While low-code and no-code workflow automation technology solutions are not new, 2023 has brought a distinct shift in legal departments embracing workflow automation. Hyperion Research, an Epiq Company, undertook a benchmarking study revealing that 71% of respondents planned to invest in a workflow automation (WFA) tool in the next 12-18 months either as a first-time investment or to replace an existing WFA tool.
A common starting point for Legal Departments is a “Legal Front Door” wherein legal service requests and questions are answered. This use case leads to capturing operational data, providing insight into demands on the legal function and operational performance (e.g. categories of request, how long it takes to meet client’s needs, time intervals for each step, where bottlenecks lie, etc.). The benefits range from immediate to long-term and include:
- Work is triaged or diverted, matching the right issues to aligned individuals, or filtering out requests outside the legal department’s mandate.
- Workflows are triggered, reducing manual effort and following standardized processes.
- Data points obtained may be aggregated or augmented to facilitate and expedite specific workstreams.
- Value is demonstrated when the work that came through the Legal Front Door and got addressed can be shared via dashboards, helping Legal tell the story of what and how much it does.
After a legal department has implemented a Legal Front Door, we have found that the automation of processes often quickly expands. Hyperion Research benchmarking data shows that 54% of legal departments implementing WFA have upwards of six automated processes, and 23% have more than ten automated processes.
Given the fast evolution not only of WFA tools but also in how they are used in corporate legal and compliance departments, workflow initiatives often rapidly expand beyond their original intent. It is important that legal departments maintain disciplined management practices, including:
- Establishing a roadmap that sets the sequence of workflows to be developed based on a rigorous department needs assessment. Given easy build and adoption, once a few processes are automated, gatekeeping may be needed to ensure that additional projects are tackled in a deliberate order.
- Leveraging the data generated by WFA tools to showcase Legal’s contributions to the corporation, or to pinpoint practice areas needing additional resources.
- Proactively engaging with the WFA vendor and participating in update calls to ensure the tool is fully leveraged over time.
Given that the expansion of WFA tools can occur rapidly, do not wait too long to formalize roles and document protocols. Many administrators we have spoken with struggle to understand and update existing workflows and keep up with the demand for automated processes – having standard operating procedures enables agility and effective oversight.
With WFA technology, careful planning is needed in both what solution you choose, what use cases you pursue; and how you design and architect not just your first use case but the broader suite of potential opportunities (including how those fit into the existing legal and enterprise tech stacks).
Catherine J. Moynihan is Senior Director, Strategic Intelligence & Advisory for Epiq’s Legal Business Advisory Group overseeing Hyperion Research, Epiq’s legal market intelligence program, as well as spearhead legal advisory intelligence programs for global legal executives focused on legal operations transformation.
