How to Overcome Internal Resistance to Legal Technology

The legal industry is constantly evolving, and the use of technology by paraprofessionals is no exception. The pandemic has brought about new challenges and changes in the way law firms operate, including an increased reliance on remote work and virtual connections. In this interview, Tiffany Pereira, an expert in legal technology, shares her insights on how technology is being used by paraprofessionals and how it is evolving in response to these changes. From the rise of the self-service delivery model to the importance of ease of delivery in technology products, this post explores the ways in which technology is being utilized by paraprofessionals to better serve their clients and improve their workflow.

What we’ll cover in this blog post:

1. The rise of the self-service delivery model
2. The values of ease of delivery in the product
3. The use of recordings and a knowledge base
4. The shift towards a self-service delivery model

The use of technology by paraprofessionals is evolving in response to the changes brought about by the pandemic. As Tiffany Pereira notes, “with some of the lockdowns it forced some law firms, of course, to temporarily close their offices and really rely on those virtual connections, whether through Zoom or through phone. And clients turn to their devices instead of stopping by the firm’s office to read or sign documents or have those connections.”

This shift to remote work has led to an increase in the use of the self-service delivery model. As Pereira explains, “What can we look at if we have a question? What are our options? Are there resources? Is there a knowledge base? Are there webinars like this? Are there articles that we can utilize? How can we learn without sitting in a boardroom together?”

Watch the full interview, Evolving Technology for Paraprofessionals

Additionally, ease of delivery in the product has become more important. Pereira states, “So what we also saw was a lot of cancellations for training sessions, and that wasa bit of a shift from what we were used to. But then relying on recordings, relying on how I can get the most information and having basically a knowledge base or one-stop shop to everything I need to know about this product.”

To adapt to these changes, firms are utilizing recordings and knowledge bases to provide training and resources for paraprofessionals. This allows them to learn and access information at their own pace and convenience, rather than relying on traditional in-person training sessions.

Overall, the pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a self-service delivery model for technology used by paraprofessionals. This allows them to access the resources they need to effectively use the technology and provide service to clients in a more flexible and efficient manner.

A career as a legal professional is one of the most sought after and hardest earned professions. As practicing attorneys, trained clerks/paralegals, or in-house corporate counsel representatives, the responsibilities assigned to legal experts are critical to the success of any business entity.

While their roles are of utmost importance, legal professionals also face some of the most recurring challenges in any professional setting. Between pressing deadlines, client expectations, precedent-setting mandates, and other taxing challenges, legal experts always have their work cut out for them.

The stress of managing client expectations

Deadlines, billing pressures, client demands, long hours, changing laws, and other pressures individually cause legal experts to feel stressed out. Collectively, they’re responsible for making the practice of law one of the most stressful professions for all practitioners.

For example, in the UK, a study of over 100 practicing attorneys found that 92 percent of lawyers experienced stress or burnout from their job. Most respondents also admitted to spending up to 10 additional hours of overtime per week, significantly detracting from a healthy work-life balance.

One interesting finding from the study was related to technology. According to the numbers, most lawyers believe entity management technology that automates administrative and clerical work is the most impactful way modern solutions can help reduce stress.

Clients want more value for billable hour rates

When the global economy is firing on all cylinders, companies are willing to spend more on professional legal services. When the economy contracts and approaches recession-level anemic growth, entities are less willing to pay high legal hourly rates.

In 2021, the average billable amount charged by lawyers was $300 per hour. Over the next two years, supply chain management issues and the ongoing political issues triggered economic calamity across the entire globe. Today, economists forecast a very difficult 2023, raising the question of just how many companies are willing to pay high hourly rates.

One option to help legal experts prove their value is through entity management technology. Using these intuitive platforms, the administrative and clerical work can be uploaded into the cloud, where it’s filed, sorted, tagged, and organized in a matter of minutes. With these solutions in place, legal counsel can spend more time consulting with clients and provide demonstrable proof that billed time is for consultation rather than documentation.

Benefits of entity management technology

Entity management technology takes the menial work out of the legal profession and helps experts rediscover the fun in providing their services. Its most valuable benefit is that legal counsel can digitize corporate documents and minute book records.

By uploading all client documentation into the cloud, counsel and their respective clients can view the corporate documents at their own convenience. Instead of arranging time for face-to-face meetings, an entire review can be done electronically, providing a growing number of business leaders the freedom to conduct their legal business from remote locations.

On top of the convenience and flexibility afforded by these platforms, entity management software also provides the following underlying benefits:

• Industry-leading security backed by biometric and hardware key authentication
• Options to quickly generate reports for client reviews and signatory approvals
• Advanced search parameters that make it easy to find and source minute books
• Built-in calendars to track important filing deadlines, transaction dates, shareholder meetings, etc.
• Unlimited seats for the entire legal counsel and chief entity decision makers

Use entity management software to simplify legal workload

Technology helps simplify personal and professional lives. Entity management technology saves legal counsel valuable hours of time, which can minimize the need for overtime.
Since the platforms are intuitive and designed to automate most clerical work, legal experts can allocate their own time towards profitable tasks throughout their days. As more clients demand value from billable hours, your legal team can focus on growing Legal Recurring Revenue with dedicated time and energy towards solving legal challenges that affect clients’ own businesses.

The purpose of your corporate compliance program is to protect the health and security of your business entity. Compliance programs help corporations avoid misappropriating human and capital resources; administer procedures for fraud, abuse, and discrimination, as well as install processes to secure operations and legally protect the business from outside risks.

As legal technology continues to advance, it increasingly becomes a reliable resource to secure your corporate interests. Platforms like MinuteBox are intuitive, and they’re developed with forward-thinking logic to help legal professionals remain on top of all compliance trends.

Here are four major compliance trends that business entities must effectively address to remain in compliance with jurisdictional laws. We’ll explore how legal entity management technology can help address these trends and secure corporate compliance.

1. Cybercrime and protecting corporate security

Financial crimes are part of a trillion-dollar industry, and it’s estimated that business entities lose three dollars for every dollar of fraud. Amongst the most alarming examples of cybercrime are ransomware attacks, which corrupt data files on harddrives and hold them hostage until payments are issued to unlock that data.

Sensitive corporate data must be protected to ensure compliance and avoid the massive costs of a ransomware attack. Your business entity must protect cyberhackers from corrupting the platform and holding sensitive data hostage.

Legal entity management technology like MinuteBox is protected by biometric and hardware key authentication solutions. It remains encrypted to all but a select few of administrators with authorization to access the platform. This enables you to safely store important legal entity data behind the most advanced cybersecurity parameters, thereby remaining in compliance.

1. Data privacy and safeguarding sensitive information

Cybercrime and digital hacking activities have placed greater demands for increased data privacy and security. Governments have enacted data privacy measures like GDPR in Europe for the specific purpose of enforcing compliance protocols to safeguard the handling of sensitive data and information.

Corporate entities must implement robust data privacy policies and procedures to properly store sensitive data. Solutions that guarantee data encryption, maintain controlled access to corporate data, and enable ongoing security audits are essential to maintain compliance with data privacy and security protocols.

Legal entity management technology functions as a single resource to store all sensitive legal entity data. Instead of using multiple sources, often as unsecured platforms, entity management software protects all data behind advanced encryption services. It becomes a centralized source of truth to store corporate entity data and maintain compliance.

1. IT governance and transparency of risk management

Just like legal business entities have compliance frameworks, most global corporations also have IT governance frameworks. IT governance refers to the structure implemented by organizations to align IT investments with overarching business objectives.

As cybersecurity issues like ransomware attacks or data security breaches become more prevalent, an IT governance framework becomes a concern that works up the organizational hierarchy. Executive leadership, including the board of directors, become very active in their efforts to ensure IT investments make practical sense for the business.

Legal entity management software helps organizations protect sensitive data and reduces external risks that may compromise the information. Board members and executive leadership are among an exclusive group of internal members who can be authorized to access minute book records within the platform. It ensures that all sensitive legal data remains secure while also guaranteeing transparent oversight to support compliance.

1. Ongoing monitoring and compliance management

Finally, the remaining compliance trend is the ongoing management of compliance itself. Like an IT governance framework, which requires diligent audits to ensure the technology safeguards sensitive entity data, compliance is an ongoing process itself. It requires constant monitoring and management to ensure the protocols are followed, and that the business remains protected.

One of the chief benefits of legal entity management software like MinuteBox is that it provides users with a simple-to-use compliance framework. The framework is built directly into the platform, and users can use intuitive drag and drop features to complete all the necessary steps and sequences necessary to maintain compliance.

The built-in compliance calendar includes additional features like annual calendars for filing dates, business name registrations/renewals, PPSA registrations, patent or trademark expirations, and more. Simply input your information into the platform, and you’ll receive automated prompts that ensure you never miss a compliance deadline again.

Don’t allow expansive compliance trends and requirements to derail the security and integrity of your legal entity. Join the MinuteBox revolution today and make compliance a central pillar of your business strategy.