By Judie Rahman, Senior Solutions Manager at BigHand.
BigHand recently surveyed over 800 legal professionals and found 35% of participating law firms confirmed that reviewing and optimizing end-to-end document creation is a priority in the next 24 months. Even more encouraging is that 64% plan to highlight efficiency gains to clients by implementing tech solutions in this space.
So, what is ‘end-to-end document creation’? Simply stated, it is the full workflow of documents in a law firm from creation to editing, formatting and finalizing, covering the full lifecycle of legal documents. The numbers you’ll read about in this article point towards end-to-end document creation being increasingly at the front of law firm leaders’ minds, but why is this? Let’s dive into some recent industry trends that are prompting firms to review their approach to legal document creation.
In-House Issues
In addition to 35% of firms prioritizing document creation, our research also revealed that 47% of firms are using template and styling technology built in-house. We know first-hand how common it is for firms to struggle with in-house solutions. For software that integrates with other legal systems, ever-evolving technical requirements force firms with these custom-built solutions to revisit the basics of how they function.
Lee Davey, the Deputy Head of Technology and Operations at Burges Salmon explains: ‘We had in place a series of legacy applications that worked but were becoming increasingly hard to maintain and, with the amount of internal coding they relied upon, was affecting their viability for the future.’
There is a need to continuously advance in-house solutions to keep up with larger software providers who are frequently innovating their products on a bigger scale. Firms face pressure to invest time, money, and resources into the development process when those assets are better allocated to delivering results elsewhere. The alternative outcome is that in-house technologies stagnate, become outdated and inferior to the more sophisticated solutions leveraged by your competitors.
To ensure you stay on the front foot, it’s crucial to adopt the best solution for your firm. Here are some key factors to consider when exploring the market:
- Flexibility: How customizable is the solution? Are there flexible pricing options?
- Onboarding: How quickly and easily can you get started?
- Support: Are you confident that your firm will be well supported?
Rising Client Demands for Transparency
Another industry trend generating fierce competition is the recent rise in client demands for transparency from law firms. BigHand research showed that 30% of firms surveyed experienced an increase in client demand for financial transparency. To meet these demands, firms must be able to address whether lawyers are spending billable hours on work that the client expects of them.
In the context of end-to-end document creation, clients may raise concerns if they discover that lawyers are completing administrative tasks themselves instead of delegating to dedicated support staff. When documents are problematic, it can take far too long to fix them using native or outdated third-party tools: Lawyers typically aren’t Word experts, and firms risk producing broken, poorly formatted documents that require extensive corrections, leading to significant delays in client delivery.
Now, as lawyers are only becoming more tech-savvy, a certain amount of self-sufficient document editing is inevitable. This is more reason to invest in an easy-to-use solution that keeps your firm’s product brand consistent and compliant and drastically decreases document turnaround times, helping you get documents to clients quicker, increasing your bottom line.
Becker & Poliakoff, LLP are one of many firms who decided to make the switch to BigHand Document Creation. David Michel, Chief Information Officer, explains: ‘The BigHand Document Creation interface is much more user-friendly than what we had before. The solution will greatly improve our document creation efficiency so we can produce consistently branded documents must faster. […] Legal documents are the physical product of a lawyer’s work. For lawyers, it’s important their documents reflect the quality of their work at the highest standard, and BigHand now helps us ensure this first-class output.’
We know clients are reluctant to pay expensive lawyers to carry out admin, but if firms cannot meet the increased pressure on transparency, their clients will begin to look elsewhere. As highlighted earlier, our survey shows that 64% of firms plan on implementing technology to highlight efficiency gains to clients. Not only does this tell us that firms are prioritizing client demands and making tangible progress doing so, but also that the full extent of that progress is perhaps yet to be seen.
In Summary
In today’s rapidly evolving legal landscape, it’s clear that law firms must prioritize efficiency and client satisfaction to stay ahead. The industry trends discussed in this article highlight the urgent need for a comprehensive approach to document creation. BigHand Document Creation is designed to address these challenges, offering a seamless, end-to-end solution that not only optimizes productivity but also enhances transparency and client satisfaction.
BigHand has extensive experience supporting firms to introduce a new document production solution. Our tools are built to be flexible, and our pricing reflects that – firms will only ever pay for the features they need. We’re also proud to have first-class customer support who will work with you every step of the way to ensure your solution is efficiently implemented. BigHand licenses apply to all users, so you’ll be seeing the benefits across your firm in no time.
‘What really impressed me is that BigHand is a trusted provider with some of the best client support services I’ve seen. The team is knowledgeable, responsive, and reliable which made the switch to BigHand a smooth one,’ says David Michel at Becker & Poliakoff.
Don’t let outdated processes hold your firm back. Reach out today to schedule a demo and discover how BigHand can transform your document workflow and give your firm a competitive edge.
In case you missed it:
BigHand recently announced an exciting new partnership with DocStyle, a leading provider of document comparison and repair solutions, to enhance our Document Creation technology. Our strategic partnership features:
- The integration of DocStyle’s advanced document comparison and repair tools into BigHand’s platform.
- A complete solution for document creation, styling, comparison, cleanup, and repair.
- Improved accuracy, quality, and efficiency for law firms.
For full details see here.
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[ This is a sponsored article for Artificial Lawyer by BigHand. ]