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  • 6 Things to Consider for Managing Outside Counsel

    March 16, 2022 Law departments play an important role in connecting administration and operations, in-house counsel and staff, and outside counsel and service providers so that when necessary, key figures can leap into action without delay. Outside counsel firms and other service providers to corporate law departments often go through separate procurement workflows due to the confidential and time-sensitive nature of their engagements. This means that the responsibility of holding service providers up to the same standards and accountable to the same policies as in-house counsel falls on legal operations and eBilling staff. Law departments and their outside counsel need to be on the same page about more than just a project’s parameters. Great relationships are built on trust and communication, so here are 6 areas we suggest you spend some time with your team and your outside counsel to get on the same page. 1) Set the Scope When engaging outside counsel for a new project, spend time with your team to first define needs and expectations. This will help both parties measure success during and after the project. As much as possible, be specific and provide figures when establishing demands, and where available, ask for estimates of the work, including total anticipated hours and total spend estimates. Keep in mind that setting guidelines is only the start of a successful engagement. You will need someone that can take time to ensure your agreements are enforced. Encourage firms to take corrective action on their own and after finishing projects, set an evaluation to identify opportunities for improvement. 2) Review Rates Law departments should be vigilant about reviewing additional rate, timekeeper, and budget requests prior to approval, for instance by reviewing and confirming the experience level of each proposed professional for a new project. Following this procedure can help reduce the cost and increase efficiency. Changes in discounted rates or any other changes to negotiated rates should be reviewed prior to approval as well. It is also best practice to set a threshold for expenses, past which firms should be required to submit additional support documents to eliminate inappropriate overhead charges. Setting, collecting, and tracking firm budgets is also a great practice for keeping spend on track and an eye on what costs to anticipate. It can also be a good opportunity to quickly review firm workloads and adjust projects as needed. 3) Bolster Billing Legal departments and law firms alike have always been on the hunt to reduce spend. According to a recent State of the Industry report from the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC), 61 cents of every dollar spent on legal costs in 2020 goes to external legal costs – a 15-cent increase from 2018. One way to effectively monitor spending is to ask firms for more detailed and accurate billing, listing the specific tasks firms are doing to a project can help provide an insight into the matter. Holding firms accountable for poor billing practices like late invoices, block billed line items, and other non-compliant submissions will help eliminate redundancy and time erroneously billed. 4) Collaborate with the Cloud The use of cloud-based technology has become a big part of most corporate legal departments’ and law firms’ business continuity plans in the past few years. There is a significant shift towards using cloud-based platforms to help staff work together and deliver more consistently to address client needs. Of the respondents in a 2019 American Bar Association survey, 58% utilized the cloud—an increase from 55% in 2018. By shifting from manual, paper processes to cloud-based technologies like document management, matter management, contract management, eBilling, and other systems, law departments are seeing significant improvements in security, availability, and collaboration, both internally with colleagues and externally with outside counsel and service providers. 5) Reap from the Results Reviewing results and identifying opportunities for improvement don’t apply only to outside counsel. At the end of each project, take some time with your team to review the things they did correctly, what they learned, and how this matter helps shape the department’s strategic plans and decisions going forward. For instance, reviewing historical data can be used to reduce future legal exposure and unnecessary spending. Comparing results with previous matters is the best way to see how factors such as cost, time spent, and delivery are achieved and whether they are improving. 6) Legal Tech Corporate law departments have the responsibility to manage legal spending effectively while operating efficiently. With increasing security policies, compliance regulations, and data protection laws, each with stringent rules to follow and serious consequences for non-compliance that can permanently damage reputations, this can feel like juggling a hundred plates at once. Using certified legal technology tools to receive, review, process, transfer, and store information takes away the menial manual balancing act work you have to do, like eBilling submission management, or matter intake and record creation, or vendor due diligence expiration and attestation, and lets you focus on the interesting stuff that makes your job what you love to do. Finding the Right Partner The rapid transformation of technology is exciting. As it evolves every day, it can feel a bit daunting to keep up with the latest trends. Finding the right technology partner is paramount to your law department’s potential for scaling and success. We know better than anyone that implementation is not a one-size-fits-all process. Your ideas may require more expertise and professional perspectives than what is readily available. We’re happy to help. Our consultants have decades of legal technology experience working with an impressive array of Fortune 500 corporations. Reach out to us at info@infiniglobe.com or (833) LGL-TECH.

  • IG Insight Innovates TeamConnect Maintenance of Top Organizations

    February 17, 2022 We're excited to announce that two Fortune 500 companies and a US state government agency are joining the list of esteemed and valued clients that use IG Insight helping them maximize their technology investment. IG Insight is specially made for TeamConnect™ users, letting them to have a complete, connected, and holistic view of their system customization, security, usage, performance, and more, in an easy-to-use interface. Legal Ops, IT, and support teams that are currently using this tool have given positive responses as it provides a significant saving time and money. IG Insight is an awesome companion tool for our TeamConnect. -- Legal Operation Manager As a company that is determined to transform and innovate how law professionals work, the expansion of our client portfolio is exciting news for everyone involved with InfiniGlobe. This is a huge step towards the company’s mission of providing simple and useful technology. We had no idea that there were over 100 custom fields defined in the original design that people rarely use! Thanks guys… -- Project Manager IG Insight is a result of 20+ years of experience in helping legal departments that utilize TeamConnect. For complete information download the datasheet. Interested in how one tool can improve your TeamConnect experience? Read our case study here. Our subject matter and technical experts have decades of legal technology knowledge of working with law departments and law firms. Request a demo and contact us at info@infiniglobe.com or at (833) LGL-TECH.

  • Legal Tech Forecast: 5 Things to Guide You Through 2022

    January 27, 2022 The new year brings a fresh start for everyone and it also marks the second year of the pandemic. Businesses are done with band-aid solutions to cope with the rapid change it brought but are now starting to look for long-term investments to adapt to the new normal. Keeping up with the rapid changes in technology and security regulations can be proven as challenging for law departments and law firms. According to Gartner's legal and technology predictions, the legal department will automate 50% of the legal work associated with key business transactions. Corporate law departments and law firms acknowledge how staying ahead of the legal technology trends are crucial to address client demand and continuing with growth. 1) Digitalization Digital transformation has been a great catalyst for businesses to invest in technology and the legal industry is no exception but what's motivating this is consumer behavior. An increasing number of clients are focused on the use of technology to enhance collaboration and efficiency. To maintain the trust of clients, law departments and law firms should innovate in ways how they do their business through the wave of success for digital transformation. 2) Legal Automation Small tasks are what make up a well-oiled organization. But as time goes on and these add up and before anyone knows it takes away significant time for legal professionals to do crucial work. To solve this the boost of popularity for contract and document automation is sky high and will continue to do so. Automation will save time, reduce risk and drive efficiency within a legal department. 3) Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence has been evolving businesses across all industries. In the case of corporate law departments and law firms using AI to manage day-to-day tasks. With the legal market spearheading toward a more client-led industry, AI helps law professionals to put their clients first by using it through E-discovery, legal research, and litigation analysis to name a few. Increased efficiency means more time for getting to know clients and delivering their wants and needs. 4) Cybersecurity Organizations have to follow this trend. One mistake can lead to serious repercussions that can financially damage businesses and also loss of clients' trust. The legal industry safeguards sensitive information and remote working is a part of the new normal, this has made them vulnerable to attacks. In February 2021, a prominent law firm with clients that are fortune 500 companies has been a victim of a ransomware attack. Now more than ever, robust cybersecurity measures need to be implemented to protect their clients and reputation. 5) Cloud-based Data Storage Everything that is happening right now is done online. Cloud-based adoption might have received a slow reception at first but the need for scalability due to the pandemic and the improvements in security have made organizations realize its value of it. A survey made by the American Bar Association showed that 71% of legal departments and 75% of law firms plan to grow their use of data clouds in the coming years. In 2022, it is expected that there will be more focus on using technology to not only capture the data but convert the easy-to-read data to profits. Conclusion There was a significant rise in legal tech adoption in the past few years that fueled innovation in the industry. The legal industry will continue to go through a digital transformation. With clients preferring a more on-demand service, legal technology will play a big role to solve a diverse range of problems. InfiniGlobe, a full-service consulting and software company, specializes in systems integration and performance optimization of top corporate legal departments and law firms. For more information, reach out to us at info@InfiniGlobe.com or at (833) LGL-TECH.

  • Case Study: Automating Invoice Review and Approval

    January 16, 2023 Building an equally effective and efficient invoice processing workflow is the modern age million-dollar e-billing question. Navigating the volume of invoices and the drain on in-house counsel’s time to review and approve invoices are two challenges corporate legal departments regularly face. When current e-billing tools could use some fine-tuning, streamlining invoice review and approval can provide meaningful and impactful solutions. This was the case for a major US company, which reached out to us for help with its overburdened e-billing system. We conducted a deep analysis of their existing rules and workflows, discovering significant opportunities to improve their invoice approval process in simple ways that produced transformative results: 50% Increase in Efficiency More Time for Attorneys to do High-level Tasks Simple and Easy to Maintain Invoice Workflows and Approval Rules If your department faces similar challenges, specific to e-billing or generally with your legal technology, please fill out the form and download our Case Study to learn more about how we help our clients optimize their technology. For more questions, contact us at info@InfiniGlobe.com or (833) LGL-TECH. We’d love to discuss it with you.

  • InfiniGlobe's Data Sheet

    November 18, 2021 Discover InfiniGlobe's Solutions, Products, and Services. Download the complete date sheet and have an overview of our company. Explore our breadth of solutions and learn how our technology and expertise can fit perfectly for your Law Department and Legal Operations. Our team has decades of legal technology assessments for the law departments of fortune 500 corporations, reach out to us at info@infiniglobe.com or at (833) LGL-TECH.

  • Information Governance: Legal’s Next Puzzle Piece on Data Security

    November 11, 2021 Gone are the days when remote working is an unconventional way for law firms and legal departments to do their tasks. The rapid transition from the traditional working environment has tested companies' business continuity plans ensuring data protection while staying productive. One of the wiser ways for law firms and legal departments can achieve this is through Information Governance but what is it? Information Governance as defined by the Information Governance Initiative is “the activities and technologies that organizations employ to maximize the value of their information while minimizing associated risks and costs.” This is composed of several factors like policies and procedures to effectively manage information and mitigate risk at the enterprise level. Information Governance for Law Firms and Legal Departments When making an effective IG plan the first step to take is looking at the current risks and anticipating the future risks on a legal, regulatory, environmental as. This will help in being in line with the strategic and operational goals. Due to the legal industry having a nature of holding a substantial amount of sensitive data every day which can be a key thing to consider for the adoption of IG. The growing popularity of using SaaS and other cloud solutions has swung the indecisiveness of more organizations in moving their data and other sources to the cloud. But with this technological investment comes the risk of cyberattacks thus having taking essential measures for a robust information governance strategy is a paramount step for law firms and legal departments. Looking closely to the reasons why it is vital for the law firms and legal departments to have an Information Governance plan: They hold, manage, and destroy information according to specific guidelines and they need to comply at a state, federal, and international level. Clients are more conscious and keener on looking at compliance for privacy and information security. This is justified as these are highly sensitive information that has the risk to be exposed. A rising number of law firms are being a target of sophisticated security breaches. Using a strong IG plan on creating the strategy and growth can be advantageous to the organization like reducing risk and cost-effectiveness. Implementing reliable information governance and processes lets today’s companies expand without their increased risk. When it Comes to Legal Compliance… We Got You Covered With Information Governance solving your data overload problem, ensure legal compliance with Counself! We always put information security on top of our priority so our clients focus on what they do best. Counself host your data in a highly secure private cloud hosted by Microsoft Azure, ensure encryption in transit, and at rest compliant with International Security Standards. Learn more about Counself here and how we handle security here. Got questions? We'd love to hear from you here.

  • Case Study: Invoice Maintenance Made Simple

    October 25, 2021 Investing in technology is a big step for any company, with the hopes of eliminating manual processes these solutions which equate to life-changing results that have long-term effects. These technologies are fueled by innovation but oftentimes, maintaining them through the years becomes too complicated to understand for system administrators or users. In the case of our client, a Fortune 500 utility company, they had configured over 400 approval rules for law firm invoices in their MMS which has resulted in its maintenance a huge burden for their law department. Working with our client's e-billing team we get to understand their workflow and goals to self-sufficiency, which laid the foundations for success. Download our case study and learn how our team adds value to their technology by: Creating a Customized Solution Simplifying Approval Rules Automating Invoice System Maintenance If your department has an MMS or separate e-billing solution in place, contact us at info@InfiniGlobe.com or (833) LGL-TECH.

  • Overcoming The Hurdles of Outside Counsel Management

    September 14, 2021 Law departments play an important role in formalizing relationships with technical, administrative, and contractors so that in the event of a problem, key figures can leap into action without delays. However, it is best to not forget that it is a two-way street and that those service providers must be held to the same compliance standards as in-house departments, to ensure the integrity of the supply chain. Law departments and their outside counsel need to be on the same page about the project’s parameters. Great relationships are built on trust and communication — both parties must be willing to understand and engage with each other. Given the unique circumstances of last year, it has let every business leader be innovative and creative in overcoming the obstacles they have faced and coped with the changes that are happening. But some problems are present for a long time now even before the pandemic. Consistency The start of a partnership can be tricky, open communication should start at the first step of finding the perfect outside counsel. This comes with the preferences and understanding the need of the business like the level of experience of attorneys on a specific area needed, and also with the pandemic, the knowledge on technology gave emphasis on how important this is. Other things that are considered are the law firm's track record, rates, how diverse and inclusive it is, or what is their billing process. With all this information requested oftentimes, law firms have a hard time overseeing all the data sent back to the client, one wrong or inconsistent answer can result in a rejection of the request. This leads to another set of back and forth messages that take a few days benefitting no one. However, a thorough evaluation can lead to a fruitful partnership and minimize the risk in the future when real problems arise. Collaboration During the coronavirus pandemic, 50% of companies currently have most of their workforce working remotely. For legal departments working with outside counsel and can be a struggle starting with onboarding up until the end of the partnership. Outside counsel relies on the client's feedback with reports that provide what has been accomplished and give constant updates through numerous emails, law departments have to review if the files are up to their standard taking up a huge amount of time that draws them away from their core tasks. And with larger corporations that work on different matters at the same time which each presents unique issues, collaborative efforts need to be done internally and externally, and for it to be an effective one a systematic process has to be adopted and learned by both parties. Security Given the growing number of cybersecurity attacks headlining the news, this has highlighted the need for data protection laws and with the government giving attention to this topic stricter state and federal laws are on the rise. The number of Data Protection Laws is increasing each has stringent rules to follow and noncompliance by law firms and legal departments leads to serious consequences that can permanently damage their reputation. It has become a goal to find a secure way to store personal data and for distributed teams to communicate in a safe way. Everyday legal departments need to ensure that their companies are compliant with the laws while balancing their responsibility in promoting the company through strategic goals with their outside counsel. Technology Adoption is the Next Step In the past few years, technology adoption has significantly increased and businesses that have done so have resolved productivity issues and improve collaboration with their outside counsels. Tools like RFP have helped provide consistent information reducing the time for procurement while eBilling systems streamline the legal billing process and provide the benefits from shifting away from a manual review process. Last year’s report from Bloomberg says that 8 out of 10 of the respondents say their office adopts new legal tech with confidence in increased efficiency. With the abundance of software in the market, it can be confusing to find which can help jump through the hurdles of managing outside counsel. But look no further with Counself, designed specifically for legal departments and enterprises that can easily integrate with industry-leading document and matter management systems and SSO. How can one platform solve these 3 problems? • Consistency Matters – Corporate law departments have the opportunity to only get the data they need with Counself. Choose to create the request from scratch or use the built-in set of best practice forms, questionnaires, and templates helping them get quality data and better decisions. Free attorney’s time with a searchable database of outside counsel, vendors, and other legal service providers in a centralized location. • New Ways to Collaborate - Remote working has created gaps and interruption to productivity flow but with it being the norm for most people, communication does not have to suffer. Counself's cloud platform provides an efficient way for law departments and their outside counsel, vendors, and their team. Optimize collaboration with fewer clicks and eliminate jumping from one window to the other when sharing documents, reports, or reviewing questionnaires. • Data Protection – Law departments are not the only ones who should be in compliance with security laws and regulations their outside counsel and third party vendors should too. Counself is an ISO 27001:2013 certified designed to streamline manual processes reducing the time needed to do the due diligence by 50%. Improve third-party risk management and do it conveniently, centrally, and with a full audit history. You can learn more about Counself here or you can reach out to our team here.

  • Case Study: Integrating Legal Hold Pro™ and TeamConnect™

    August 26, 2021 When Matter Management and Legal Hold are two different systems, syncing information between them is necessary, which is historically done by implementing a batch process. While this approach eliminates the double matter data entry, there are still inefficiencies that can be improved by helping the systems better communicate. We successfully solved this problem for a Fortune 500 company. Here in this case study we talk about: Background on Legal Hold Common challenges of disconnected systems The integration of Legal Hold Pro™ and TeamConnect™ InfiniGlobe is a technology partner with Mitratech and worked with Zapproved to building the secure TeamConnect and Legal Hold Pro connector. If your department uses both of these systems, this product can be the perfect out-of-the-box solution for you. To learn more, reach out to us at info@InfiniGlobe.com or (833) LGL-TECH.

  • Whitepaper: Integrating Exterro™ and TeamConnect™

    August 9, 2021 Managing and complying with the legal hold process is an essential process in the law and compliance departments of corporations. The hold process is intertwined with the matter lifecycle and the MMS and legal hold systems overlap and share data and files. However, sharing information between these two systems has always been a technology and process challenge, which, if not done correctly, results in inefficiency and compliance issues. We studied this process with help from our clients and technology partners and are proud to bring you the following in this Whitepaper: A brief history of legal holds Common problems of using MMS and LHS separately Best practice solution InfiniGlobe is technology partners with both Mitratech and Exterro and has worked to build the InfiniGlobe secure TeamConnect and Exterro connector, which can easily be the perfect out-of-the-box solution for your department if you use these systems. To learn more, reach out to us at info@InfiniGlobe.com or (833) LGL-TECH.

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