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from MinuteBox

Corporate compliance is a phrase that has made waves in the mainstream media over the past several months. Legal professionals that represent law firms or in-house corporate counsel have always understood the importance of corporate compliance. The phrase has become more common in non-legal settings ever since the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

The charges levelled against former FTX CEO Sam Bankfam-Fried include several counts of fraud that could see the 31-year-old face several years in prison. Nestled within the indictments are statements about the lack of organizational hierarchy within the FTX ecosystem. Prosecutors allege that FTX was devoid of structured leadership, organizational charts, and ownership charts for the deliberate purpose of allowing SBF to misappropriate client funds.

What’s the purpose of organization charts and ownership charts?

Corporate compliance refers to a series of laws, regulations, and standards that apply to corporations and the industries from which they operate. Compliance as a practice includes the internal policies and procedures to comply with federal and provincial/state laws that mitigate risks of fraud or other illicit activities.

Organizational and ownership charts help corporations abide by jurisdictional laws. They also shed more light on corporate transparency.

Organization charts inform key business decisions that include things like mergers or acquisitions, tax liabilities or, yes, corporate regulatory compliance in certain jurisdictions. In-house counsel can also use organization charts to connect with the appropriate executives regarding those key decisions. The charts even enable external auditors or regulators to connect with the appropriate party to discuss any compliance issues with the organization.

Ownership charts serve a similar function. They break down what percentage of the company is owned by each shareholder. The charts also distinguish preferred shareholders from common shareholders, and they can also summarize the voting rights (if any) awarded to each owner. They allow key votes regarding the future of the organization to proceed in a structured and organized manner.

Why organization charts and ownership charts matter

The FTX case is a perfect real-world example of why organization charts and ownership charts matter. The lack of corporate governance meant no internal executives were monitoring the flow of cash in and out of the FTX exchange. SBF allegedly used this haphazard organizational structure to defy corporate compliance policies. According to the indictments, he fraudulently used money from customer accounts to finance FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research, his trading firm.

Another great example is a fictionalized account of non-compliance. Fans of the Sopranos will know that the character of Tony Soprano was a silent partner in a garbage collection firm called Barone Sanitation. He used the legitimate business as a front to launder profits from his illegal businesses. The money was later returned to Soprano in the form of a paid salary from Barone Sanitation, hiding his ill-gotten gains from federal scrutiny.

While many corporate executives legitimately operate their businesses, there are bad actors out there (in real-life and on TV) who will manipulate companies that fail to abide by the rules of corporate governance. organization charts and ownership charts maintain accountability and transparency across the organization to prevent bad actors from implicating entire business entities in criminal activity. Internal counsel and external regulators can use these charts to enforce good corporate compliance and governance throughout the entire entity.

Licensed attorneys charge the highest percentage of billable hours to legal clients. Paralegals also have opportunities to increase billable hours for a firm. The most common ways for paralegals to increase volumes of billable hours are through the following:

• Discovery work
• Legal document preparation
• Research and analysis
• Client communications

The last point is critical for billing more time to paying clients. ParalegalEDU is a resource that educates legal professionals on how to build a sustainable career. According to their research, the most important personality trait that aspiring paralegals require is people skills.

Why do paralegals need people skills?

Paralegals are on the front lines, handling client communications. They often act as a buffer between clients and practicing attorneys. They receive client messages over the phone or in their inbox, and they’re responsible for relaying those communications to the attorneys.

In small law firms, paralegals often function as office managers in addition to their clerical duties. In these positions, they act as the voice of the firm when clients call to discuss their cases. They’re also the first point of contact when clients arrive at the firm for an in-person meeting with their attorney.

In any scenario, there’s a great deal of client interaction that paralegals must manage. People skills allow paralegals to respond to clients in calm, reassuring ways. It’s not uncommon for clients in the midst of personal setbacks or corporate litigation to unleash their frustrations on paralegals.

How paralegals can service clients more effectively

Paralegals must maintain their professionalism regardless of how unprofessional a client may behave. It takes patience and discipline to maintain those skills.

However, there are ways that paralegals can improve the way they interact with clients. These approaches allow paralegals to provide faster, more helpful service to clients, which provides a number of business benefits to the entire firm.

Use entity management technology to expedite clerical work

There have been many statistics gathered on the typical law firm experience. According to the findings, only 2.5 hours in a standard eight hour workday are billable hours charged to clients. That means legal teams, and paralegals in particular, are spending nearly 70 percent of their working days on clerical and document work.

Instead of allowing your paralegals to fall into the documentation trap, invest in entity management technology to help streamline the clerical workload. By uploading all minute book records and corporate documents to cloud-based servers, your firm modernizes minute book management.

Paralegals can use advanced search parameters to find the documents in question in a matter of minutes. If clients are already in bad moods, your paralegals can calm those feelings by providing quick, efficient answers to their pressing legal questions. It improves the quality of service, boosts client satisfaction, and enhances the reputation of the firm.

Entity management software supports remote client meetings

At a time when more people want options for remote work, it enhances the client experience if you can accommodate those desires. Entity management software allows your firm to conduct all client meetings and document reviews at their convenience.

Since entity management platforms are cloud-based solutions, they’re accessible from anywhere. Simply have your paralegals share administrative access with your client’s main point of contact. Once they have access, they can view the records from the convenience of their own homes, their offices, or any destination with an internet connection.

Providing clients with the option to conduct meetings remotely makes things easier for them. An easier experience is a more enjoyable experience that increases the probability they’ll retain your firm’s services for future business.

Paralegals convert saved clerical time into client-facing service

Finally, since entity management software streamlines clerical and administrative tasks, paralegals will earn back large portions of their working calendars. They can use this saved time to provide more direct service to clients, including strategic discussions that take some of the workload off the practicing attorneys who will argue the merits of the case.

This is a perfect example of a win-win-win scenario. The client has an extra voice counseling them on how to best persevere through the case. The paralegal gets to spend more time helping build Legal Recurring Revenue for the firm, and they get to expand their responsibilities beyond the standard clerical and documentation work. The attorney also earns back more time to polish their arguments when negotiating cases.

Paralegals have great people skills; help them use those skills wisely

Managing client relationships is a difficult task in any environment. When those relationships are built around legal cases that risk hampering the client’s future, the clients are prone to be in bad moods when interacting with legal teams.
Paralegals have the skills to support clients, but the right legal technology gives them an added edge to deliver quality client service. Introduce entity management technology to your own legal community and convert those benefits into opportunities to improve client satisfaction.

Paralegal burnout is a state of chronic physical and emotional exhaustion caused by prolonged workplace stress, excessive workloads, and feeling overwhelmed by repetitive administrative tasks. It often leads to decreased productivity, job dissatisfaction, and high turnover rates in legal teams.

Paralegals are under an enormous amount of pressure. They work extremely long hours, and they’re often responsible for managing the office, corporate records, filing systems, and minute book updates. In some cases, paralegals must even manage the time of the lawyers whose cases they support.

Key Signs of Paralegal Burnout

Watch for these warning signs that a paralegal may be experiencing burnout:

• Chronic fatigue and exhaustion that doesn’t improve with rest
• Decreased productivity and difficulty concentrating on tasks
• Increased cynicism or negativity about work and colleagues
• Physical symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, or frequent illness
• Emotional detachment from clients and cases
• Feelings of ineffectiveness despite working long hours
• Dreading coming to work or frequent thoughts about quitting

Paralegal burnout is bound to happen for many legal professionals. Everyone has their limit, and sometimes people just simply need a break. But when paralegal burnout does occur, it also robs firms or in-house counsel of exceptionally great talent.

So how do you help your talented paralegal team avoid feelings of burnout? What are some alternative methods to reduce clerical work and lift some of the pressure off their shoulders?

Common Causes of Paralegal Burnout

If feelings of burnout become overbearing, it’s not uncommon for paralegal turnover rates to skyrocket. Here are some of the main reasons why paralegals feel burned out in their professions.

Inefficient minute book documentation

According to the 2021 Legal Trends Report, the average attorney (including paralegals) bills only 2.5 hours of an 8-hour day to clients. That means nearly 70 percent of an attorney’s or a paralegal’s day is spent managing administrative or clerical work. Paralegals are more likely to be wrapped up in documentation than the practicing attorneys themselves.

Most of these minute book processes are inefficient and outdated. These archaic workflows are part of the reason that paralegals are unable to dedicate more of their own time towards client services. The more interesting parts of legal work are rare experiences for paralegals swamped by arduous corporate documentation processes.

Excessive critique of their work

All documents submitted in court filings or directly to judges are placed under meticulous scrutiny. Attorneys know exactly what they want documents to say when submitted as evidence in any case file. That means there’s very strict and sharp criticism towards the structural integrity of the documents, and those criticisms fall directly upon the paralegal.

Dana Medley-Vogel has been a paralegal for over a decade. She’s had plenty of firsthand experience with criticisms of her submitted documentation. She encourages any new or experienced paralegal to learn how to let those criticisms go and avoid taking it personally.

“It doesn’t mean you didn’t write it well — it means that the attorney may have something different in mind. Or, sometimes you start something and they change their mind by the time you finish it. For some people, that’s very difficult.”

Lack of authority to make decisions

It’s not always the case that people are constantly managing up so they can grow in their careers. But many paralegals do aspire to become fully licensed attorneys. They want to have more input on client relations and charge higher billable hour premiums. They want the authority to call their own shots.

One of the main limitations for paralegals is that it’s their primary duty to ensure all minute books and corporate records are properly documented. When the caseload piles up or attorneys are constantly changing priorities, it’s very difficult to get through all of that paperwork. Paralegals see their dreams slip further and further away, contributing to symptoms of burnout.

Why Manual Tools and Spreadsheets Make Burnout Worse

Many legal teams still rely on spreadsheets, shared drives, and manual tracking systems to manage corporate records and minute books. While these tools may seem cost-effective, they actually accelerate paralegal burnout in several ways:

• Version control nightmares — Tracking which spreadsheet is the “correct” version wastes hours and creates anxiety
• Manual data entry — Copying information between documents introduces errors and tedious rework
• No automation — Every deadline, filing, and update must be manually tracked and remembered
• Difficult collaboration — Sharing files via email chains creates confusion and duplicated effort
• Compliance anxiety — Without automated reminders, paralegals constantly worry about missing critical deadlines

Consider Sarah, a paralegal at a mid-sized law firm managing corporate records for 50 clients. She spends her Monday mornings cross-referencing three different spreadsheets to check for upcoming annual filing deadlines. By Wednesday, she discovers a colleague updated a different version of the master spreadsheet, and now she has to reconcile the differences. On Thursday, a partner urgently needs a shareholder agreement from 2019—she spends two hours searching through mislabeled folders before finding it. By Friday, Sarah is exhausted, frustrated, and questioning whether she made the right career choice. This cycle repeats every week.

How MinuteBox Helps Reduce Burnout for Paralegal Teams

Since documentation and endless piles of paperwork are among the biggest contributors to paralegal burnout, investing in a solution that simplifies the whole workload can make a transformative difference.

MinuteBox is entity management software that helps paralegals sort, file, tag, and organize minute book records in a digital cloud-based solution. The technology provides a single source of truth—one minute book room with infinite storage capacity. Cloud-based servers host all important corporate documents, creating a convenient and secure way to manage the minute book records.

Simply feed all your minute book records into professional scanners. The platform automatically populates these records in the cloud, structuring them in the form of standard PDF-style documents. The servers are protected by biometric and hardware key authentication that’s restricted to only those members of the legal team who have authority to access the account.

Key benefits that reduce paralegal burnout include:

• Automated compliance calendars that track deadlines and send reminders
• Instant document search that finds any record in seconds
• Single version of truth eliminates spreadsheet confusion
• Secure client portals for easy document sharing
• Automated workflows that reduce repetitive manual tasks

Suddenly, the time a paralegal spends searching and sorting through records becomes a fraction of what it once was. If clients have questions about their minute book records, the answers can be found and shared within a matter of minutes. Paralegals can subsequently spend more of their time on aspects of the job, like client relations, that they most enjoy doing.

Entity management platforms help attract and retain talent

People are excited about innovative companies. They feel a drive and attachment to brands that promote more innovative methods of getting things done.

Entity management platforms are the innovative solution to modernize minute book management. By helping firms streamline how they manage client records, the technology helps paralegals and practicing attorneys alike make more efficient use of their schedules.

If your firm can promote itself as an innovative company that minimizes the amount of time spent on documentation, you have a leg up on attracting and retaining top quality talent. Give those innovative go-getters a reason to consider your firm by investing in technology that saves valuable working hours on corporate record keeping. You’ll attract great paralegals and help them avoid the conditions that spur burnout.

A debate rages amongst legal professionals and corporate compliance officers about the best approach to digitize and modernize minute book management. There are certain professionals who abide by the benefits of entity management software (EMS), and there are others who subscribe to the merits of document management software (DMS).

There are many similarities between the two solutions, and there are just as many important differences. To ensure you select the best solution for your own unique purposes, let’s break down how to distinguish between the two types of software.

Modern minute book management is more efficient

Before we dive into the two types of solutions, let’s first summarize the underlying purpose of selecting one of these technologies. That fundamental purpose is to modernize how your legal practice or in-house corporate counsel effectively manages all pertinent minute books and corporate documents.

Modernized minute book management utilizes technological solutions to streamline workflows and efficiently improve recordkeeping processes. Using technology, legal teams can input, update, sort, file, and retrieve minute book records in a matter of seconds. These platforms are intuitive and backed by advanced security features, such as biometric and hardware key authentication. The advanced security parameters protect those records for only those individuals who have been authorized to access the account.

What is entity management software?

Now, let’s break down the two types of technology. We’ll begin with a brief summary of entity management software.

Entity management software is a type of specialized technology that enables legal firms and in-house legal departments to manage multiple legal entities. Advanced entity management solutions are cloud-based softwares that streamline how legal departments manage corporate minute books for dozens or hundreds of entities.

The technology is best suited to assist legal professionals with automating clerical tasks that include each of the following:

• Corporate compliance deadlines that are managed using a built-in tickler system
• Automated documentation of company by-laws, corporate resolutions, cap tables, shareholder ledgers, and legal registers
• Tracking all issuances and transfers of corporate shares from entity to shareholder, as well as amongst various shareholders
• Creating org. charts that report on all corporate owners, officers, and directors

Entity management software is protected by advanced security features that protect all corporate records from unauthorized access. Solutions like MinuteBox are among the leading secure entity management solutions, having received official ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certifications, each of which validates MinuteBox’s commitment to corporate data security.

What is document management software?

Let’s segue into a summary on document management software and its primary purposes. Document management software is a less advanced version of entity management software, primarily used to help corporations manage the lifecycle of their documents.

Document management software is characterized as a digital filing cabinet that helps companies transition away from paper records. Examples of prominent document management solutions include platforms like Google Drive or DropBox.

While document management software helps companies transition away from paper records and support environmental, social, and governance (ESG) corporate policies, it’s a less capable solution for corporate entity management.

Minute book records that contain corporate finances and shareholders’ personal information require advanced security features to protect the corporation from unauthorized hackings or malfeasance. To ensure corporate information is securely stored in the cloud, legal teams and in-house corporate counsels are better equipped with entity management software.

Benefits of modernized minute book management

Utilizing technology, like entity management software, to manage minute books and update corporate records is far more efficient than traditional processes.

In the past, law clerks and paralegals were required to update all records by hand using paper documents. In addition to the time-consuming nature of this workflow, there was a greater risk that records could be lost, misplaced, stolen, or shredded due to the fickle nature of paper documents.

Legal entities that use technology to modernize minute book management eliminate those security risks, and they make outdated workflows redundant. Since these platforms are intuitive, they save teams valuable working hours. The traditional minute book management process used to take up to 5.5 working hours out of a working legal professional’s day. Using technology, more of that time is earned back, allowing legal talent to reinvest that time towards billable hours for clients that increase Legal Recurring Revenue for the firm.

Are you ready to modernize your own minute book management workflow? Join the MinuteBox revolution and incorporate the most advanced entity management solutions into your established workflows.

Reliable law firm technology helps legal professionals operate more efficiently and service clients more effectively. The right legal software can optimize workflows and streamline clerical tasks, helping legal teams dedicate more time and resources towards sourcing Legal Recurring Revenue to expand the prospects of the firm.

What type of technology is best suited to help grow your firm? Are there certain platforms that can help you streamline your workflows, improve client services, or a combination of the two? Would a platform like entity management software improve the organizational structure of your firm? Answers to each of these questions, and more are vital to sourcing the right type of legal technology to support the best interests of your own firm.

Why does a law firm need legal technology

When selecting legal technology, a firm needs to understand its most critical pain points. Any technology should help solve the logistical or operational challenges that your legal team faces each and every day.

So what are the common challenges that make most law firms select the right legal technology? In most cases, law firms need solutions that:

1. Automate the manual clerical tasks of running the law firm
2. Digitize corporate minute book record keeping processes
3. Provide advanced security to store and safeguard client information
4. Offer remote access to cloud-based accounts and applications
5. Increase opportunities for legal teams to generate revenue for the firm

While your specific legal challenges may vary in some capacity, those five common pain points are basically universal. Regardless of how your business operates, it’s important to identify the specific challenge you’re trying to solve with legal technology. Once you’ve pinpointed the exact need, you can select the right solution that will support your firm’s future growth.

Qualify a list of applicable software vendors

By identifying your specific needs, you can curate a list of software providers with solutions that can fit your bill. Review the descriptions of the software on each vendor’s website, and conduct your own research using third-party review sites. Customer testimonials posted on review sites such as G2.com describe real-world experiences of using the software, which will help you determine if the technology is the right fit for your firm.

Use your research to narrow down your curated list of vendors to a handful of viable prospects. Then, you can speak with a representative at each company and ask for a demo of the software. Seeing the technology in practice also provides a clear view as to whether the technology is best suited for your firm.

As you go through these walkthroughs, ask very probing questions of the demonstrators. Look for clarifications on how the software will solve your basic needs and evaluate how the responses measure up to your expectations. If it seems like a good fit, you can move forward to discuss pricing and subscriptions. If not, you can thank them for their time and move on.

Select the vendor, onboard your team, and implement the software

Upon researching a number of viable vendors, you’ve likely found one that stands out from the pack. If you’ve seen a solution that addresses your fundamental need for legal technology and has also been proven simple to operate, you’re ready to make a purchase.

When the deal is finalized, the vendor should assign an account executive or a training specialist to help onboard your team of legal professionals. For example, firms that agree to purchase MinuteBox are assigned an Onboarding Specialist and Customer Success Manager to oversee implementation and training. MinuteBox will even provide access to a team of scanning professionals to digitize minute book records on-site at your offices, if required. All scanning is completed on-site, guaranteeing that no records ever leave your office space. This is part of our commitment to client security and privacy protection, which is of utmost importance for legal professionals.

Onboarding timelines will differ based on the selected vendor, and the amount of developmental resources required to integrate the platform to your established workflows. You can ask those clarifying questions when evaluating the solution during your research phase.

Code-free solutions are easier to operate

Most law firms do not possess in-house developmental resources to manage the technicalities of a selected piece of software. If your firm also lacks developers and engineers, a solution that is intuitive and requires little to no coding is extremely beneficial.

Platforms like MinuteBox include built-in drag and drop functionality to help you complete the digitization of all corporate minute books. All uploaded records are intuitively organized into standard PDF-style documents, and you can use the drag-and-drop features to shuffle around any lines of copy within the records to match the intended deliverable to your own clients.
The platform also allows you to save previously inputted fields of copy and drag those same text blocks onto other documents. This is a great way to save valuable working time when creating new documents with sections that include identical transcripts. More efficient workflows are one of the prime reasons legal professionals invest in software in the first place. Code-free solutions fulfill those goals and empower legal teams to deliver better service to clients at faster rates.

Employee ownership trusts (EOT) are legal company ownership structures that allow employees to become shareholders of a corporation without paying directly for those shares. EOTs are common corporate ownership structures in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Both nations have appropriate tax laws and other articles of legislation enacted to support these arrangements.

In Canada, EOTs have been less common, though the Canadian government is eager to change that. In the federal budget of 2022, a new proposal for employee ownership trusts was introduced as an amendment to the federal Income Tax Act. The purpose of the legislation is to encourage more employee ownership of businesses across Canada.

How do employee ownership trusts work?

When a company’s ownership is structured in a way that allows employees to hold shareholder rights without paying for the shares, it is an ownership structure in the form of an employee ownership trust. Shares are held in trusts, and the employees earn value from their shares through a percentage of the company’s profits.

Employees have options to earn additional shares each year they remain employed with the company. When workers choose to leave the company, or retire from the workforce altogether, the business buys back the shares in exchange for cash compensation.

In the US and the UK, data shows that employee-owned businesses are important contributors to local economies. These organizational structures allow businesses to:

• Accelerate growth with more strategic roadmaps
• Provide better compensation to retain workforces
• Decrease the potential for lay-offs in economic downturns
• Maintain viable jobs to support the economy

The Canadian employee ownership trust legislation

The proposed Canadian legislation was introduced in the 2022 Federal Budget, tabled by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. The proposal includes similar language to the US legislation that enables companies to issue EOTs on behalf of their employees.

According to the National Post, the biggest question surrounding the viability of EOTs revolves around how employee ownership could influence company decision-making and corporate policies. If the final Canadian legislation does mirror its US counterpart, the rights of employees in EOT-backed Canadian businesses will resemble the rights of workers in US companies with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).

Under ESOPs, the Board of Directors retains the right to appoint trustees and managing partners of a corporation. Unlike other shareholders, who sit on the Board of Directors as compensation for financial or capital investments in the business, employee shareholders have more limited voting rights on corporate matters. Most of the decisions put towards votes by employees are related to mergers and acquisitions of other companies.

How to track corporate shares issued to employees

If the employee ownership trust proposal in the 2022 Federal Budget is passed into law, Canadian companies will have an organizational structure to issue shares to their employees. This will require a company to make amendments to their established shareholder ledgers, incorporating share issuances to employees in the documentation.

In our guide on how to create the perfect shareholder ledger, we’ve outlined all of the information that is required when tracking and reporting on issued shares. Information that must be reported on within the shareholder ledger includes:

• The name, home address, and personal contact information of the shareholder that, in this case, is the employee
• Share certificate numbers that include the date, time, and value of the share transaction
• The total value of shares owned by the employee shareholder
• Current and projected capital share structures for the company

How to report employee share ownership using entity management software

Entity management software is a modern approach to reporting shareholder transactions. Unlike paper shareholder ledgers or multiple files stored on various pieces of software, entity management technology includes advanced and intuitive shareholder ledger templates.

This is an innovative approach to share transaction reporting that can be amended to include shares issued as part of an employee ownership trust. The entity management platform saves valuable time on the reporting process and eliminates the need for multiple files to accurately report on shareholder activity.

The technology includes built-in biometric and hardware key authentication, creating a secure environment to store all shareholder records. Advanced search features enable managers of shareholder ledgers to uncover specific shareholders, shareholder transactions, as well as dates and times of those transactions, in a matter of seconds. If there’s ever a dispute or concern about a past transaction, entity management software allows users to find the answers to their questions almost instantaneously.