to scale the automation of estimates, improve accuracy, and monitor budgets. As a result, the firm has built competitive advantage through an elevated level of client service and value.
“It was the reliability and ease of use that was most helpful to me and others,” said Christina Brusven, Lawyer and Shareholder at Fredrikson & Byron. “We can quote with confidence both quickly and accurately.”
Read the Fredrikson & Byron case study to learn about the full impact of the firm’s implementation of Intapp technology.
Learn more about using AI-based technology to increase client satisfaction and firm profitability:
- Download our ebook, Power Pricing in the Age of AI
- Take our Profitable Delivery Self-Assessment