Book Review: The Lawyers Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies

From time to time we provide information about resources we think will interest our readers. Below, Exari's Marketing Assistant, Miriam Evangelista provides a look at Dennis Kennedy's and Tom Mighell's book, “The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together.”

"The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools" sparks a new light on the significance of collaboration in the legal world. The first part is a step-by-step guide that helps lawyers understand the importance of collaboration in the world of legal practices.

The second half of the book offers a broader perspective on selected tools and strategies through which technology can make it easier to work with others. The use of collaboration technologies and tools is explained with simplicity and rigor. The authors give advice on the best ways to use those tools on documents, cases, transactions and projects, and how to develop them into a comprehensive collaboration strategy.

The core message is that by using the latest Web-based and software technologies, you’ll be able to work more efficiently on projects with colleagues , clients and even co-counsels. Also, the authors offer insights into the human component of collaboration, challenged by behavioral, cultural and practical issues.

This comprehensive playbook offers a solution for pretty much anyone, no matter if you are a solo or a large firm practitioner, no matter the size or scope of your project. Law practice management guru Patrick J.McKenna said: "There is an old adage that one can either work hard or work smart… you have a choice." I can’t help thinking what an effective and useful reference this book can be in following the right path.

This post was guest authored by Miriam Evangelista, Exari Marketing Assistant. Miriam joined Exari after finishing her graduate work at Boston University and will be returning soon to her native Italy.

Other Resources to Check Out:

Free NDA and Services Agreement Documents
Exari blog posts:
Five Document Assembly/Legal Technology Blogs to follow
How to Ensure your Document Assembly Project Fails

Gathering Requirements BEFORE a [Document Automation] Project

So, you've decided your organization could improve the way it creates documents. Or, as an ex-McKinsey mate of mine would say, there are 'development opportunities.'

You're even convinced that document assembly is the way to go. So far so good.

But there are lots of options. What's the difference between them all? How much is it going to cost? How much is it going to save me? What do I need to do to make it work? Fundamentally, you want to know: Which solution is right for me?

The answer of course is: It depends. It depends on exactly what your problem is. Or, if you prefer jargon, it depends on your 'requirements.' As you may know, working out your requirements is hard. In fact, it's the hardest part of any project. It's a slow process. It requires consultation with all the stakeholders (jargon for 'affected people'). And most of all it involves lots of uncertainty. People hate uncertainty.

That's why it's so tempting to find out what Similar Company X did. Just copy them and skip the whole requirements gathering/analysis bit altogether. Much easier!

Unfortunately, 'easy' and 'successful project' are pretty much mutually exclusive. (That means they can't happen at the same time.) First, it's unlikely that Similar Company X has properly assessed its requirements - most organisations are just not good at it. And second, even if they have, your requirements really are unique. The fact that the two companies are in the same industry or are of similar size doesn't mean they're trying to solve the same problems. (I'm not suggesting that you go with a vendor that has no experience in your industry - that's still important. Just don't substitute size or industry or some other shared attribute for actual requirements.)

Your requirements are dependent on so much that's unique to your organization - strategy, organizational structure, leadership, culture, priorities, and project management capabilities for starters. These things are just as important as specific departmental pain points in understanding your 'development opportunities.'

The reason there are so many different document assembly solutions is because organizations have so many different requirements. That's why the first thing you need to do is work out exactly what problem(s) you're trying to solve.

In a future post I'll discuss some considerations when trying to work out your specific requirements.

Quantifying The Value of Document Assembly

In his recent post The fictional nature of money, Christoper Penn said,

"Think about how to create the perception of value. Think about how to inspire in someone else the desire to give you anything you want in exchange for that perceived value. What do people value about you, about your products or services? How can you provide more of that value perception? How can you boost the perception of the value that’s already there?"

Penn was talking about the fact that what's important about money for most people, is the value they percieve in the acquistions they make. He went on to say,

"I know that as a businessman, I tend to value three big things – things that will save me time, things that will save me money, and things that will make me money."

If you agree with Chris AND you happen to be considering document assembly or, better still, are trying to make a business case, consider this:

Time Savings - Automating your documents means not starting from scratch every time. You can resuse all of your standard clauses and best practices, as well as pull information from your database or CRM systems. Business users can create their own documents via a web interview in a fraction of the time it used to take.

Saving Money - Legal departments don't need to spend time drafting routine contracts or reviewing the documents, since they created or approved the templates.

Making Money - The sooner your contract is finished, the sooner you can book the revenue. And if your contracts are automated, you know exactly what's in them (i.e. no one cut and pasted the wrong clause with less favorable terms).

There is solid value in document assembly if you match the right solution to your problem. If you need help in creating a business case for your document assembly initiative, ask us for a sample ROI Calculator to help determine the value to you and your company.

Related Posts:
Show me the Business Case

The Green Lawyer

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past few years, you'll be aware that corporates, governments and consumers alike are taking environmental concerns very seriously. So given that you're already recycling everything, walking to work and growing all of your own food, what can you do as a lawyer to help save the planet? The following tips should help:

• Don't print. Printing is evil - it wastes trees, toner and energy. Edit and review your documents on screen (PC, E-reader or iPad) instead.
  
• OK, so you can't cope without a paper copy. You just love the feel and warmth of freshly printed pages. You need to print less. Here's how:


1. Print more than one page per physical page. Most people can easily handle two and many can handle four pages to one physical page.
   
2. Print double sided. With two pages to a physical page combined with double sided printing you've just reduced your paper consumption by up to a quarter and the toner used by half.
3. When drafting, use an environmentally friendly font such as Ecofont which can use up to 25% less toner. In conjunction with multi page printing your toner cartridge could last 8-16 times as long. If you've styled your documents nicely switching font is a very simple operation.
   
   
• Use recycled paper whenever you can.
• Recycle your paper (including shreds), plastics and other waste.
• Use document assembly with pre-approved content. Less drafts mean less paper, less emails, less phone calls and much less wasted power.
• Use e-signing for signing. Web based services like EchoSign make this easy. No printed copies required.
  

If you feel guilty while not following these suggestions there are always carbon credits.

This post was written by Justin Lipton, Exari's Chief Technology Officer.