Although "New Work" has long since outgrown its infancy, this is only partially true for digitalization in law firms. It is not uncommon for it to progress with baby steps. The fact is, however, that both clients and legal talent on the job market want modern support and a digital working environment from a law firm.
A survey of lawyers has shown that digitalization is perceived as a change within the industry, but by no means as a revolution. The coronavirus pandemic may have - inevitably - changed this. But why not voluntarily seize the opportunities presented by the "big D" and position yourself accordingly?
This is where Legal Project Management comes in. We will show you what new perspectives arise for you with regard to networked working if you consider project management under the industry-specific criteria that arise in the legal sector.
What is Legal Project Management?
The basic idea behind legal project management is to transfer the concepts and ideas of traditional project management to the specific requirements of legal work. For example, a complex employment law case with a processing deadline and various stakeholders is considered a project. The associated management tasks and organizational processes are referred to as legal project management.
New challenges: Why do project management as a lawyer?
For a law firm to function efficiently, it is important to view your own work from an overarching perspective - especially in an industry such as the legal profession that is committed to detail. What good is the best pleading if it arrives too late because of last-minute cosmetic corrections?
Pure knowledge of the law is a necessary condition for your success, but by no means the only one. As a successful lawyer, you need a strong team and the right infrastructure to cope with demanding clients and deadline pressure. Digital services including absolute data security not only belong in the law firm of the future, but are already a must for your long-term success in the present.
Why project management is not the same as legal project management
There are plenty of tools for project management. However, legal project management is in a class of its own! Common project management tools are adapted to the structures and workflows of companies. Legal work, however, follows different rules. A digital solution for legal project management must meet the highest standards of data security and is irreplaceable as a specific tool for the legal profession!
At the same time, the demands of your law firm employees for a modern working environment are increasing. If you want to counteract the omnipresent staff shortage, you should create opportunities for flexible and networked working from home and with colleagues in the office - and thus give yourself a competitive advantage.
The goal is: agile collaboration on an equal footing with your clients and employees. With the right digital tool for legal project management, you can keep an eye on all project participants and deadlines, introduce more efficient workflows and thus save up to 50 percent of your valuable time!
Law firm project management: Thinking of solutions as complete packages
As a lawyer, you know that every case is unique and no two days are the same. Nevertheless, there are some basic processes that you should keep an eye on as part of legal project management. The most efficient way to do this is with a suitable technical solution that covers the following tasks:
- Clear time management: deadlines are not an option for lawyers, there is no alternative - that's why you need to be able to keep an eye on all deadlines at all times
- Smooth communication: The exchange in the home office or in the law firm takes place on several levels & agreements with clients must run smoothly, as they often have a binding character
- Document management: Secure digital data exchange is particularly important in law firms in order to avoid mountains of files and long waiting times, as well as to spare your nerves and those of your employees
- Efficient workflows: To ensure that you benefit from workflows in your team and with your clients instead of a confusing workload, you should combine many small individual tasks into an overall package
With this inventory, you already have the basic tasks of legal project management in view. While every case has its own peculiarities, these requirements always remain similar - and always relevant. It is therefore worth making them as efficient as possible and seeing them as the starting point for successful legal work.
To ensure that your legal project management is not only successful in theory but also in practice, you need holistic software such as the Collaboration Suite from DOCPIT. The program bundles various stand-alone solutions on one platform and understands the work processes of your law firm in their entirety.
Collaboration suite DOCPIT: Sophisticated legal project management software for your law firm
Probably the most important benefit of the DOCPIT Collaboration Suite is that it was developed by lawyers for lawyers and therefore provides you with the solutions that you really need in practice. DOCPIT is not typical law firm software, but a digital platform for efficient digital collaboration with colleagues and clients.
With IURIO, you can digitize analogue processes and combine isolated solutions in one user-friendly package. The collaboration suite provides you with three-part legal project management: each of your client projects receives an external and an internal data safe - the first for exchanging information with the client, the second for you and your team. A task board also ensures that everyone has an overview of their tasks.
Thanks to GDPR-compliant data transfer, you can also implement workflows such as digital signatures (tax consultants take note - this also makes sense for you!) in one platform. This saves you time, speeds up coordination with clients and significantly reduces the workload on your employees.
Workflows instead of "just" functions: Your Legal Project Management in the Collaboration Suite
DOCPIT understands the processes of a legal project in all their complexity - in the spirit of legal project management. The Collaboration Suite is your digital platform for collaboration with colleagues and clients for faster communication, secure data transfer and reduced working time.
With Legal Project Management, you have the threads in your hand and an overview of everything important - and with the help of DOCPIT, you can turn work processes into workflows instead of just viewing them as isolated tasks.
Feel free to contact us and let's find out together how the DOCPIT Collaboration Suite can support your law firm.
