Adoption is a challenge that every law firm encounters when deploying a new piece of technology. Ensuring that the right end-users leverage the tools and platforms available to them to improve productivity and effectiveness is a priority for IT and Innovation teams before deployment.
In our latest webinar our experts, Matt James, VP of Sales Advisors at Litera, and Mary Nehring, Manager of Solutions Engineering at Litera, joined Caroline Hill, Editor in Chief of Legal IT Insider, to discuss how law firms and legal departments can improve adoption of legal technology, with an emphasis on document drafting solutions.
Document Drafting 101
So, what exactly is document drafting? Before beginning their discussion, the webinar presenters walked us through what drafting technology entails. In the context of the legal industry, it is the creation of legal work product and documents. The process starts from the first draft and ends when the work product is finalized.
When speaking about legal document drafting, the assumption is that legal professionals are going through the drafting workflow within Microsoft Word and using a variety of sources to populate their documents. These sources could include the Document Management System (DMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), any matter management systems, and more.
Document drafting is a collaborative effort between internal and external stakeholders, with the main goal of meeting the needs of a client, requirements of a court, etc.
Challenges of Legal Tech Adoption
“This process is all about empathy. Change is difficult. Adoption is difficult. It can be a lonely feeling when you’re pushing for and driving adoption inside of the firm and in fact, many of the practice and innovation teams that I speak with are still struggling to identify what the success metrics are. But it has to be about the customer and the vendor working together to solve adoption problems.” Matt James, VP of Sales Advisors, Litera
During the webinar, our expert speakers discussed the myriad challenges of legal technology adoption. Some of the more prominent problems in their views are:
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Long learning curves: When legal professionals use multiple tools, it can be difficult to adopt each one. Firms should make sure end users understand the problems and use cases of each tool to shorten the learning curve.
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Quality of user experience: Technology that requires end users to go through multiple clicks to complete one task will be more difficult to adopt. Firms should select solutions that make it easy for legal professionals to complete tasks with only a few clicks.
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Overlapping functionality with other solutions: When firms use multiple solutions for document drafting, some functionality may overlap, which encourages end users to use one tool over another. Firms should make sure their technology ecosystem has little overlap in functionality.
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Availability of IT & adoption resources: If a vendor doesn’t offer implementation and adoption help, end users are less likely to learn and use a tool. Firms should pay attention to what vendors offer post-deployment and ensure availability of adoption resources.
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Level of vendor support: Similar to adoption resources, having high-quality support makes it more likely that end users understand how to work around any issues they have and adopt the solution easily.
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Lack of interoperability with available tech stack: If firms deploy solutions that work in a silo, adoption will be difficult. Firms should select technology that integrates into their current ecosystems to improve adoption.
Point Solutions vs. Platforms
The speakers also discuss how point solutions and platforms differ in their contribution to adoption.
While both strategies have pros and cons, firms should look to set a standard of technology using consolidated suites and then build point solutions hat relate to specific pain points. When done this way, end users can absorb the technology easier as they start by learning how to use the platform and gradually move towards adopting the point solutions. If firms choose to solve a particular challenge through point solutions, end users will struggle to simultaneously adopt and understand them.
Why Consolidated Tech Platforms for Drafting?
Our experts suggest that having a consolidated suite or platform for document drafting would benefit both key stakeholders in a firm—the IT team and the lawyers.
When lawyers rely on one or two ribbons within Microsoft Word to draft a document, they don’t waste billable time switching between solutions and losing focus. And, with the right automation, they spend more time doing focused legal work rather than manually drafting a document. Since these consolidated solutions tend to come with a variety of integrations, lawyers receive a platform that complements their workflow and works together with their DMS or other systems of record.
For IT teams, deploying consolidated platforms for document drafting means they’ll be working and coordinating with one vendor versus many, eliminating unused technology and simplifying software management in general.
Adoption Stories from the Frontline
The webinar’s highlights were the adoption stories, or as the speakers described them, adoption stories from heaven and hell.
First, Mary Nehring discussed a successful Litera Desktop implementation and adoption at a law firm. The project went well due to a multitude of factors, including involving the right stakeholders early on and empowering them to express their likes and dislikes about the product. Champion lawyers from the firm shared positive quotes about their experience with the product so other lawyers could have a peer’s perspective. Nehring mentions that allowing end users to have their voice heard and taking into consideration their requirements can go a long way in ensuring adoption for document drafting solutions.
Another tip that Nehring provided was easing end users into the new tool but removing previous similar solutions. For example, if a firm is rolling out a new proofreading solution, it’s best to get rid of other proofreading tools to nudge end users towards the new workflow.
The speakers then continued to mention adoption stories that did not go so well. Some of the reasons for the failure of these projects were the lack of internal champions who see the value of a piece of technology, the assumption from the firm that there will be organic adoption and therefore not leveraging vendor adoption resources, and not defining success metrics.
To learn more about adopting document drafting solutions and how Litera Desktop can help, watch the full webinar now.
And if you are just beginning to think about adopting more modern solutions, asking yourself "what is legal technology?", reach out to Litera to find out more about our suite of products.
Posted in Legal