law firm and tech experts grapple with the numbers and discuss: how to harness data for added value

How can law firms leverage data for actionable insights? How do legal businesses structure their data-gathering and cleansing processes? Who should own and drive the collection of data and how can departments work together for firm-wide benefit?

These are some of the questions Briefing asked our panel of data gurus in our latest webcast, held on 29 June 2021, and available for viewing now. Our speakers included:

• Sadie Baron, chief marketing officer, Reed Smith
• Bob Hetherington, partner and head of management information, Weightmans
• Vincent Perrin, regional vice president for professional services, Salesforce
• Chaired by Richard Brent, editor-in-chief, Briefing

Back to basics

With data-rich repositories of knowledge considered by many to be the ‘new oil’, waiting to be tapped, processed and refined, how can this valuable commodity be used to generate value for clients – and, if they’re not careful, might firms end up drowning in data?

The first step is getting data centralised, said Hetherington – at Weightmans, that has meant developing a single source of truth and having practice management, case management, finance, HR and client relationship management systems feeding into a single data warehouse. 

But it’s not all about technology. Sadie Baron added that partners particularly could be prickly when it came to sharing contact and client information – but said adopting a data-sharing mindset is essential to a modern law firm’s functioning and its power to develop clients: “Everybody in the firm needs to understand we’re actually in the business of data these days – every email sent, phone call made, RFP received – they’re all data points. But there’s still a feeling that data collection sits ‘on top of’ the day job – so how do we embed data extraction as part of everyone’s day and demonstrate the value in doing so?”

Pinpoint value

At the same time, she added that firms should prioritise which data is the highest priority to collect and cleanse. “You can obsess too much about data hygiene. Pick your battles – only cleanse and enhance data that really matters to you.”

So, where is the demand for all this data coming form? “Clients aren’t just interested in basic reports any more – we’ve seen a lot of demand for benchmarking. They also want us to help drive their strategies and integrate their data into our systems,” Hetherington explained.

Sharing does create value, added Perrin, saying a reluctance from lawyers to ‘give up’ ‘their’ data is a common obstacle. “There’s a lot of effort needed in legal to deliver what’s basically table stakes in other industries – but that means the potential for gains in legal is huge.”

Hear more data-based insights in the full webcast recording

Want to watch the video on YouTube? Click here.

Are you agile enough?

As the full implications of Covid-19 start to be felt across the legal industry, and as we take our first tentative steps to reopening offices, the need for greater resilience and agility in our business model and service delivery has become paramount. And it has brought two important questions to the fore: just how agile is your firm, and is it enough?

This last couple of months have been the biggest experiment in agile working the world has ever seen, challenging the status quo, potentially for ever, and making us look even closer at how we do business, how we enable and support our staff, and how we serve and support the clients. What have we learned, what has to change, how do we make our firm stronger as we exit?

Is this the Rubicon moment for agile working and the agile law firm? With the challenges of social distancing rules, travel restrictions, staff wellbeing and safety guidelines all adding to the mix, longlasting change is inevitable, but with it comes opportunity. To paraphrase Darwin, it is not the strongest that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.

For the last five years DMC Canotec has been driving the agile agenda with our popular AgileFirm events sharing best practice and customer insights on embracing change. Over 200 firms attended this year. For now these events are virtual, such as the launch of our forthcoming AgileExpo series and regular AgileToolkit webinars, but the advice, insight and experience gained from partnering with over 100 of the UK’s leading firms, allows us to share a proven path to enabling effective digital transformation and the agile law firm.

Our latest seven-step guide, The New Workplace, offers practical tips for a safe and secure return to the workplace, supporting a hybrid workforce, where many will still, for now, be working from home as the new norm.

Agile in action
We recently worked with two top firms on their agile/digital transformation strategies.

Weightmans – Digital Mailroom, MatterSphere workflow
“The solution has enabled Weightmans to deliver documents directly into digital workflows to support our users, wherever they are – a secure, agile, collaborative and efficient service supporting the continuity of service to our clients, despite the challenges we all face right now. DMC Canotec, Paper River and Weightmans worked really well together and developed a real camaraderie. From 85% of our firm being in an office on any given day we had fewer than 15 people across eight offices within a week, with everyone supported and working effectively from home” – Stuart Whittle, partner and head of IS and operations

Withers Worldwide – Digital Mailroom, iManage workflow and Managed Print Service
“Our Paperlite Document Solutions from DMC Canotec have been a game changer for agile working, especially right now during these most challenging of times, enabling us to deliver documents and information quickly and efficiently in an electronic format so our lawyers, secretaries and other support staff are able to work remotely from anywhere. This proved to be extremely helpful at the start of the crisis and helped Withers move to full remote working far quicker than would have been the case without the technology” – Peter Gibbons, global head of facilities.