How Gilbert + Tobin supports productivity with Intapp Time

Gilbert + Tobin, 2017 Australian Law Firm of the Year, is Australia’s leading independent law firm, advising clients on their most significant corporate transactions and disputes. From its Sydney, Melbourne and Perth offices, Gilbert + Tobin provides commercial and innovative legal solutions for ASX 100 leading companies, major infrastructure and services providers as well as government and public authorities across Australia and around the world.

Innovation with Intapp Time

Innovation is part of Gilbert + Tobin’s DNA and key to the firm’s future growth strategy and vision to transform legal service delivery in Australia. For instance, Gilbert + Tobin was one of the first firms to offer Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFAs) in Australia. The firm has also invested in LegalVision, a technology startup that aims to disrupt the legal market, and provide its lawyers with training in computer programming and emerging technologies. The firm’s focus on innovation enables it to work together with its clients in exploring how technology can help streamline processes and free up lawyer time to focus on value adding client service and advice.

Gilbert + Tobin needed a solution to enable their lawyers to easily and efficiently capture and log billable time on the go, whether on their phones or laptops. The firm also required a solution that had the ability to integrate with their existing IT infrastructure and prompt lawyers to capture their time-based work activity, for example accessing a document from the firm’s document management system, making a call or replying to an email.

As a result, Gilbert + Tobin selected Intapp Time to enhance their suite of mobile-working tools. Intapp Time features a user-friendly and intuitive user interface that allows lawyers to enter time online or offline, caching time entries for synchronization when they reconnect to the network. Prompt time entry helps the firm to meet work-in-progress (WIP) reporting requirements and improves billing management.

Now several years after implementation, Intapp Time has made a significant difference to the firm’s time entry process and the productivity of its lawyers.

“For example, we had a lawyer who took a weekend client call and didn’t record the time. Intapp Time provided a subsequent and valuable reminder of the event,” recounts Dowell.

Many of our people have told us Intapp Time has given them back time previously spent logging unbillable hours, allowing them to focus on delivering client work and importantly helping remind them to enter billable hours that may have previously slipped through the cracks.

GEOFF DOWELL, HEAD OF BUSINESS SYSTEMS, GILBERT + TOBIN

Keeping systems in sync with Intapp Integrate

Gilbert + Tobin’s first exposure to Intapp Integrate was through its Intapp Time implementation. “Intapp Integrate was vital to the success of our Intapp Time deployment, connecting document management, phone, emails, and other systems to Time for passive time capture,” acknowledges Dowell.

Dowell recognized how easy it was to develop integrations with Intapp Integrate, and how smoothly it operated. “With Intapp Integrate, we saw so many use cases to connect our existing systems and processes,” As a result we expanded our license and Intapp Integrate now provides the connection layer for the firm’s applications and systems.”

Gilbert + Tobin quickly built a multitude of integrations, supporting such processes as keeping matter and performance information loaded into its CRM system, Active Directory integration, updating the employee location map, and modernizing procurement. “Intapp Integrate was a big part of refining our procurement processes,” highlights Dowell, “Our small team in finance spends less time entering data and more time working on higher valueadd activities.”

“Intapp Integrate also makes all of our administrative teams much more productive. Also, the low code platform helped our IT teams spend more time solving problems and less time coding.”

Executive Summary

Gilbert + Tobin, a leading independent Australian corporate law firm, made the decision to move to Intapp Time for time recording ahead of upgrading its financial management system.

Challenges

  • Mobile time recording was not well supported in its existing financial management system
  • The firm’s financial management system itself was due for an upgrade
  • Many operational processes within the firm required automation but key systems within the firm were not connected

Results with Intapp

  • By using Intapp Time as part of its upgrade strategy, Gilbert + Tobin reduced the overall risk for the upgrade of its financial management system
  • Intapp Integrate forms the backbone of integration platform for the firm’s CRM, Active Directory, and procurement systems and processes
  • Finance team spends less time entering data and more time working on higher value activities
  • IT team spends less time coding and more time solving problems

Our small team in finance spends less time entering data and more time working on higher value-add activities.

GEOFF DOWELL, HEAD OF BUSINESS SYSTEMS, GILBERT + TOBIN