Creating and automating scalable law firm processes without programmers

Is there such thing as too much tech?

Digital technology has been a good thing for the practice of law. Software platforms that are specific to legal practise or have been developed for general use (think Microsoft Teams) have often made the profession more efficient and productive. Once a legal document has been digitized, it's often a matter of a few clicks to share it with clients or colleagues.

Yet as these solutions proliferate, you might also be discovering that the information superhighway often slows to a crawl.

The main problem: Too few of these platforms can communicate with each other. That requires users to launch multiple applications and constantly press “alt+tab" in order to move from one platform to another. Along with those moves come opportunities for errors as data is copied, pasted, imported, or even re-typed across different services. What promised to make legal work easier and more efficient often ends up, well, making more work. And work that adds little value to the practice of law.

Legal-tech developers have heard legal practitioners' cries for help and are responding. In our previous post, we offered the example of HighQ, a SaaS (software as a service) that provides a single solution designed to allow firms and departments to collaborate more easily among legal professionals and with their clients.

In this post, we'll offer a closer look at two of HighQ's capabilities. What's particularly remarkable about them is how they allow lawyers to be their own IT specialist – without having to learn a single line of code.

Workflow automation saves time and smooths processes

These days, many legal teams track projects, matters, and deadlines using a combination of Microsoft Excel and calendar reminders. Since those programs don't communicate with each other (at least not particularly well), this kind of tracking is time-consuming.

HighQ solves this problem with workflow automation. This tool allows you to create operational efficiencies by turning time-consuming, repetitive tasks into automated, intelligent processes. While some may balk at the idea of building out processes they already perform, automation can dramatically reduce the time, effort, and risk associated with manual work.

What's more, with the right tools, automating tasks isn't all that hard. HighQ's workflow capability enables you to quickly build rules that look for conditions in data and documents. In addition, you can automatically create tasks, events, documents, and folders. Workflow automation even lets you send custom emails, update records, and move, copy, or delete files. You can accomplish all this on a single solution, without jumping from tab to tab.

And you can build and automate workflows like these on your own, without deep technical expertise. Here's an example: When you add a file to a specific folder, HighQ then can automatically create a task, attach the file to that task, and assign it to a particular lawyer for review. This all happens using a simple “if this, then that" no-coding approach within HighQ. That same simplicity can help streamline matter intake, client onboarding, contract reviews, post-transaction reviews, and many other processes.

Document automation reduces risk and speeds production

Equally powerful, and equally uncomplicated, is HighQ's document automation capability. Powered by Contract Express, HighQ allows you to generate a single document or several suites of documents with ease. By following consistent templates to automatically create error-free documents, you can boost productivity, mitigate risk, and ensure that tight deadlines can be met.

Partnering these documents with automated workflows reveals the real power of the platform. By using automated workflows, you can route generated documents for review, send for e-signature, and email all interested parties once the documents are fully executed. You then can save the documents to a folder with specific user permissions to ensure secure, regulated access to the appropriate materials by the appropriate parties.

Again, you don't need to be a techie to make this happen in HighQ. Creating a process or workflow that works across the entire firm or department requires users to be fluent only in a few standard commands and the basic concept of cause and effect – not programming or database administration. This simplifies the processes associated with legal matters and lets your firm easily replicate what works.

Worth repeating: HighQ allows for permission and access controls at very granular levels. Built for the unique needs of lawyers, HighQ lets you finely control who can see what without involving admins or IT.

The challenge of working together successfully (both for people and technology) is probably familiar to all readers. To see it in a new light and understand what a solution looks like, download our white paper, Working Together.