Best Practices for Cost-Saving With Legal Tech and Legal Spend Optimization

Legal technology is becoming a critical factor in corporate legal departments. According to a recent survey of in-house legal professionals, 78% recognize it as essential. The white paper “Turning Legal Into a Value Center,” a collaboration between Priori Legal and CLOC, highlights best practices for cost-saving with legal tech and legal spend optimization, as reported in a Priori Legal blog post.

Here are the five types of legal tech commonly used by legal ops teams to impact cost savings: 

1. Intake platforms. These platforms are the starting point in managing internal requests for legal services. They provide insights into who is requesting work, what type of work is needed, who is handling it, and how to allocate resources. Although off-the-shelf products can be used, the company’s project management tools or spreadsheets are alternatives.
2. E-billing systems. E-billing manages legal spend and provides historical data on expenditures for outside counsel and other external resources. It helps track matter spending patterns, vendor use, and practice area trends.
3. Matter management. Large companies managing multiple projects would typically use off-the-shelf matter management software. This software stores essential matter information and facilitates collaboration among legal staff. It is often integrated with e-billing systems. Project management software or spreadsheets may be more appropriate for smaller companies, however.
4. Contract lifecycle management. CLM tools are popular for tracking contracts through their lifecycle, reducing review times, and improving efficiency. Incorporating artificial intelligence creates efficiencies by significantly cutting down the time required for standard contracts.
5. Knowledge management. Effective knowledge management allows business partners to “self-serve” information, saving time for the legal department and increasing overall efficiency. Internal hub sites such as wikis, FAQs, and chatbots are common tools for this purpose.

A critical part of evaluating legal technology is sending out requests for proposals to potential vendors. By defining your company’s current state and technical goals, RFPs will help your organization compare options based on specific needs. They are integral to best practices for cost-saving with legal tech and legal spend optimization.