A complete guide to transforming your law firm with workflows

Osprey Approach’s guide to workflows helps law firms realise time-saving benefits from simple automations that make a big impact to profitability and client experience. As the world goes hybrid, now is the time to look at how your firm can embrace automation to improve efficiencies.

In a post-pandemic world, there’s little doubt that we will rely more heavily on technology to meet the new demands of clients, who are expecting a quicker and more transparent experience.

With several digital touchpoints and processes, law firms spend a considerable amount of resource completing admin tasks. This is where workflows can help to adopt a more streamlined process that boosts client satisfaction.

But what are workflows? What are their benefits? And what makes a good workflow?

What is a legal workflow?

A legal workflow is a series of standardised tasks and actions that follow processes within a legal matter, which are completed in order to achieve a specific goal.

Put simply, workflows exist to replace the mundane, costly administration tasks. They are created in your legal software so that related tasks are seamlessly connected and dealt with in just a few clicks.

Workflows help to manage an entire legal case or can simply be used to assist with certain tasks. For example, a workflow task may be used to prepare a client care letter.

The eight key benefits of workflows for law firms

Firms are turning to workflows to save valuable time but that isn’t the only benefit your practice can realise. Successfully implementing workflows into your processes means you can…

1. Ease workload pressures

We start with the key benefit; workflows ease the pressures of your workload. Workflows provide fee earners with the tools they need to complete tasks quicker and easier. Fee earners will no longer spend time manually writing reminders, building documents, or chasing clients when automating tasks using software.

Preuveneers use Osprey workflows to lighten the workload. Its managing partner, Kelly, explains: “We were doing the work of ten people during lockdown, so workflows and document production were an absolute lifesaver – making our tasks three times faster every day.

“With the workload we have experienced recently, I don’t know where I’d start without them!”

2. Save money

The increased efficiencies that workflows offer save your firm money. From the reduction in both administration time and duplication of work, your firm can focus on building client relationships which increases recommendation rates and securing new clients by nurturing enquires.

Utilising workflows within your legal software enables you to capture key information once and avoid duplication of data entry. This data is then automatically populated into future documents or communication at the click of a button. Not only does this save you resource but reduces the risk of error (a key benefit we touch on later).

3. Improve accuracy, reduce risk and stay compliant

Workflows enable you to build compliant and risk-free processes to improve the accuracy of the documents created and the communications sent to clients.

You can ensure key actions are listed, documents and communications are templated and standard compliance tasks are automated, which helps to ensure vital information is set out and not forgotten. By building these solid foundations to your processes, you not only have the confidence that everyone at your firm is following the right procedures, but it prevents data protection breaches and reduces risk.

Workflows can also be incredibly helpful to junior solicitors as the pre-defined tasks set within a workflow ensures they follow they correct procedures and compliance processes.