How Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner enables matter-centric work with Intapp Workspaces

Enabling real-time, matter-centric collaboration

First and foremost, BCLP wanted Microsoft Teams to support the unique ways that lawyers work — particularly with regards to matter-centric collaboration.

“When we brought Teams into BCLP, we were already thinking about how to make it work the way our lawyers work already. It needed to fit it into their workflows,” said Saylor. “Our work is organized around matters, but Teams is not structured quite the same way out of the box. Plus, we already have systems in place — like iManage, our document management system — that we needed Teams to integrate with.

The firm began exploring third-party firm software solutions that would solve those needs, as well as enable efficient, real-time collaboration — a key modern capability needed to save valuable hours and improve both the lawyer and client experiences.

To guide the firm through the selection process, BCLP’s purchasing committee performed extensive due diligence, including software demonstrations, technical reviews, and detailed presentations. They were also able to see first-hand how Intapp Workspaces could integrate into their existing systems, such as iManage, which can be utilized via the Intapp Workspaces content connector.

In the end, BLCP chose Intapp Workspaces as the most complete, sophisticated, and future-proof solution, with an interface familiar to both in-house professionals and clients.

Dan Surowiec, Global Chief Information Officer of BCLP, further explained, “We selected Intapp Workspaces to ensure we could effectively deploy Teams in a way that will enable and enhance collaboration, but also applies the right governance, integrations, and law firm user experience.”

Supporting modern ways of working

The BCLP team had another key objective with their implementation of Intapp Workspaces: to provide all their employees with intuitive, modern technology that also supports remote, hybrid, and globally dispersed teams.

“One of our IT department’s goals is to make it easy for people to work how they want to work,” said Saylor — and for today’s busy professionals, that often means using a cloud-based app on a mobile device. “Our firm’s lawyers find [Intapp] Workspaces convenient because they can access it from anywhere. Whether working from phone or their computer, they can easily stay in touch and collaborate with the matter teams.”

The power of Microsoft Teams, combined with Intapp Workspaces, also helps new associates and other junior staffers get up to speed quickly and efficiently — especially now that remote and hybrid work are the new norms. “If a new person starts working on a matter, they’re able to read an existing story in the team,” said Saylor. The functionality of Intapp Workspaces enables a new associate to read through all the posts and associated documentation of a matter and be thoroughly well versed in the details in mere hours, not days. “There’s something to be said about having conversations and other information gathered in one place for review,” said Saylor.

Maintaining security and governance standards 

For leaders at BLCP, it’s critical that they uphold security and governance standards even as they enable greater flexibility, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. “Because we’re a law firm, we can’t just make it easy to work. We also need to meet compliance and regulatory obligations,” said Saylor.  

“With Intapp Workspaces, we are able to bring our existing information barrier protections to the Teams environment,” said Saylor.

Because Workspaces doesn’t allow practitioners to add members to a team who aren’t included within confidentiality walls, firms are able to secure private information and maintain compliance standards, even when working from the cloud. “We’re able to provide an online environment where lawyers don’t have to be experts in Teams to feel confident while they use it,” said Saylor.