Modernize Minute Book Management and Attract Better Talent

The city of Montreal will serve as host of the 2023 Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) National Director Conference & Fellowship Awards Gala. The event brings together international thought leaders and experts to discuss how new breakthroughs are disrupting corporate governance conventions and leading to massive transformational change.

One of the main themes at the event is how to manage human capital and workforce talent. Discussions will range from the governance of talent management to the reassessment of how corporate boardrooms oversee executive talent.

Technology and innovation revolutionize talent management

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the corporate world has adopted remote flexible work arrangements as the new norm. Innovative technologies enable professionals to conduct their business from any location in the world. Companies that support remote work and use of innovative technology have a leg up in the talent acquisition and management markets.

In a survey of over 140 business leaders across multiple industries, 94% of respondents said their corporations will continue to transition their workforces towards remote work. They also cited a number of investments that will be necessary to make this transition permanent. High on the list, according to 52% of respondents, is investing in the right software.

Innovative technology can attract the best legal talent

When companies discuss innovative strategies to modernize corporate governance, the discussion must include how to use those same solutions to attract top legal talent. Corporate governance and compliance protocols are core responsibilities of in-house legal teams, so it’s essential that legal entities attract the most capable talent to join their workforces.

Legal professionals appreciate corporate entities that embrace innovative technology designed to modernize corporate governance using flexible workflows. Corporations that cater to those interests and modernize corporate governance workflows have a leg up on both attracting and retaining the best legal minds in the business.

A Thomson Reuters survey found that legal professionals are willing to remain loyal to entities that support more flexibility and autonomy in their work schedules. At the same time, they’re willing to move on from firms or in-house counsels that reject innovation.

Use entity management software as a recruitment strategy

To demonstrate to high-valued legal minds that your corporation is committed to innovation, entity management software is one of the best software investments for the business. Entity management software is designed by legal professionals to help other legal professionals modernize minute book management, streamline clerical processes, and implement effective corporate governance protocols all within the convenience of one centralized system.

One of the most tedious legal responsibilities is clerical and administrative work. In fact, studies have shown that the average legal professional spends nearly 50% of their day on administrative and clerical work.

Entity management software is designed to simplify these mundane tasks using custom built templates housed within the platform. The software is intuitive and automatically converts inputted minute book records into PDF-style documents that can be disseminated to the proper stakeholders. Suddenly, the amount of time spent on clerical duties is dramatically slashed.

Entity management software’s built-in governance templates simplify legal workloads

Issuing and maintaining effective corporate governance protocols protect your organization from significant legal penalties, including the possibility of jail time for senior executives as punishment for serious violations of the law.

Using entity management software’s built-in compliance and governance protocols, your legal team ensures all aspects of the organization are functioning in an ethical and legally responsible manner. The platform uses modules to establish governance and compliance frameworks with documented sequences for how to enforce those protocols.

Within those modules are pre-built sequences that highlight errors, statutory non-compliance, and data-based compliance tasks still pending finalization. Additionally, the platform has easy-to-use templates to create structured organizational charts, compliance calendars, governance workflows, and other processes to enforce the proper systems.

Beginning in 2020, remote and hybrid workplaces became more acceptable in most office cultures. Advancements in modern technology have enabled collaboration between teammates regardless of their geographic locations. Over the past three years, the use of technology to facilitate remote or hybrid work has continued to accelerate.

Many law firms in the legal industry have followed suit, embracing modern technology to provide more flexible options for remote work. Advancements in cloud-based legal technology have enabled legal professionals to manage minute books and conduct client meetings from the convenience of any location.

Modern legal technology reduced the need for office space

This isn’t a trend that’s unique to the legal community. Global companies are downsizing their corporate offices as they accept that remote and hybrid work is the new norm.

However, let’s consolidate the global embrace of remote or hybrid work and analyze how the legal industry has adopted these trends.

Frequency that law office space was used in 2019

The 2022 Clio Legal Trends Report looks specifically at how modern technology has impacted the way legal teams use their law firm office spaces. The Clio research team used data from their own customers to compare how many legal professionals worked from the same IP address in 2019, 2020, 2021, and finally 2022.

The numbers from 2019 were used as a baseline for comparison. According to those numbers, professional lawyers spent an average of 13 days per month in their firm’s office space in 2019. Additionally, 40% of lawyers and 70% of non-lawyers — paralegals, clerks, and administrative assistants — worked exclusively in their firm’s offices.

Frequency that law office space was used in 2022

Fast forward to 2022, and those in-office numbers have changed, though, in some cases, the change is negligible. In 2022, lawyers worked in the office for an average of 12 days per month, more or less consistent with in-office usage from 2019. What has changed is the number of lawyers who work exclusively out of the office. That number declined to 23% in 2022, a sizable difference from the average rate three years prior.

Interestingly, the biggest change in how law firm offices are used lies with the non-lawyer side of the workforce. In 2019, paralegals, clerks, and administrative assistants worked out of law firm offices for an average of 17 days per month. Three years later, that number has declined to 13 days per month, a much bigger rate of change than amongst their lawyer counterparts.

An even bigger change was identified in the number of non-lawyers who work exclusively out of the office. Paralegals, clerks, and administrative assistants now work exclusively in the office about 50% of the time, a dramatic decrease from the 70% exclusivity rate in 2019.

How cloud-based legal software increased remote work rates

Part of this shift towards remote or hybrid work has been permissible thanks to advancements in cloud-based legal entity management technology. As cloud-based platforms, legal entity management technology enables lawyers, paralegals, and administrative assistants to manage minute book records for clients from virtual settings.

Paralegals, clerks, and administrative assistants are the principal beneficiaries of cloud-based legal entity management software. These platforms are built to automate clerical and administrative work, streamlining workflows and making entity management a more efficient process. The platforms are also protected by advanced security parameters, including biometric and hardware key authentication that restricts access to the accounts to an exclusive group.

Since the platform hosts all client data securely within the cloud, your legal clients can view their records from a location of their own choosing. This allows your paralegals and legal counterparts to conduct client meetings and minute book record reviews virtually anywhere.

Cloud-based legal entity management software eliminates the taxing financial and time management challenges to coordinate meetings amongst multiple stakeholders for minute book record reviews. Every legal stakeholder’s life is made easier by cloud-based legal entity management technology!

How to use legal technology as a talent acquisition competitive advantage

Industry-wide research supports the notion that millions of legal professionals are embracing remote or hybrid work models. If your firm wants to attract and retain the best legal talent in the industry, you need to give legal professionals a reason to join your firm.

The fact is that today’s legal professionals embrace innovation as an exciting shift in their industry. Both lawyers and paralegals want to work for innovative firms that fully embrace the competitive advantages of cloud-based legal entity management technology.

Invest in these platforms and give your firm a competitive advantage in the battle to acquire today’s top legal talent. Demonstrate to prospective hires that your firm encourages flexible work so that they feel empowered to set their own schedules. Show paralegals and clerks how you’ll save valuable hours in their days by onboarding them to use entity management software.

Cloud-based legal entity management technology is a valuable resource to streamline workflows and modernize minute book management. But it’s equally a valuable resource to acquire the top talent in the industry and expand the capabilities of your firm.

Give your firm a stronger edge in the competitive battle for the best legal talent in the industry. Use entity management software like MinuteBox and help your firm become one of the leading innovators in the legal industry.

Paralegals are the backbone of any law firm and in-house general counsel department. Tasked with conducting legal research, preparing legal documents, conducting client interviews, and running the day-to-day operations of a law office, no firm can function effectively without talented paralegals providing legal support.

Some paralegals are satisfied with their positions as legal support staff. Others pursue certifications to become professional practicing attorneys. However, many paralegals choose a career in legal operations, or legal ops, as the next step in their career paths.

What exactly does a career in legal ops look like, and how does it differ from a paralegal career? Let’s break down that transition and outline how more paralegals can open new career opportunities for the future.

What are legal operations?

The purpose of a legal operations team is to help legal teams deliver high-quality services at reduced costs with improved results. They remain focused on helping legal professionals perform their duties with efficiency and proficiency.

On a day-to-day basis, the legal operations team assumes responsibility for all operational tasks of a law firm, or in-house general counsel department. They oversee the duties and responsibilities for all operations that do not require a lawyer’s degree to manage.

What’s the difference between paralegals and legal ops?

You may assume there’s a degree of overlap between the responsibilities of paralegals and a legal operations team. While there are some similarities, here’s the biggest disparity between the two legal support roles.

Paralegals primarily manage legal documentation and client interviews

Some paralegal responsibilities do extend to office administration work. However, most of their duties are related to the management of legal documents for clients.

Many paralegals benefit from using entity management software to streamline many of these workflows. Entity management software is a tool built by legal professionals to help legal talent more efficiently manage legal matters.

Workflows that traditionally take several hours can be completed in a more streamlined manner using entity management software. Paralegals can complete their necessary tasks with greater efficiency and efficacy. Subsequently, they can reinvest their own time and energy into fostering the growth of Legal Recurring Revenue to grow the firm.

Legal operations handle more administrative responsibilities

Whereas paralegals manage legal documents and some client-facing duties, legal operations are primarily charged with overseeing the administrative aspects of a law firm. This can include items that range from:

• HR-related tasks
• IT installation and maintenance
• Compliance matters
• Calendar deadlines for important matters

Legal operations managers may also manage any third-party vendor relationships contracted by the firm or by the in-house corporate counsel. They’re primarily concerned with ensuring those services are provided to vendors in the most cost-efficient manner.

Legal operations managers can also benefit from solutions like entity management software. Entity management platforms like MinuteBox are designed with a built-in compliance framework to help legal ops maintain diligent compliance workflows. The platform can help guide legal ops managers as they build compliance programs, ensuring the firm or corporation remains in compliance with jurisdictional laws.

Why do paralegals transition into legal operations?

Suppose your paralegals are concerned about career mapping. Assisting their transition into new areas of responsibilities broadens their skill sets and helps them complete more fulfilling work to satisfy their interests.

The biggest reason for these transitions is to master new career skills. Some people want to develop skills as a manager, and a transition to legal operations is one of the best ways paralegals can develop those skills. Being responsible for all the administrative processes within the firm means operations managers gain influence, authority, and managerial skills.

How do paralegals transition into legal operations?

Legal operations managers often begin their careers as paralegals, so the transition from one area to the other is not that uncommon. The current director of legal operations for MGM Resorts International began his career as a paralegal.

The greatest advice from legal ops executives to aspiring paralegals-turned-legal-ops-managers is to voice your aspirations to your superiors. If you work at a law firm, inform the partners that you’d like to make the transition to a legal operations career. If you work for a corporate legal department, share your goals with the in-house general counsellor.

Use your learned skills and mastery of legal technology

Many paralegals, knowingly or unknowingly, already possess many of the necessary skills to be an effective legal operations manager. By managing client relationships and compliance calendars, paralegals can transfer those managerial skills and help improve legal operations across the organization.

Paralegals who master legal technology, like entity management platforms, have already introduced efficiencies into their operations. During the transition into legal operations, use those experiences to show your merit. Use entity management software to help organize the hierarchy, set date-based deadlines, and implement effective GRC protocols.

As an experienced paralegal, you already have the managerial skills and capabilities to assume legal operations responsibilities. Believe in your abilities and grow your legal career without requiring a law degree.