In-house counsel are under constant pressure to do more with less. The latest Legal Department Operations (LDO) Index from Thomson Reuters confirms that a large majority of legal departments are dealing with an increased workload while focusing on managing expenses. Of the legal teams surveyed, 70% reported an increased volume of legal work, while 78% said controlling costs is a high priority.
But while budget costs and resource limitations are in the spotlight, the real cost often lies in inefficiencies. Wasted hours on manual admin, lost time tracking legal work, clunky processes and poor collaborative efforts quietly drain resources.
A contract review takes twice as long when you can’t find a key document. Critical inquiries get missed when sitting in an inbox rather than a structured workflow. An audit report runs late because data is stuck in endless email threads rather than a holistic matter management software for legal departments. These small inefficiencies add up, reducing productivity and stretching already limited budgets and resources.
5 hidden costs of legal workflows
- Time drain from manual tasks
Legal professionals waste hours each week on tasks that could be streamlined or automated. Excessive time spent on routine, administrative tasks, such as manual data entry and searching for contract versions, leaves less time for high-value work.
- Poor matter tracking
Without clear visibility of all legal matters, critical details get missed. Deadlines slip, risks go unnoticed, approvals get delayed and cost-saving opportunities disappear. A legal team might not realise that two members are working on overlapping issues, duplicating efforts and driving up costs.
- Compliance risks and penalties
Missed regulatory deadlines and compliance risks can be costly in more ways than one. Non-compliance with rules and regulations drains finances and damages the company’s reputation. Perhaps worse, the time spent fixing these issues pulls focus away from proactive strategy. Teams are left reacting instead of preventing problems before they escalate.
- Loss of knowledge
When key information is limited to one individual or scattered across email threads and spreadsheets, legal departments risk the critical loss of knowledge. This becomes a greater concern when employees leave. Valuable insights slip through the cracks while the rest of the team is forced to redo the work instead of building on past efforts.
- Limited cross-department collaboration
Siloed legal teams slow everything down. Lost requests, unnoticed policy updates and delayed contract approvals create bottlenecks and lead to costly mistakes. Without streamlined communication, legal risks are missed and business moves faster than legal can keep up.
Work smarter and faster with the right legal tech
The right legal tech cuts through the chaos. In-house legal teams can stay organized and track work effectively, spending less time on admin and more time on strategic legal matters.
Automate routine processes
Automated and standardized workflow processes allow legal teams to optimize their time. A matter management software for legal departments has built-in workflows with alerts and notifications. Rather than spending hours on low-value tasks, lawyers can focus on strategic matters while the software keeps matters moving.
Centralize legal data
With a central repository for data and information, legal teams can find and reuse everything with ease. Valuable knowledge from multiple internal and external stakeholders is reliably stored and readily accessible. Gain oversight over the team’s operations to ensure maximised efficiency and work doesn’t stop when a team member does.
Improve spend tracking
Matter management software for legal departments can help you streamline the process and analyze spend data. Giving your team total control over legal expenses, end-to-end legal spend management solutions offers a single, integrated location to manage all aspects of legal spend. Identify when you’re spending over budget within one click, analyze the data to spot the issues and take action.
Enhance compliance workflows
Safeguard your business with a cloud-based platform that streamlines compliance. Stay ahead of regulatory changes and never miss a contract deadline again with comprehensive compliance tracking, in which due dates and requirements are all stored in one place. This allows your legal team to prevent costly mistakes and focus on strategy, rather than putting out fires.
Strengthen cross-departmental collaboration
By centralizing all legal operations into a single, intuitive cloud platform, in-house counsel can access the information they need when they need it, and share it with internal and external stakeholders in an instant. Easily integrable with the likes of Microsoft 365 and DocuSign, tailored legal tech enables real-time collaboration and eliminates time-consuming meetings. This frees up valuable resources and drives smarter, data-driven decisions across the business.
Conclusion
When legal workflows are clunky and time-consuming, the entire team’s productivity and success is affected. Legal technology is transforming how legal teams operate, simplifying processes, enhancing collaboration and saving money and time. Dazychain’s matter management software for legal departments eliminates inefficiencies and cuts costs by streamlining legal worklows in one centralized platform.
Dazychain allows in-house counsel to focus on high-value work without wasted effort. Eliminate repetitive tasks with automated processes. Gain visibility over your department’s workloads to prevent duplicate work. Provide easy access to information and knowledge to allow for seamless collaboration. With end-to-end matter management software, legal teams can operate more efficiently, reduce unnecessary spending and ensure every hour counts.
