Legal matter management covers the entire range of tasks originating from an organisation’s internal legal processes and external matter management systems.
Traditionally, matter management has involved managing all the activities and strategies involved with outside counsel engagement and eBilling. But in many cases, it simply was not enough. Today, the modern approach to legal matter management covers the entire range of tasks originating from an organisation's internal legal processes, including research, claims, compliance, disputes, litigation, contracts and intellectual property, as well as the more common aspects associated with, for clarity, external matter management systems. By starting all legal affairs as internal matters, the organisation can better prioritise and allocate work, in some cases assigning work that would otherwise be directed to external counsel to be handled internally by their most talented lawyers or dedicated shared service teams.
Internal matter management describes processes and tools that help legal ops teams optimise legal service delivery.
By structuring legal intake, relevant legal service data can be gathered upfront, reducing inefficient and time-consuming back and forth between employees and legal teams. And by creating a single, central workspace in which to review requests and facilitate complex tasks, these teams can provide faster, more accurate fulfilment.
Simply put, matter management empowers organisations to better address and resolve internal legal issues—quickly, reliably and consistently.
Occasionally, the terms matter management and case management are used synonymously. But the reality is that they describe different approaches, and different actors.
Matter management, as described above, is a comprehensive approach to managing legal work encapsulating both internal legal and external matters. Most legal issues tend to originate as internal matters and the organisation can use that insight to then engage external counsel where necessary. The most effective strategies rely heavily on “matter management” software to streamline, coordinate and support these tasks. But the majority of matter management software was designed with an external law firm vendor focus, as such these systems are not ideal for capturing the internal genesis behind a matter and further, empowering the organisation to engage internal stakeholders to address issues first and to only engage external counsel when needed. Perhaps most importantly in this regard, matter management describes these processes in relation to any business or organisation.
Case management, on the other hand, refers specifically to the tasks and strategies used by law firms and other legal organisations. Case management provides support solutions for lawyers who need to be able to organise and navigate the large amounts of documents used in litigation. But while case management tools may be invaluable for legal organisations, they are not designed for use among other industries.
Internal legal issues are an unavoidable aspect of modern business. At the same time, mismanaged legal issues can create serious problems throughout entire organisations, opening the door to penalties and establishing incorrect precedents that can continue to create problems for years to come.
Unfortunately, modern organisations face several challenges in implementing proper matter management within legal ops. These include the following:
In the absence of a single source of truth or centralised platform, those who address internal legal matters are forced to make their own decisions regarding processes. And while some legal teams may enjoy this freedom, it creates roadblocks in terms of cross-team collaboration. Effective matter management demands that everyone involved in legal matters throughout the entire organisation use standardised processes, otherwise, true visibility simply is not possible.
When organisations lack standardised legal processes, they also create information silos. These silos are barriers to effective collaboration, preventing teams from accessing relevant or up-to-date information, and eliminating the possibility of creating a shared understanding of cases and other issues.
When it comes to addressing legal issues, deadlines are seldom flexible. Unfortunately, many individual legal-team members tend to use their own calendars and reminder systems. This creates an organisation-wide disconnect in terms of critical deadlines.
Manual tools, in the form of spreadsheets, folders and paper documents, are incapable of automatically updating themselves with the most up-to-date information. When organisations rely on these manual tools and processes, they must constantly sort through and update data across a potentially limitless field of documents to ensure access to reliable information.
Legal documentation is some of the most sensitive data that modern organisations possess. Without reliable, standardised security measures that ensure access is available only to authorised individuals, organisations open themselves up to significant risk.
ServiceNow has long been the leader in cloud-based solutions for internal business processes. Now, this expertise in creating coordinated, real-time, data-based solutions is being applied to internal matter management, with Legal Service Delivery.
Legal Service Delivery is internal matter management done right. Modernise internal legal operations. Employ advanced, out-of-the-box, automated workflows to increase efficiency and productivity. Enjoy detailed visibility into legal-service performance. And provide practitioners with the always-on support and self-service options they need to ensure legal matters are being addressed correctly and effectively.
Legal Service Delivery from ServiceNow brings all the vital tools, processes and resources associated with internal legal issues together on a single platform. This resolves the challenges that stand in the way of effective internal matter management.
Legal Service Delivery creates unified processes for every stage. Relying on core applications that can be effectively orchestrated even in a low- or no-code environment, organisations can create standardisation across every task, so that practitioners always have an established, proven methodology for managing complex legal matters. Built-in tools ensure that everyone involved is operating using the same powerful resources, while shared calendars ensure that everyone is working towards the same deadlines, and that current statuses are always clearly visible. And, because Legal Service Delivery is fully cloud-based and mobile accessible, these processes remain available regardless of where, when or through what device users access them.
Information silos are the mortal enemy of effective matter management. Legal Service Delivery with ServiceNow allows legal teams to automatically capture relevant legal-service information upfront, and to make it available when and where it is needed. Backed by powerful, intelligent analytics and reporting, Legal Service Delivery provides legal ops teams with actionable insights for refining and optimising legal services. These insights and related data are easily accessible through intuitive, visual dashboards.
Dashboards, workflows and standardised processes bring legal staff together, promoting seamless collaboration on every level. The ServiceNow Council Center provides at-a-glance overviews detailing workloads, including assignments, unassigned tasks, requests and approvals, filterable by category, priority and current state. Summary information allows teams to quickly review issues and get up to speed, and links to relevant tools and knowledge articles help ensure fast, coordinated resolution efforts.
Legal Service Delivery relies on explicit permissions for all users when accessing information. Tasks are distributed on a limited-access basis, and automatically removed upon completion.
With Legal Service Delivery you get a unified experience between employees requesting legal support and the legal teams that serve them. Try it today! for more information, see our product documentation knowledge base or podcast, or visit the ServiceNow community.
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