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Increased digitization and automation have changed the way in which legal practice management services are conducted. It leaves many legal professionals asking how does the future look like for lawyers and how to prepare for this change. The legal industry, like any other business, becomes more competitive, interconnected, and very complex. Lawyers need to be more innovative to survive. Innovation is not always an expensive exercise and the key is getting smart people to work on it, and reach out when you can.
App4Legal takes innovation very seriously and makes it a priority when coming to developing new features or adding an enhancement to the current features. The slogan “Practice with Innovation ” best describes the benefits App4Legal offers to our clients. It the centerpiece of our company identity. At App4Legal Innovation is defined as creating new ways that legal professionals can maximize their productivity, streamline daily work processes, increase client satisfaction, and maintain collaboration between internal and external parties.
The word Innovation denotes the invention or making use of something new. It also includes the adoption of a new way of thinking.
Innovation is amazing, but it means nothing if it doesn’t align with every part of a larger business plan. That’s why having an innovation strategy in place is very essential. An Innovation strategy is an organization’s commitment to a number of policies and actions in order to achieve clear, innovative objectives and goals.
According to a recent PwC report, “the very first step to a strong innovation strategy in any law firm or legal department is to make sure you have a business strategy in place, with clear financial goals, performance indicators and critical success factors.” Once this is in place, then the innovation strategy must be aligned to fit your business strategy. That is to say, the innovation strategy should not be taken as a separate matter.
The first thing to start with is to decide the objectives and the purposes of your innovation strategy.
Few examples:
“It’s simple, really: if clients aren’t satisfied, they’ll find a different lawyer”
Putting clients needs first is considered the cornerstone of law practice innovation. So when you decide on an innovation strategy, it is highly recommended to have a complete understanding of what your clients are looking for.
If you’re working in a law firm, this can be done by paying close attention to the current legal market and evaluating what attracts clients to alternative legal services.
Your innovation strategy is super brilliant, but it is still irrelevant unless the whole team is on the same page. It’s pivotal to provide all legal team members with the needed training on new technologies. Processes must be put in place to ensure employee morale doesn’t sag on the thought of having to work out how to use new tech on their own.
Innovation requires agility. It is okay to modify your plans and think about new ways to get your objectives done. If metrics and final results show that a certain new process or legal technology tool is not working the way you expected, it’s ok to rethink your strategy. Setting expectations, and being honest when things don’t work out, is the only way for your firm and your in-house team to grow.
To level up your effort toward achieving innovation in your law firm or in-house legal department, we come up with two more checklists. The first is meant for top management. We called it “Managers Checklist”, it is meant to drive your innovation strategy and takes into account the people, technology and the expected innovation impact. The second one is meant for your legal team “lawyers and paralegals” and you can name it Everyone Checklist, It is meant to empower and motivate your legal team to be more proactive and feel more included in the innovation process.
1- Strategy
3- Impact
Your team with their knowledge and experience can make a positive impact on your organization, so we recommend making the upcoming checklist an activity for all your team members. It is a simple and fun exercise that will help you get a better understanding of the top challenges and make your team feel more involved. The checklist includes the following:
*Source: InnovationClous.com
The speed of change is accelerating as new technologies serve to raise transparency, reduce prices and increase the value of services across the sector. For legal practitioners, maintaining the status quo and continuing to operate in the same way it has for the past ten years may sound like the most straightforward and risk-free strategy.
App4Legal is a comprehensive Legal Practice Management Solution addressing the entire market of legal practitioners, in law firms and in-house legal departments. App4Legal supports multiple languages & multiple currencies. It is available on-cloud, Private SaaS & on-server (on-premises). App4Legal is one solution that replaces all tools used by legal professionals; it is modular, easy to use, and addresses the entire market, with clients in 67+ countries of all sizes.
A centralized and accessible database to organize and manage legal matters including all related legal data and documents.
Be more productive; create project scope, record work hours and keep everything on track with the insightful data.
Make your corporate more collaborative, accessible and efficient with the leading practice management software
Drive performance and get insightful reports. Analyze workflow performance and share the time tracking data.
Keep all documents in one platform where you can find and share documents quickly and identify who last edited them.
Track all money transactions in a built-in billing module with full accounting features that maximize efficiency and revenues.
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