Traditional options such as outsourcing and fixed billing may not be providing law firms with the efficiency they crave, says one leading consultant.
As the legal field evolves, certain tried-and-true methods such as outsourcing are starting to become less and less effective.
This is at least according to a new whitepaper, The Trends and Challenges Facing the Future Legal Landscape, recently released by LexisNexis New Zealand.
We spoke to Merv Giam, the firm’s head of marketing & commercial, to see what this study revealed about where lawyers should be aiming for the future.
One trend was that outsourcing may not help certain law firms reach peak levels of efficiency, he said.
“Some firms believe that outsourcing is less efficient because they may need to spend more time checking the work and some firms say that they are not in control anymore.”
Instead, it is better to invest in technology that removes the need for outsourcing completely, he said. This includes digital document review solutions.
Furthermore, the study found that fixed billing had its drawbacks for both law firms and in-house teams, Giam said.
“One of the problems for law firms is that having quoted a fixed cost price for the work, the client often also wants an hourly breakdown to check that they have, in fact, got a good deal.”
LexisNexis can help lawyers improve efficiency in these areas and more through solutions such as Lexis Draft which helps firms review, proofread and reference documents.
“Another option is Lexis Red – a mobility solution which allows a lawyer to take their looseleaf titles with them on tablet or laptop, which means no more lugging around huge and heavy books,” Giam said.
