How to Overcome Technophobia and Digitize Entity Management

This piece is a list of suggestions and helpful solutions in order to help us, as a legal community, get through the tumultuous times, and ensure we are in the best possible position when this is all over (it will happen… I swear!).

Here we are. The vast majority of lawyers are working from home, trying to find a sense of normalcy in a world that changes by the hour (sometimes less). I always knew the legal industry would undergo a cataclysmic change, but never in my wildest thoughts did I envision a global pandemic would be the catalyst.

Let’s get one thing clear. There is no single-source rule book for how we, as a profession, undertake our role in the current circumstances. These are uncharted waters and we are all navigating them for the first time. Good luck!

But I firmly believe lawyers are smart and resourceful. They will find ways to provide services to clients and ensure the job gets done.

Even at times when we feel helpless as professionals, there are steps lawyers and law firms can take to ensure our industry makes it through this crisis:

Communicate with your clients: Ensure they are well accommodated. A simple phone call goes a long way to build goodwill. In times of uncertainty, “Hi, how are you?” shows concern and empathy. Find out what kind of support they need and offer your services, if you can.

Communicate with other lawyers: One big (normal) fear we may have is that other lawyers are farther along in their management of this crisis than we are. This can lead to uncertainty, anxiety, paranoia and doubt. Rest assured, every lawyer is feeling the stress and everyone is, to at least some degree, underprepared for a situation like this. Speaking with colleagues will not only help settle your thoughts, but may also introduce you to some novel solutions they have uncovered which can help your practice as well.

Explore what doesn’t work: What PAIN POINTS are you specifically feeling now when it comes to your ability to practice? What is not working and what needs fixing. What really grinds your gears when it comes to your practice? These might not be identified immediately, but over the coming weeks, begin to explore which processes are important and which are dead weight.

Take stock of your processes: Do a little process mapping. How were things done before the current health crisis? How are they done now? What can be improved and what was waste? Process mapping for different parts of your practice can help zero-in on areas that can be improved.

Take advantage of government resources: The federal and provincial governments have been providing capital for businesses and individuals. It is important to inform your clients about what’s available, but also determine if you or your firm is eligible. Find out if you are eligible for the Temporary Wage Subsidy (TWS), the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program (CERB).

Don’t be afraid to push the envelope when it comes to novel ways to practice: Remember, above all else your duty is to provide service to your clients (in a safe, ethical and secure manner). Think outside the box and be a trailblazer!

Embrace the quiet: Lawyers are notoriously busy, always working on client deadlines (whether actual or self-imposed). Without a doubt, those times will return, guaranteed! But in the meantime, enjoy working fewer hours. Embrace a 9-5 work routine. Take an extended lunch at the kitchen table. Watch an episode of the Price is Right (it’s good for the soul!).

Take the time to be honest with yourself: Anxiety, nervousness and fear are human emotions. And although we sometimes work superhuman hours, we must find time to cope and express our emotions to ourselves and to others.

As lawyers, we are made to feel we have all the answers all the time. It’s alright to take a little bit of time to find the best approach to provide optimal service to your clients and yourself.

If you remember nothing else, remember Rule # 1: Stay healthy. The rest we can figure out together!

Compliance with the Corporate Transparency Act is a necessary legal obligation so that entities avoid the repercussions of non-compliance. Qualifying beneficial ownership data must be submitted to federal regulators at FinCEN by pre-determined filing deadlines to maintain compliance with the enforced laws.

However, many legal entities risk undermining their compliance only weeks after the enactment of the CTA legislation. According to a joint study by Deloitte and the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), nearly one in three legal entities still need a corporate compliance calendar.

What is the use of a compliance calendar?

Most corporate entities have annual filing deadlines for legal, tax, and accounting purposes. A corporate compliance calendar keeps track of all compliance filing deadlines, which can include:

• Corporate meeting minutes
• Reporting obligations
• Industry filings
• Permits or accreditations
• Merger or acquisition filings
• Beneficial ownership reports

A compliance calendar also assists with operational efficiencies, such as standardizing compliance workflows and assigning compliance tasks to key filing dates. Aligning the compliance calendar with an organizational chart also helps expedite approvals and signatories from key organizational stakeholders.

These are among the strategic business benefits that come from maintaining a corporate compliance calendar. Unfortunately, entities with limited legal entity management resources — working time, compliance budgets, corporate counsel staff — fail to reap these benefits.

What are the costs of non-compliance?

A compliance calendar ensures all filings are submitted by the appropriate deadlines. The compliance calendar also increases compliance awareness across the business. Greater awareness leads to fewer data or clerical errors, streamlining the entity management process.

However, what’s the biggest reason why your entity needs a corporate compliance calendar? According to Ponemon Institute LLC — with sponsorship from Globalscape — the average cost of non-compliance is $14.82 million.

In a benchmark study of multinational organizations, the researchers determined that the average annual cost of compliance is $5.47 million. Contrast this cost with the cost of non-compliance, and it results in 63% annual savings by simply submitting reporting data at the appropriate deadlines.

Additionally, the cost of a single non-compliance deadline amounts to revenue losses of $5.87 million for the average legal entity. If one out of three entities still lacks a corporate compliance calendar, this means billions of potential revenue dollars are sacrificed for no justifiable reason.

What information goes on a compliance calendar?

The Corporate Transparency Act was enacted to improve how corporate entities report data on their beneficial owners. The Act is part of a government effort to crack down on money laundering, tax evasion, and other financial crimes nationwide. A corporate compliance calendar tracks all filing deadlines so that ownership data is transparently submitted without penalty.

However, a compliance calendar isn’t just useful for tracking external filing deadlines. You can use your compliance calendar to set operational compliance workflows and assign deadlines to each entity management team member. This ensures that all reporting requirements are tracked using project management strategies so that filings are submitted in detail and on time.

How to create a corporate compliance calendar

If you’re amongst the one in three legal entities without a compliance calendar, it’s time to change that approach. Assess your business needs and evaluate your past compliance processes to proactively make improvements to those workflows.

Once you’ve mapped out your compliance objectives, you can create your compliance calendar. Many modern business entities use legal entity management software like MinuteBox, which has a built-in compliance calendar to automate, streamline, and verify all compliance workflows.

Using the calendar’s guided template, follow these steps to build a compliance workflow.

• Review current compliance trends, laws, and reporting requirements.
• Upload the dates into your entity management platform compliance calendar.
• Create a work-back schedule that contains all internal reporting deadlines.
• Set up reminders for each team member and schedule them for deployment.
• Review and modify your compliance calendar as needed.

Are you tired of conducting compliance workflows without a proper compliance calendar? Become a modern compliant business entity by joining the MinuteBox revolution. You’ll effectively maintain compliance with speed and precision while avoiding the steep financial penalties of non-compliance.

Walk into any law firm, from small solo practitioners to the global behemoths and the one thing they all have in common is paper. Paper is synonymous with legal work. From single sheets strewn across desks to boxes filled with old documents, minute books covering up entire walls to fresh reams neatly stored under photocopy machines, paper is everywhere. Seemingly, the more paper lying around, the busier the law firm.

But in reality, paper is more of a burden than an asset. Paper takes up space, and space has a price. Holding on to paper documents on behalf of clients often costs law firms more money than they think. A square foot in downtown Toronto can range anywhere from $35-$65. Minute books and closing binders are great examples of unnecessary, burdensome and costly paper storage.

Paper documentation is also inefficient. Sheets always need to be printed and often get lost. One sheet is negligible, but producing thousands of sheets daily adds-up. This is exactly the sort of thing clients are pressuring law firms to strike from their bills.

Moving forward, try and use less paper. Test and utilize the many available tools and technologies. Simple.

But what about the documents already printed, those large binders stuffed with documents? Law firms, either internally or with the help of third parties, have begun scanning mountains of paper documents and transferring electronic versions to internal servers or cloud-based systems. While not a bad starting point, the value-added is minimal. Digitizing every document to sit in a computer file is no different from cleaning your house by moving all the clutter from the living room to the dining room. The mess still exists in a big way and absent an organization structure, there is no added efficiency.

Before you start digitizing, here are a few pieces of advice:

1. Plan Before You Scan: Map out how you will access the documented information. Which platform will you be using and where will the information be stored? How will users interact with the platform? Have you canvassed users (lawyers, clerks, clients etc…) on their preferences for accessing the information?
2. Scanning Can be Pricy and Tedious, But Necessary: Scanning a single document is easy. Scanning hundreds of thousands of documents is not. Hiring third party scanning professionals who have experience digitizing the materials is a worthwhile investment. For added security, always use third parties who will work on-site.
3. Utilize and Optimize the Data: Don’t just store the information, use it. Artificial intelligence systems can parse out information from the scanned documents. Most law firms are unaware of the treasure trove of information they are sitting on, which can be optimized for everything from document automation to predicting negotiation outcomes.