Tech-perplexed lawyers: We’ve enjoyed (not) seeing you at the Legal Tech Non-Event. 

In this edition, we’ll provide a summary of recent news from some of the companies that have joined us.

As always, be sure to visit our Legal Operations Software page for all your tech adoption requirements!

CobbleStone Software

As business demands and technology evolve, organizations drafting, negotiating, and managing contracts and other documents with manual processes are quickly finding themselves falling behind. The consequences of this lagging behind can include process bottlenecks, decreased revenue, increased errors and risk, and the inability to focus on strategic tasks due to the need for tedious manual contract task management.

Thankfully, there is a better way – and you can get started with better contract lifecycle management today!

CobbleStone Software’s VISDOM® AI with machine learning eliminates the need for manual contract management by turning static contract documents into building blocks for automated drafting, negotiation, and execution of contract documents and data.

Some of the most exciting and celebrated features of VISDOM include:

• • a VISDOM AI assist chatbot that answers questions and helps you easily navigate your contracts and relevant data.
  • auto-redlining for automated contract drafting and clause management.
  • generative AI for contract clauses and helpful resources.
  • automated data entry, data extraction, and data classification.
  • statistical data analysis and real-time recommendations.
  • these features and so many others!

It’s risk-free and easy to learn about all VISDOM has to offer, so book a free demo today!

Filevine

Filevine had another record year, with dramatic growth of its customer base and AI-enhanced product expansion taking the spotlight.

Over the last year, Filevine released a series of industry-leading AI tools. These include: AIFields, which automatically extracts and analyzes information from case files; the legal intake tool LeadsAI; ImmigrationAI, which cuts down on time-consuming immigration paperwork; the demand-writing service DemandsAI, and the support feature SidebarAI.

Filevine also launched new payment processing to deliver an end-to-end timekeeping, billing, and payments platform to the market, and cement its role as the most comprehensive platform for legal professionals from all practice areas. Filevine surpassed 3,500 customers, including a record number of enterprise clients, and was recognized among the fastest-growing private companies on the Inc. 5000 for the fourth year in a row.

To continue delivering on client support, Filevine launched Live Help, a new initiative offering real-time video support from Filevine experts. Earlier this year, Filevine also launched Filevine University (FVU) with 6,200 users completing nearly 27,000 courses. The company welcomed nearly 1,000 guests to the Company’s annual user conference, LEX Summit, and sponsored over 100 legal trade events, including the Company’s own FilevineAI Dinner & Discourse series.

The post The Non-Event Industry Wrap-Up: In-House and Legal Ops Special Report appeared first on Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event.

In this episode — featuring UpLevel Ops COO/Senior Advisor Elizabeth Lugones and Ken Callander, Managing Principal of Value Strategies — you’ll discover how this shift toward efficiency, transparency, and alignment in legal services can drastically reduce legal costs, ensure budget predictability, foster strong law firm relationships, and boost organizational value.

Episode Highlights

• How Ken helps manage and optimize legal operations
• The billing procedures in the legal industry compared with other professional services industries
• How law firms can establish value-based pricing
• The importance of firm-client relationships in successful value-based pricing models
• Why you should start small when implementing value-based pricing

The post Unlocking Value: The Power of Value-Based Pricing appeared first on Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event.

The legal tech scene has been buzzing non-stop with updates about new capabilities and the latest product enhancements, thanks to the groundbreaking technology of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI).

Legal tech vendors have been racing to outdo each other, each trying to keep pace with the rapid advancements and shifting trends. Amidst this flurry of innovation, many legal professionals find themselves still at the starting line, pondering the best path forward and wondering when to make their move.

In recent months, my team at UpLevel Ops has hit the road, leading a series of talks aimed at shedding light on GAI’s role in the legal sector. As we’ve engaged with legal leaders nationwide, our tour has been as much an educational journey for us as it has been for our audiences.

Regardless of where we are or which legal industry segment we’re addressing, we’ve discovered a recurring theme: Legal teams everywhere are feeling the nudge from their company executives to bring GAI into their daily operations. Yet, this push towards innovation is often met with a sense of uncertainty about how to effectively integrate these technologies.

This feeling isn’t confined to just a handful of firms — it’s a common thread permeating the entire legal profession. Once considered novel or even out-of-reach, GAI is now central to conversations about enhancing legal work productivity and sparking innovation. 

Amidst this evolving landscape filled with uncertainty, our year of closely tracking GAI advancements and product announcements has led me to a pivotal realization. The cornerstone of our future work life will be the integration of on-demand custom GPT assistants. This insight has crystallized into a clear vision for the path forward, one where tailored digital aides play a central role in our day-to-day tasks.

The transformation in our work approach since fully embracing custom GPT assistants earlier this year has been nothing short of a revelation. These personalized tools have quickly proven themselves to be invaluable, liberating us from the monotony of repetitive, low-value tasks and broadening the scope of our capabilities.

The impact on productivity and the expansion of our skill sets has been remarkable. Freed from the traditional constraints of learning new skills through lengthy training, we now turn to custom GPT assistants as navigators. This shift towards a learn-by-doing approach has completely revolutionized the learning process, equipping us with the agility and confidence to quickly tackle new unfamiliar tasks. This profound change underscores the power and potential of integrating on-demand custom GPTs into our work, marking a new era in professional development and productivity across the legal field and beyond.

At UpLevel, our deep dive into the world of on-demand custom GPTs has illuminated a truth you can only grasp through full immersion: The transformative power of these tools must be experienced firsthand to be truly appreciated. We’ve pinpointed a selection of straightforward use cases for what we see as the lowest-hanging fruit.

This includes chat-enabled FAQs as well as policies and procedures, simple contract summarization, and writing assistants that are tuned to your unique voice. Surprisingly, leveraging a mix of these specialized tools can rival the productivity boost of adopting a complex, all-encompassing legal tech solution.

Legal professionals can witness how these innovations streamline their workload with precision and speed by initiating GAI integration with specific, minimal-risk tasks well-suited to GPT assistants. This approach doesn’t just alleviate apprehension; it also fuels imagination, encouraging inventive applications of GAI within legal practices.

Demonstrating the effectiveness of these task-specific assistants paves the way for broader acceptance and curiosity about GAI’s capabilities, setting a solid foundation for its growth and acceptance in the legal landscape.

This year also marks a pivotal moment for the legal sector to delve into and embrace the world of GAI. At a recent LINK Live! event, head of Legal Ops at Intel and former President of CLOC Mike Haven captured the essence of this transition. He advised legal leaders not to rush into quantifying productivity gains or other metrics when first adopting but to focus on gradual progress. According to Haven, the goal for now should be to familiarize oneself and one’s team with the technology. 

On-demand custom GPTs emerge as an ideal starting point for increasing comfort levels with GAI, thanks to their simplicity and straightforward application. It’s essential to note that many concerns currently surrounding GAI, such as inaccuracies or “hallucinations,” are expected to be transient.

The technology is improving at an exponential rate, and OpenAI’s leader, Sam Altman, has already announced that the company will be releasing their next more advanced GAI model later this year. The company has said that the leap in capabilities from the current model to the next will be as significant as the jump from GPT-3 to GPT-4, suggesting a significant expansion in skills and abilities. 

With these imminent advances in mind, the time to start moving forward is now. By doing so, you are positioning your team to confidently share stories of significant productivity improvements at this time next year before the next major jump in advancements is at our front door. 

Brandi Pack has a diverse background that spans the legal, hospitality, education, and technology industries. Over the course of her career, she has excelled in various strategic business operations roles at Hewlett Packard Company, Constellation Brands, and Goodwill Industries. Brandi has a successful track record in project management, training, business development, legal operations, and IT services. She is a thought leader in the emerging space of AI in the workplace, particularly as it impacts the legal landscape.

The post How On-Demand GPT Assistants Are Shaping The Future Of Law appeared first on Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event.

Demanding value-based pricing (e.g., matter value-based fixed fees, success/performance fees, or scope-specific retainer agreements) from law firms represents a significant cultural shift for legal departments, requiring a departure from traditional billing models based solely on billable hours and overcoming concerns that asking for it may tarnish relationships.

This shift involves embracing a new mindset that prioritizes efficiency, transparency, and alignment of incentives between legal service providers and their clients.

Here’s a breakdown of the cultural changes necessary for legal departments to effectively implement value-based pricing:

1. Embrace a Value Mindset

In-house legal departments are expected to be strategic business partners to the company, financial stewards of the company’s money, and deliver value to the organization.

In order for internal legal teams and their trusted legal service partners to deliver value, there must be a shift of focus from simply tracking hours worked to assessing the value derived from the legal services.

Effort (hours) does not tie to the actual value received. Instead, the value focus should be on pricing tied to tasks, activities, and deliverables.

This requires a deeper understanding of the specific goals and objectives of the organization and how legal support contributes to achieving those goals and objectives.

2. Value Communication and Collaboration

Legal departments need to improve communication with law firms regarding their expectations, priorities, and desired outcomes.

Collaborative discussions are crucial for aligning the scope of work, value-based pricing structures, and performance metrics.

Further, legal departments must communicate/market the value their legal services are bringing to the broader organization, such as their role in revenue velocity and risk mitigation.

3. Transparency and Accountability

Transparency in pricing and service delivery is essential for building trust and fostering long-term partnerships.

Law firms are part of the value proposition to an organization, and therefore, how a legal department manages the relationship should align with the desired outcomes set out initially when scoping the matter(s).

Legal departments should develop initial scopes of work and required pricing structures while encouraging law firms to provide detailed pricing proposals, breakdowns of costs, and regular progress reports that highlight not only substantive legal issues/decisions but also the impact of that on cost.

This ensures accountability and alignment with budgetary constraints.

4. Focus on Efficiency and Innovation

Value-based pricing incentivizes law firms to prioritize efficiency and innovation in service delivery by tying results and deliverables to the price paid.

Legal departments should encourage and reward those law firms that use creative problem-solving and explore alternative approaches, such as leveraging technology and process improvements, to streamline workflows and reduce costs.

5. Performance Measurement and Continuous Improvement

Legal departments should establish a governance model that monitors performance from a quality and cost vs. value delivered perspective.

They should establish clear performance metrics and baseline benchmarks to evaluate the effectiveness and value of legal services provided by external firms.

End-of-matter performance reviews and annual 360 feedback sessions help identify areas for improvement and reinforce accountability on both sides.

6. Risk-Sharing and Outcome-Based Incentives

Value-based pricing encourages a shift toward risk-sharing arrangements and outcome-based incentives, where law firms are rewarded for achieving favorable results or meeting specific milestones.

Legal departments should explore different risk-sharing pricing models, such as contingent fees, success fees, and recovery fees, tailored to the nature and complexity of each matter.

7. Cultural Alignment Across Stakeholders

Achieving successful value-based pricing requires cultural alignment not only within legal departments but also among key stakeholders, including senior management, finance, and procurement teams.

Collaboration and buy-in from all parties are crucial for driving meaningful change and overcoming resistance to new pricing models. Internal change management is one of the key obstacles in implementing value-based pricing structures.

8. Investment in Skills and Capabilities

Legal departments may need to invest in developing capabilities to negotiate and manage value-based pricing agreements effectively.

This can be done via engagement of experts in this space to not only develop the initial framework but also train/coach internal legal department resources on how to manage it going forward.

This includes training staff on pricing strategies, scoping techniques, value-based price structures, law firm negotiations, financial analysis, and performance management techniques.

In conclusion, implementing value-based pricing requires a fundamental cultural shift within legal departments that focuses on value, transparency, efficiency, and collaboration.

By embracing this new mindset and adopting innovative pricing models, legal departments can significantly reduce legal spend, increase budget predictability, build stronger partnerships with law firms, optimize resource allocation, and ultimately enhance the overall value proposition for their organizations.

Elizabeth Lugones is COO/ Senior Advisor of UpLevel Ops who has built and managed Legal Operations teams in various industries in both public and private companies over her 20+ year career. She excels in global project management and business reengineering, with particular expertise in process improvement, change management, cross-functional collaboration, and team building, but her true passion is helping others find their own strengths and talents and harness them for the value of all.

Ken Callander is Managing Principal of Value Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that specifically works with corporate legal departments helping them get more value and predictability from their outside counsel relationships. His specialty is helping clients transition their engagements with law firms from the hourly fee pricing model to value-based fee arrangements. As the founder of Value Strategies LLC, Ken was Head of Legal Operations and Chief of Staff to the General Counsel at Uber Technologies. Prior to Uber, Ken was the Chief Marketing Officer and Director of Business Development at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, a 600-attorney international law firm, and before that was an executive at Hewlett Packard in operations and marketing where he was considered an expert in the pricing of professional services.  

The post A Blueprint For Collaboration And Efficiency Through Value-Based Pricing appeared first on Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event.

In a sea of competing proposals, legal departments must go the extra mile when advocating for limited company resources.

To learn the ins and outs of creating a compelling and effective business case, join us and our friends at UpLevel Ops and myLawCLE at 2 p.m. Eastern on March 21.

The discussion will include:

• Identifying and gathering the must-have components of a strong business case
• Exploring the need to align with company goals & business needs, establish benchmarks, evaluate market trends, and use available data (such as ROI or other cost/benefit analysis information)
• Compiling a coalition: when & how to smartly leverage internal stakeholders, tech-agnostic consultants, and technology vendors
• Creating and presenting a persuasive proposal
• After winning them over – now prove it was true! Ensure project success with best practices for implementation, change management, and ongoing data-driven storytelling

(CLE Credits: 1.2 General, 1.0 Law & Technology)

Sign up today and join us on March 21st!

The post How Law Department Pros Can Get The Resources They Need appeared first on Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event.

Successful legal tech selection, implementation, and adoption require legal departments and the organizations in which they sit to prioritize the needs of the people interacting with the technology and the processes it will enable.

One of the desired outcomes of successfully leveraging technology is that people are enabled to work at their optimal level of proficiency and capabilities. We call this “humanizing technology.”

This practice focuses on the user experience and the necessity of making legal tools, processes, and their output accessible. 

Following are areas where legal departments should focus their efforts:

Empathy and User-Centered Design

Involve end-users, such as legal professionals and clients, in the selection, design implementation, and testing phases to ensure that the technology meets their needs and is easy to use.

This is where the corporate buzzwords “process optimization” come into play. 

Infuse empathy into the design process. Understand the challenges and pain points of stakeholders (legal and business) to design processes and technology solutions that address their needs. Integrate legal technology seamlessly into existing workflows. Avoid disrupting established processes and ensure that the technology enhances efficiency rather than creating additional burdens.

User-centric design requires evaluating and understanding how the active participants in the process interact in the environment and what the company’s culture/industry is. By doing this, organizations ensure the key participants are taken into account in selection and implementation.  

Clear Communication and Storytelling

Clear and transparent communication is important to build team support and executive buy-in.

User-centered design includes communication with individuals impacted by or benefiting from change.

Take this opportunity not only to understand their needs and collect data points but also to tell the story and pressure test the future state vision for how technology will benefit them and ease their points of friction. 

Lawyers are skilled problem solvers. When they are presented with an issue, they interpret law and precedent and come back with legal analysis to provide guidance to their client. 

In the case of technology implementation, this approach leads to failure and frustration. 

Technology design should be a collaborative effort to uncover what will achieve the desired results for the majority of the parties involved. It involved bridging the gap of understanding by being fully transparent, compromising, influencing, and solving together.

Unlike in Field of Dreams, if you build it, he will NOT come. You cannot buy and implement technology, plug it in, and expect everyone to use it.

You must inspire and incentivize people every step of the way to understand the value technology will bring once it is in place. 

Feedback and Continuous Improvement

During the design phase, include a governance model to manage the technology owners and incorporate feedback mechanisms to gather input from users.

Actively seek feedback and use it to make continuous improvements, demonstrating a commitment to user satisfaction. Address easy fixes quickly and be transparent on how issues are being addressed. 

This prevents frustrations from festering and turning into something bigger than the original problem. 

Embrace a culture of continuous improvement that monitors not only the technology but the environment that it supports. Be responsive to changes like shifts in process steps and to those teams engaged in the process.

These all have an impact on the original design of the tool that will need to be adjusted to reflect the new environment.  

By incorporating these strategies, legal technology can become more approachable, user-friendly, and aligned with the human aspects of the legal profession.

Humanizing legal technology enhances its acceptance, adoption, and overall impact on legal professionals and clients.

Elizabeth Lugones is COO/ Senior Advisor of UpLevel Ops who has built and managed Legal Operations teams in various industries in both public and private companies over her 20+ year career. She excels in global project management and business reengineering, with particular expertise in process improvement, change management, cross-functional collaboration, and team building, but her true passion is helping others find their own strengths and talents and harness them for the value of all.

The post Why ‘Humanizing’ Technology Will Empower Legal Teams appeared first on Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event.

In this episode of the UpLevel View podcast, Audrey Taranto, general counsel of Enstar Group, discusses the initiatives that earned her team an ACC Value Champions accolade.

In a discussion with Stephanie Corey, CEO and Founder of UpLevel Ops, Taranto explores groundbreaking initiatives, such as AI-powered contract review and a user-centric chatbot, highlighting strategic alignment and enterprise-wide collaboration.

Audrey emphasizes the cross-functional impact and courage to pilot new technologies, making this episode a treasure trove of insights for legal executives and corporate leaders aspiring to transform their legal operations for enhanced value and efficiency.

 Highlights

• The importance of having a long-term vision for a sustainable, value-driving legal department

• How to prioritize initiatives that will have a substantial impact and be resource-realistic

• Importance of cross-functional collaboration within organizations

• The challenges in implementing document management

• Exploring the potential of using generative AI to save lawyers time and enhance legal processes

• Alignment of generative AI with a strong legal ops strategy and its potential to improve the speed and efficiency of legal

The post How One In-House Team Earned Its ‘Value Champion’ Award appeared first on Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event.

Aligning interests to achieve mutually beneficial relationships is a key aspiration for law departments and outside counsel alike. 

In this episode of the UpLevel View podcast, legal operations expert Elizabeth Lugones of UpLevel Ops is joined by Yusuf Mohamed, partner and member of the General Counsel practice at Taylor English Duma LLP.

Yusuf shares strategies beyond traditional cost analysis and performance monitoring, emphasizing the importance of viewing outside counsel as strategic partners rather than service providers. 

The discussion includes: 

• The challenges of managing legal practices as the organization grows, especially in implementing consistent engagement with outside counsel.
• The importance of in-house teams being proactive and setting clear expectations for law firms.
• Contrasting the communication methodologies between law firms and in-house departments, noting the differences in audiences and workflow.
• The future potential of more sophisticated AI tools to analyze legal data and envision possible legal risk scenarios.
• Why clients should be hesitant about trying different pricing models, with the understanding that they can revert to old methods if unsatisfied.
• Transparency, conversation, and alignment of interests for achieving mutual benefits.

The post From Vendor To Strategic Partner: How GCs Can Cultivate The Ideal Outside Counsel Relationship appeared first on Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event.

How can legal leaders use a forward-thinking mindset to propel an international team to new heights?

In this UpLevel View podcast, legal operations expert Stephanie Corey of UpLevel Ops sits down with Curt McDaniel, Chief Legal Officer at Ferring Pharmaceuticals.

McDaniel shares his approach to nurturing a vision that transcends borders — and how it’s infused into Ferring’s culture, driving extraordinary achievement. 

The discussion includes:

• The concept of “legal design,” which focuses on understanding the needs and challenges of the business partner.
• Building the legal operations department and its role in optimizing legal services.
• The starting principles for assessing legal services needed and the best ways to provide the services.
• The changing role of delivering legal services due to technology advancements and the impact on law firms.
• Using data for improvement and measuring progress was discussed.
• The importance of celebrating success and recognizing continuous progress was stressed.
• The idea of a “legal data scientist” is an acknowledgment of the need for data-based decision-making in the company.
• The experience of working on large legal contracts.

The post How An International Legal Team Is Embracing Innovation appeared first on Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event.

Are you navigating the dynamic world of legal operations innovation and feeling a bit overwhelmed? 

Don’t worry! With our new UpLevel View podcast, we’re ready to alleviate your legal ops anxiety! 

Tune in each month for exclusive interviews and insights from the leaders at UpLevel Ops, who have been there and done that. They’ll be joined each episode by innovators in the field.

Listen for valuable advice on honing your corporate legal leadership game, candid discussions on legal technology, and actionable ways to step out of your comfort zone and take your career to the next level.

And check out the trailer here:

The post Introducing ‘UpLevel View’: A Podcast On All Things Legal Ops!  appeared first on Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event.