Interview with: Mark Hentschell, Regional Manager, Thomson Reuters Serengeti

“Many legal department leaders have preconceptions about legal technology that are simply wrong. With a more clear-eyed understanding of the current intersection of technology and legal department management best practices legal department leaders can take the first step in making their departments more efficient and better positioned to show their value to company leadership,” says Mark Hentschell, Regional Manager, Thomson Reuters Serengeti.

Hentschell highlights some of the top legal department technology myths and why they are not true.

What are some of the misconceptions that legal departments have about technology?

It is a common misconception that matter management and e-billing software may break attorney-client confidentiality, that legal departments cannot keep track of what outside counsel are doing or get them to use collaboration tools. It is not uncommon for me to speak with Chief Litigation Officers (CLOs) who think e-billing does not work internationally, that there is no way to budget for litigation or set up billing guidelines or even objectively quantify the value of the legal department. All this is simply not true.

How can legal departments better track what outside counsel are doing?

There must be an automated matter management and e-billing system in place that allows in-house counsel to directly connect with their law firms, receive status updates and electronic invoices, track key matter information, and report on active matters. To prevent unwanted surprises, counsel need to have matter and spending data at their fingertips.

How could they get law firms to use collaboration tools without damaging their relationship?

A vast number of law firms globally are already using such tools at the request of clients. Do not be the client who takes the head-fake that using an e-billing and matter management solution is going to cause too much work for the firm.

Why do some CLOs believe they cannot budget for litigation?

That is a tale as old as (billable) time. Every department within a company is required to deliver a budget—the law department does not need to be different. Presenting a predictive budget can be done without much difficulty, as long as everyone agrees to the same assumptions.

That is: 1) the budget is based on the law firm’s knowledge of the case right now and their past experience handling such cases, 2) the budget may change as changes in the case occur, and 3) there is no need to budget for unknowns, like an appeal, until the time comes.

The most effective law departments no longer view litigation as a special snowflake. There are budgets for all projects that deal with unknowns and potential scope changes. The key is to define the assumptions in the scope, and if those assumptions change—change the budget.

Today, clients are in charge and many well-run departments have strict billing guidelines all of their law firms are expected to adhere to. The firm may complain, but the bottom line is that—more often than not—it is already doing this for other clients.

Can the value of a legal department be quantified? How?

With the ability to track and report on matters, savings attributable to a legal department become easily quantifiable. Savings through invoice reductions, alternative fee arrangements and billing guidelines can be reported on, as can statistics like reductions in overall spend year-over-year or reductions in legal spend as a percentage of company revenue.

Legal departments can identify where legal cases are originating and where more training is needed for employees, and then report on the results of that training through the reduction of money paid out. Potential liability for the company can be tracked and reductions in liability shown.

The bottom line is that the legal department is a cost center, and the time will come when it will need to justify headcount and demonstrate value.

Contact: Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian, Press Manager, marcus evans

Email: press@marcusevanscy.com

The marcus evans group has over 20 years experience in the production of premium business events. Known globally for our unwavering dedication to quality and excellence, we aid our clients in achieving their strategic goals by providing market leading business intelligence otherwise inaccessible to them.

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marcus evans

The marcus evans group has over 20 years experience in the production of premium business events. Known globally for our unwavering dedication to quality and excellence, we aid our clients in achieving their strategic goals by providing market leading business intelligence otherwise inaccessible to them.