One of the most important ways a law firm can win new clients — and retain old ones — is by demonstrating its commitment to adhering to their clients’ outside counsel guidelines (OCGs). In today’s legal landscape, OCGs are widely used by corporate clients and typically include the client’s expectations on a law firm’s rates and expenses, cybersecurity, ethics, and even the diversity of your staff.
For law firms that have dozens or even hundreds of corporate clients, keeping track of each client’s unique OCGs can be labor-intensive — and, if mismanaged, can even result in lost revenue. For example, a firm’s invoice may be rejected by a client for noncompliance, requiring your professionals to spend additional, non-billable time fixing the invoice.
A cloud-based software solution can give your firm the capability to centralize OCGs and other important documents — such as engagement letters, billing guidelines, and alternative fee arrangements — all within a single online repository. Once your clients’ OCGs are safely stored in the cloud, you’ll be able to analyze these guidelines throughout the entire client lifecycle and deliver on your commitment to OCGs from day one.
Adhere to OCGs across the client lifecycle
Historically, individual practitioners kept OCG documents on their desks or in their computer files. But as OCGs have become more universal, it’s imperative that your entire organization can easily find and access these documents in a single place. This helps ensure that all firm members adhere to client terms throughout the entire client lifecycle.
Leading law firms are investing in OCG management software to guarantee compliance and remain competitive. When leveraged firmwide, across all relevant departments and stakeholders, the tool can significantly enhance the overall client experience.
Universal adoption of the tool makes ongoing OCG analysis possible, allowing law firm professionals to pull a report at any time. For example, if your firm has a data breach, you can use the technology to quickly identify which clients require immediate notification. What was once a labor-intensive, manual task can instead be achieved in minutes with a cloud-based search via your OCG management tool.
Develop an effective implementation strategy
Before adopting any new technology, it’s crucial to first develop an effective strategy for successful implementation. To ensure success with an OCG management software, we strongly recommend the advance input and categorization of all your legacy documents so that they’re available by the go-live date.
There are a few key benefits to this approach. You’ll be able to answer thorny questions about OCGs from your firm’s leaders with just a few simple clicks, and that speed will demonstrate the value of the product to your organization’s leaders. And when all your legacy documents are populated in the system from the start, you’ll be able to leverage its features immediately.
If your database is empty, however, you won’t have enough data to really show off the benefits of your software to your firm leaders, which could cause them to question the value of the investment.
Leverage your firm’s new technology and broaden its scope
After implementation, you can introduce the new OCG management software to your principal stakeholders. Once you have a group of core users who are well versed in its power and capability, they can show it off to others in the firm who might be a bit more skeptical. These hesitant users can then see for themselves how the product increases efficiency, leaving them more likely to adopt the software and process changes.
Additionally, firms that implement AI-powered technology like Intapp Terms can leverage AI to speed up or automate processes. For example, Intapp Terms can automatically notify practitioners of any OCGs that need immediate attention. The tool’s AI-powered search also pulls key terms from client commitment documents faster than if you were doing it manually, saving your practitioners time and effort.
Intapp Terms also enables firms to compare the same documentation from different time periods. For example, if you have a question about an engagement letter that you’re reviewing, you can use Intapp Terms to learn what was negotiated in the previous year. This feature compares the two versions of these 100-page documents and highlights any clauses that been updated or reverted to eliminate a previously negotiated change.
By leveraging machine learning algorithms, Intapp Terms evolves over time. As more data is fed into the engine, the tool can identify and categorize terms faster and more accurately.
With time and extended usage of your firm’s new AI-powered software tool, your firm will be able to successfully leverage features such as data analytics, reporting, and automated notifications. You’ll be able to serve your clients more efficiently, leading to a positive impact on your firm’s bottom line and on the overall client experience.
Expand your firm’s technological innovation with Intapp Terms
By using Intapp Terms, your firm reaps the benefits of new features and enhanced firm efficiency. Recently, Intapp rolled out vendor terms management, a suite of capabilities designed to manage both OCGs and vendor contracts with a single tool — allowing you to compare vendor and client terms by looking at them side by side and giving you a full understanding of how you can deliver on your client commitment.
For example, a client’s OCGs may require you to notify them of a data breach within 48 hours, but your vendors may only notify you of breaches within, say, 7 days. Clearly, that presents a problem. But with Intapp Terms, you can gain visibility of this potential pitfall before it happens.
Intapp also plans to enhance the AI capabilities of Intapp Terms in the future, making it possible for firms to provide busy professionals with easier access to OCG requirements when discussing new business opportunities. With Intapp Terms, firms can effectively deliver on their clients’ OCGs and stand apart from their competition.
Ready to learn how empower your firm to effectively deliver on outside counsel guidelines? Schedule a demo of Intapp Terms today.