Implementing Business Processes Automation for Law Firms.

We’ve Known our Clients For Over Twenty Years.

 

Our clients focus on running their law firms more smoothly, efficiently, profitably and competitively. With 24 years of law firm related initiatives under our belt we continue to help top tier law firms across North America increase business process efficiencies in areas such as matter intake, document and file management, knowledge management, marketing and business development, records management, financial management, practice management and a host of related law firm core workflows.

We offer end-to-end initiative and project management solutions with emphasis on robust requirements gathering, documentation, consensus building, adoption and change management practices, vendor management and in some cases, multi year program management to ensure deep adoption and course adjustments as needed.

Automation and Technology

When it comes to automation and technology, we can help source technology solutions, manage RFP processes, ensure alignment with the firm’s technology goals and vision, vendor management and strong collaboration with the firm’s technology implementation teams.

Our Secret sauce? We’re in the People Business!

Working closely with initiative principals in the firm establishes trust. This In turn allows them to focus on their “day job” while being appraised of progress and participate in key meetings and decision points. The same is true for our relationships with team members and stakeholders. Close collaboration ensures everyone is moving in the same direction. We place a premium on strong communications within and outside the team and forming relationships that help energize people and help foster positive outcomes for team members and of course the firm. We typically work across all relevant functional areas and departments in the firm as needed and closely manage expectations. We take on our clients’ focus on budget and timelines and our experience helps identify realistic goals and therefore set our clients for success in these and all other aspects of a given initiative. When unforeseen complexities inevitably arise, we leverage those relationships to find rapid solutions and get stakeholders at every level efficiently address and agree on solutions.

Connecting our Clients and Sharing Best Practices

While we maintain strict need-to-know walls between our client initiatives, they never the less rely on us to leverage industry wide best practices while making sure nothing compromises their competitive advantage. And whenever it makes sense, we’ll help establish direct dialogue with our clients’ peers in other firms.

On Premise or Remote?

We are comfortable and effective working remotely or in our clients’ premises.

 

Some of Our Clients

Bennett Jones
Blakes
BLG
Bryan Cave
Bull Housser
Gowlings
Kirkland & Ellis
Lenczner Slaught
Lowenstein Sandler
McCarthy Tetrault
Mcinnes Cooper
Morrison & Foerster
Osler
Perkins Coie
PWC
WilmerHale


Recent Initiatives

(Last updated: February 2023)

This is a partial, highlighted list from recent years. Keeping initiative details private is of paramount concern to us and our clients. We will be happy to provide more information and references related to any of the listed initiatives.


While already effective at negotiating OCG agreements with its clients, the firm was looking for ways to ensure greater efficiencies, especially when it comes to maintaining multi client, multi year, multi departmental compliance with its client negotiated terms. We proceeded to identify all internal stakeholders who will be involved in an assessment, gaps analysis and requirements phase (such as office of GC, Chief Knowledge Officer, risk and intake leads, IT, security, billing, marketing and others). We then searched for and identified 3 leading consulting firms with deep relevant experience, conducted a rapid RFP process, and helped the firm negotiate final engagement terms with the selected consultancy.

Once selected, we helped define the initiatives phases - facilitate and guide the consulting vendor - while ensuring that internal stakeholders were fully engaged, and that any key decisions made along the way were made in a timely and effective manner. In other words, building consensus where it mattered, but reaching rapid decisions from the firm's leadership when needed in order to move the initiative forward.

Once business processes where clearly defined, a terms management system was selected and implemented capable of ingesting and logically outlining engagement letters, guidelines and terms. ON a client or engagement level. The process of reviewing terms was automated through workflows, making it possible for different departments (e.g. finance, IT/security, risk etc.) to review terms and in turn provide the firm's GC and client responsible partners a simplified path to finalize negotiations with the client. This reduces the time it takes to engage with a client, and increases compliance with client commitments across the firm’s relevant operational functions.

Outside Guidelines Counsel (OCG) Practices, Business Process Reengineering and Automation


The firm's home grown ethical wall system and processes withstood the test of time admirably. An innovative solution a decade ago, switching over to an advanced industry accepted platform made sense. The new platform offered clear advantages, such as integration with standard back office systems, a more favorable total cost of ownership and feature rich functionality that's constantly updated by the vendor. That said - since it touches so many of the firm's business processes and systems (e.g. document management, time management, accounting and etc.), this swap had to be done seamlessly and with very little impact on end users or interconnected systems.

This was also an opportunity for the firm to revisit some of its existing ethical walls processes and verify its integration across across relevant procedures that were not in place years ago. We helped coordinate this effort across many of the firm's functional areas, extensively leveraged its IT team and their deep know how, engaged with the vendor, helped select an integration vendor, and worked very closely with the firm's risk management team, as well as the firm's GC, placing emphasis on exposure and regulatory conditions. A year long effort culminated in a highly organized switch over from legacy to a new platform and related processes which was largely seamless and one that affected mostly operational staff, not the firm's lawyers.

Replacement of Home Grown Ethical Walls Solution


File Opening Tax Code Workflow

 

When it comes to calculating taxes for complex multi jurisdictional transactions and files, this law firm was looking for a solution that will prompt attorneys or their assistants for accurate information during file opening. Using a simple to use “wizard” walked them through expected client scenarios that then confirms appropriate tax rates for the file’s particular details. This also means that future billings will follow regulatory rules and reduce the need for the firm’s billing staff with the client’s responsible partner.

Leveraging existing file opening workflows and automation, we worked closely with the firm’s CFO, senior tax partner, CIO, CTO and an external vendor to develop a solution that substantively reduced the risk that clients will end up paying (or not!) applicable taxes across provinces based on where actual legal work is done.

Finally, we leveraged our contacts in the industry, and helped our client “package” this solution and sell it to another firm who was in a similar predicament. Both our clients ended up benefiting from this arrangement.


Records Management

 

A core business process for any law firm, our client was looking for a more efficient business process and the most current toolkit for managing records in the firm.

Working closely with the firm’s director for records management and matter intake practices, we helped develop initial requirements, identify prominent vendors, issue RFQs and RFPs, help select technology vendor that matched the firm’s information management infrastructure, develop detailed project plans, managed an integration consultancy, guided the testing processes, and helped identify stakeholder impact, training, and rollout procedures.

Technology: Filetrail


Litigation Practice Management Solution - Undertakings Management

 

Our client, a mid size firm in Canada, was looking to implement an innovative litigation practice solution that will enhance a manual undertakings management, shifting from cumbersome tracking in spreadsheets, to a standardized process and a web based system that’s accessible to the firm’s lawyers as well as its clients. We were hoping to find an “off the shelf” solution but could not find anything that matched their vision. We therefore developed a full set of requirements through a series of meetings with a team of lawyers, developed specifications that included sample user interface designs, developed technical specifications, together with the firm’s CTO we agreed on the best cloud platform for developing such a solution, and proceeded to develop, test and roll out an intuitive, highly secure solution that won an industry award for its innovation and practical effect.

Technology: Microsoft Azure


Implementation of Time Management Process and Automation

 

Effective and efficient docketing translates to better realized revenues, friction free client relationship, and improved business processes that affect the firm’s billing team. We were asked to work with the chosen software vendor and an integration consultancy for planning, integration and deployment of this high impact process and its automation. Working closely with the firm’s finance department, we helped navigate a complex, year long project. In addition to the new system, one that included a highly anticipated mobile component, we introduced new security and ethical walls automation that had the potential to impact assistants and attorneys. We invested substantial efforts engaging with assistants and attorneys, studying their work practices and how those may be impacted. We “tweaked” relevant business processes and the system’s functionality in order to balance high usability (“Docket Your Way”), with risk management and financial goals.

Technology: Intapp


Electronic billing (e-Billing) is now a common method for client billing and payment processing.
e-Billing platforms can interface with a host of electronic payment systems, with the firm's accounting system, allow high volume e-bills processing, do so efficiently using limited billing resources and with high degree of visibility into the firm's receivables. Our client asked for help managing a "soft RFP" process with the two dominant vendors in the legal space: Aderant's BillBlast and Thomson Reuters eBillingHub - both of which are advanced cloud based SAAS solutions and are bundled with implementation services . We

focused on making sure that:

  1. Both vendors are fully engaged and are given the opportunity to put forward their best proposal - without any preconceived assumptions on the client side - but only on merit and fit

  2. Identify a baseline of requirements (including security requirements*) in order to qualify platform functionality and integration specifics

  3. Help negotiate and facilitate licensing agreements, implementation costs (SOW), and related security addendum

We worked closely with the firm's stakeholders: CFO, CIO, Billing Manager and the firm's counsel to ensure all their concerns are addressed, helping to bring the vendor's stakeholders in the right time: account management, product management, CIO and security specialists as well as counsel - to ensure the final agreement meets the firm's process and efficiency goals, cost management, and risk tolerance - while ensuring the vendors are on-side and ready to delve into details as needed.

* Security requirements - especially for cloud based SAAS solutions is becoming even more crucial - especially since law firms have committed to their clients' exacting security demands through formal outside counsel guidelines agreements

Electronic Billing (e-Billing) Platform Evaluation, Selection and Negotiations


Replacement of Home Grown Ethical Walls System and Updated Processes

 

The firm's home grown ethical wall system withstood the test of time. An innovative solution a number of years ago, it made sense to switch over to a system that's supported across the legal industry for its features, integration, and overall cost. In addition to the myriad of processes and other systems that "feed" off an ethical walls system (e.g. document management, time management etc.), this was an opportunity for the firm to revisit some of its ethical walls practices, and continue the process of ensuring that the firm's practices are applied across even more business processes and systems. We helped coordinate this effort across many of the firm's functional areas, extensively leveraged its IT team and its deep know how, engaged with the vendor, helped select an integration vendor, and worked very closely with the firm's risk management team, headed by its GC. We provided various scenarios for their consideration which meant rapid resolution of issues and how they affected system functionality and changes to business processes. A year long effort culminated in a highly organized switch over that was largely seamless and invisible to most users in the firm.
Technology: Intapp

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Shy Alter.

Principal Consultant and CEO.

 

Shy is ii3’s CEO and principal consultant. Working with law firms since 1999, Shy brings a wealth of experience in a multi disciplinary capacity that spans business process re-engineering, needs assessment, initiative and project management, adoption and change management, legal technology, strong communication skills and team leadership. He’s as comfortable discussing strategies with “C” level firm leadership as he is interacting daily with internal implementation teams and working closely with supporting vendors.