Law firm02 / 09
Let matters move without everything going back up to the partners
Every step of a matter waits for a partner.
- A matter can’t open until a partner has approved it.
- Associates wait for a green light to move on.
- Partners’ diaries set the pace of the whole firm.
Work piles up at the same checkpoint.
2022 · Business law firm, Lyon · 6 partners · 35 associates
Opening a matter took several people and several tools: email, conflict check, Word, CRM, e-signature, file server. 45 minutes on average, five manual steps, and about 200 partner hours a year. Nobody owned the whole process, and a conflict of interest was spotted late because client information was not entered in one place.
We rebuilt matter opening as a single circuit in Microsoft 365: request, conflict check, qualification, engagement letter, signature, matter creation. Standard cases move on their own; exceptions go up to a partner. A standard opening went from 45 to 8 minutes, and human interventions from five to two.
When every step waits for a partner, the partner becomes the bottleneck of their own firm. Intake, conflicts, engagement letter: part of the workflow can move without them.
Redesigned matter intake, centralised conflict checks, generated engagement letters.
Does this sound like your situation?
One hour to look at how it works on your side, with no commitment.
Let’s look at this in your organisation