Insights and updates
from MinuteBox

Golf is unforgiving. An arching 300-yard drive in the middle of the fairway and a 1-inch tap-in putt are both counted as single strokes on the scorecard. Regardless of the majesty of long shots, however, the value returned from a long hit is identical to the short chips and putts on the green. Wouldn’t it make sense then to spend just as much time perfecting our short game as we do our long drives? It’s no wonder handicaps stay high!

Legal service follows the same principle. Like a long drive, legal expertise does not in and of itself ensure success. The packaging of legal services is becoming increasingly important, arguably more important, than subject matter expertise. Increased industry competition resulting from the availability of new technologies enables more lawyers to provide high level legal services to clients. As a result, to ensure continued success, 21st century law firms must not only find ways of distinguishing themselves from the competition, but also ensure services are delivered in the most efficient ways possible.

The Short Game is Where You Score

Approach shots, chip shots and putting are the most value-added shots in golf; that’s where you score. Similarly, effective request for proposal (“RFPs”) departments, practical innovation and pricing methods are increasingly becoming key enablers of law firm success.

Approach Shots – RFPs and Procurement 

Approach shots, ideally from the fairway (usually behind a tree in my case) can put you close to the green. Successfully responding to RFPs and procuring work from clients are necessary for firms to maintain consistent cash flow. Every RFP should be uniquely tailored to each client for each matter. Customization, genuine adaptability and communication between the firm and client are key. Law firms should be candid in their ability to provide exactly what the client wants, both commoditized and value-added work. Acquiring a new matter from a client requires a deep understanding of a client’s legal and business concerns. This understanding, coupled with good service, make it easier to secure repeated client work in the future.

Chip Shots – Innovation

Chip shots are those short range golf shots taken in close proximity to the green. Chip shots can make a good golfer look great and help rescue a hack golfer from a potentially high score. Innovation, as the chip shots of legal service, means different things to different people when it comes to law firms. At its core, innovation is simply a deviation from the status quo, or as Deloitte Australia’s Chief Edge Officer Peter Williams puts it, “innovation is about trying new ideas”. How we embrace change, however, can shape results. The speed with which we try new things and learn from our mistakes can help create a culture of free flowing ideas.

At the outset, innovations should be slight and subtle. Pick small legal projects with easy victories. Grabbing low hanging fruit can help increase the resolve within a law firm to tackle larger innovative undertakings. It is far easier to identify specific problems that need fixing than to conclude that everything is broken and must be rebuilt.

Putting – Pricing

Long drives are worthless if a golfer four-putts every hole. Similarly, law has no value if the services are not properly priced. Effective pricing does not mean picking a round number based on average totals billed and paid by clients in the past for similar work. Instead effective pricing requires an in-depth understanding of costs and inputs.

Law firms must understand the costs associated with servicing a client matter in order to understand profitability. How much time are lawyers actually spending on a client matter, including write-down and write-offs? Firms that continue to charge by the hour should calculate the realized amount against all hours actually spent on a file, not just those that were billed to the client. Knowing the requisite profitability yield per matter against fixed costs can help shape how much firms can or should charge. Gather your data; learn from your data; respect your data; and learn how to incorporate data results into service delivery. Doing so can help bring consistency and predictability for both law firms and their clients.

There’s a reason why no winner of the annual World Long Drive Championship has ever had a successful career on the PGA Tour. They lack the finesse of a well-rounded professional golfer. Successful law firms, whose talented lawyers have long sharpened their legal expertise and knowledge, must now master the more subtle elements of effective legal service in order to remain relevant in the changing marketplace.

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.

On January 1, 2024, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) will come into effect for all corporate entities operating within the United States. All qualifying entities must report personal information on all beneficial owners to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Businesses must collect the proper information and comply with reporting deadlines. Otherwise, they risk incurring non-compliance penalties in the form of expensive fines and potential indictments against stakeholders who violate the laws.

What is the Corporate Transparency Act?

The CTA is a federal piece of legislation that was first introduced in 2020. In part due to the global pandemic, and its disruptions to business operations, the full reporting guidelines were not made available until earlier this year. Legislators have set January 1, 2024, as the date that the full extent of the CTA will come into effect.

The CTA is part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act that was created to crack down on white-collar crimes. Money laundering, corporate fraud, and other financial crimes impact the health and well-being of American citizens. The federal government is demanding greater corporate transparency from entities to protect Americans from the consequences of white-collar crime.

What information must be reported to FinCEN?

Corporate entities must supply a full accounting of beneficial owners and their personal information beginning January 1, 2024. Detailed shareholder ledgers are the best resources to both organize and submit these records to FinCEN.

Beneficial owners are defined as any shareholder who holds what’s classified as “substantial control” over the corporate interests. Most beneficial owners acquire their shares through a bank or a broker.

Additionally, any shareholders with 25% or more ownership in a corporate entity are automatically deemed beneficial owners. All share transactions are documented so that the corporation can maintain detailed records on who owns what percentage of the company.

What’s classified as beneficial ownership information?

Under the CTA, corporations must file initial business ownership information records to FinCEN. It’s incumbent upon the corporation to ensure those records remain up to date. Otherwise, the company is liable for non-compliance and could face significant penalties for the errors.

If updates to the reporting information are required, here are some examples of what to include in an updated filing to FinCEN:

• Additions of new beneficial owners within the latest fiscal year
• Departures of previous beneficial owners within the latest fiscal year
• Transfers of ownership from one beneficial owner to another
• Changes in any corporate information, such as the name, address, etc.
• Corrections to any errors that are flagged in the initial filing

Corporations that know they will require multiple filings can request a FinCEN identification number to help streamline the process. Simply include the identification number on subsequent filings to show the connection to regulators.

Does the government offer security to beneficial owners?

While the purpose of the CTA is to create transparent accountability, the government will not allow personal beneficial ownership information to be made publicly available.

FinCEN will create an encrypted reporting system known as the Beneficial Ownership Secure System, or BOSS. The system will encrypt all reporting data, and only authorized members of the FinCEN team will be able to access the reported records.

Use entity management software to gather ownership data

So what’s the best way to prepare for the CTA filing deadline? Entity management software is one of the best resources to prepare for the new world order in 2024.

Entity management software is a system built by legal professionals for legal professionals. It includes a built-in compliance module to help corporations create compliance programs that protect corporate interests. The platform uses prompts to remind account managers of any upcoming date-based compliance tasks, and sends automated warnings if there are any gaps in reporting data that could leave the entity in non-compliance.

Additionally, entity management software has templates to help companies create structured organizational charts, cap tables, and shareholder ledgers. Any beneficial ownership data can be securely stored in the platform on an ongoing basis. When filings need to be made, the data can be exported and sent to the appropriate authorities at FinCEN.

Still need to get your reporting data to comply with the CTA? Join the MinuteBox revolution and create more diligent, structured, and secure records of all corporate data.

Paralegal teams are the secret weapon of any law firm. Paralegals, or law clerks, are often tasked with some of the most important assignments to build a winning case for a firm, which include any or all of the following:

• Case planning and development
• Fact finding and legal precedent research
• Drafting correspondences among all parties
• Scheduling court dates or negotiation meetings
• Documentation of minute books and meeting records
• Coordinating conference calls with clients
• Analysis and summarization of legal findings
• Fact checking any notes from opposing counsel

The common skill necessary to execute each of these tasks efficiently is time management. For professionals in all backgrounds, time management is how individuals use available hours in a given work day to complete required tasks as efficiently as possible.

What time management means to a paralegal

Paralegals define time management similarly to other professions, but they measure success in different ways. A time efficient paralegal judges the success of his or her efforts through two key metrics: greater client satisfaction and contributions to Legal Recurring Revenue for the firm.

Time efficient paralegals form outstanding client relationships

The first way to measure the success of a paralegal’s time management skills is the net effect on the relationship with the client. Interpersonal client relationships are vital to a firm’s ability to retain satisfied customers as well as to grow the size of the business.

How does a paralegal establish positive interpersonal relationships with clients? Customer satisfaction is achieved by appealing to and assisting with the unique needs of your clients. Fulfilling those needs requires paralegals to speak the language of their clients and to understand what clients expect from the firm.

Case in point: 77 percent of business owners want to be able to access files remotely. The convenience of using technology to review minute books, corporate records, and other important documentation from the convenience of any location has become more important than ever for business leaders everywhere. Paralegals that understand this expectation and have the ability to provide that service have much greater potential to sustain long-lasting, and lucrative relationships with clients.

Time efficient paralegals have more time to support the firm’s growth

Paralegals with excellent time management skills are more likely to help build a particular case faster and more efficiently. As a result, these paralegal champions will have more working hours in the day to source or prospect new companies with the potential to become valuable new clients for the firm.

Here’s another interesting statistic: professionals spend nearly half of their days searching for information. In fact, it can take up to 18 minutes to find one document or minute book record when those files are stored in paper format. Due to the amount of paperwork a firm produces for each individual case, it’s no surprise that sorting through those files takes up a sizable amount of a clerk’s time.

What if there was a better way to sort through and manage all of these records? If clerks didn’t have to physically go through each file, they could dedicate more time towards growing Legal Recurring Revenue for the firm. On top of that, more efficient ways to comb through all of those records means clients get their answers much faster, thereby improving client satisfaction.

Entity management software is the time management solution you’ve been looking for

So what is the best way your firm can empower your paralegal team with efficient solutions that will help them manage their own time effectively? The answer lies within entity management software, which vastly accelerates corporate recordkeeping management to help paralegals earn back more of their own time.

Entity management software allows paralegals to centralize all minute book records and manage subsidiaries to support all client needs. Platforms like MinuteBox offer no-code document assembly, meaning firms no longer require extensive IT teams to manage digital corporate records. Instead, enterprise grade scanning services are built directly into the platform’s core capabilities, enabling paralegals to upload all minute book records within a matter of minutes.

Entity management software also allows paralegals to maintain and manage up to date shareholder ledgers with speed and proficiency. Any transactions between a client and their shareholders are immediately documented using a series of pre-built fields to track the date, time, value, and recipient of a shareholder transaction. This allows all parties with access to the shareholder ledger to remain up to date on the current financial status of the company.

On top of all of these benefits, platforms like MinuteBox help law firms position themselves as modern, innovative, and effective providers of quality customer service. Each of these traits help establish and cement a firm’s brand reputation, which is all the more valuable when prospecting new companies with the potential to become lifelong clients.

Are you ready to help your paralegal team become the most time efficient group of professionals in the industry? Join the MinuteBox revolution so that your paralegals become the best time efficient managers in the business and contribute to the future growth of your firm.

Compliance and ethics each influence how business entities function on a day to day basis. One is a mandatory set of operational guidelines, and the other refers to how an entity chooses to behave.

A business needs both ethics and compliance to function effectively. Let’s break down the differences between the two and offer some strategies on how to abide by them both.

What is the difference between compliance and ethics?

Before we outline strategies for how to remain in compliance while also following ethical principles, it’s important to define both compliance and ethics. They do have their similarities, but there are also key differences between them.

Corporate compliance refers to the act of complying with a series of laws, by-laws, rules, and policies that regulate how entities operate. Many businesses have positions akin to Chief Compliance Officers, who oversee compliance programs that include ongoing training and communications for all entity employees.

Meanwhile, ethics revolves around moral principles rather than legal mandates. Some companies even create business ethics standards that outline morally acceptable and unacceptable behaviors when conducting business.

Are there similarities between ethics and compliance?

Compliance programs are enacted based upon jurisdictional laws established by regulators in a geographical area where an entity operates. However, some would argue that company culture is where compliance begins.

Company culture is developed using a shared philosophy of ethics, values, missions, and visions. These principles can instill a recognition that compliance is not only a legal requirement, but also the morally correct thing to do as an organization. In that sense, compliance and ethics do complement each other and inform how entities continue to operate.

What role does corporate governance play in compliance?

Corporate governance is another integral piece of the Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance (GRC) program that informs legal entity management. Corporate governance refers to an entity’s internal checks and balances that help the business remain compliant.

Corporate governance is more beneficial than simply supporting compliance. Analyses of S&P 500 corporations found that companies with strong corporate governance policies and procedures outperformed those with weaker governance by up to 15%.

Therefore, it can be argued that implementing effective corporate governance policies supports compliance and ethics, but it can also influence growth for the business.

What are the effects of non-compliance for an entity?

Failing to implement strong governance policies risks placing your entity in a position of non-compliance. If your business breaks the law or fails to observe federal, provincial, or state regulations, you risk subjecting your entity to the penalties of non-compliance.

What’s an example of non-compliance? Fiscal mismanagement or fraud are prime examples of white collar crime and non-compliant activities. Often, financial fraud occurs due to a lack of organizational structure and governance within an entity. Lacking the authoritative executives and directors to instill those important checks and balances, unethical and illegal practices are free to occur.

How to establish compliance and ethics within your entity

So, what’s the best way to implement corporate compliance and ethics throughout your organization? Many businesses use legal entity management software to establish their compliance programs and implement effective corporate governance. These programs, by extension, reinforce company culture that adheres to moral and ethical principles.

Using entity management software, you can create the Articles of Incorporation for your company. Articles of Incorporation are legally binding documents that must be created when launching a new entity or a subsidiary under that corporate umbrella. The Articles of Incorporation are then shared with the proper regulators to officially launch your business.

Additionally, you can use entity management software to establish organizational charts that document the hierarchy of executive authority. Your legal and compliance teams can use these organization charts to ensure proper oversight and signatory approval on any pressing business matters are enacted to remain in compliance. Regulators can also use copies of these organization charts to speak with the named executives in the event of an audit or other regulatory procedure.

The best part of entity management software is that it streamlines the entire compliance process for your entire team. The platform is intuitive and designed with pre-built templates of crucial corporate documents. Your team can use these templates to construct corporate compliance documents in a fraction of the time it would take to create these documents outside the platform.

In summary, entity management software helps your team work smarter, faster, and towards the goal of fulfilling your business compliance and ethics requirements.

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.