By Legal Futures Associate Lawtech Software Group
There are many complicated challenges that can affect the efficiency of a legal firm; from securely confirming a client’s information to switching between multiple platforms just to complete a simple task. These challenges don’t just become frustrating over time and can put your firm and clients at risk but they significantly reduce the overall efficiency in your firm, leading to a loss in focus and missed opportunities.
Efficiency is a key component of any functioning law firm, conveyancing firm and estate agency. Long and withdrawn processes take time away from focusing on core legal work and matters. Firms and agencies are in need of efficient and effective solutions that can be integrated into other platforms that match their needs and deal with the direct challenges of the legal sector.
Discover in this article how to increase efficiency within your firm so you can focus on the legal work that matters.
The tasks that impact your firm’s efficiency
Despite AML and compliance being perceived as the biggest daily challenges, all challenges within law firms and estate agents interlink with the ability to run efficiently.
First and foremost, manual processes are detrimental to a firm’s ability to run efficiently. Completely identify checks, address checks, PEPs and Sanction checks, Source of Funds checks and all the other checks you have to do when onboarding a client don’t just take up a large chunk of your time but run an extremely high risk of non-compliance too. Technology is paving the way for more efficient client onboarding, AML, KYC and KYB checks to provide a more secure, compliant, and quicker way to onboard a client.
Secondly, client support is extremely time-consuming for firms and agencies. Client expectations vary from case to case, but more often than not, clients prefer to be supported every step of the way, especially in cases such as house purchasing/selling. If a firm decides to adopt legal tech support, whether that be for client onboarding or simple identity checks, they can often end up becoming a call centre for clients that are struggling to log in to an app or take a photo of their passport.
Thirdly, data validation. In any firm or agency, the checks that need to be completed throughout a case often incur a large amount of data being collected, checked and stored. For example, a PEPs and Sanctions check, most KYC platforms automatically run this check, but once completed, it presents you with a large amount of unorganised data, which you need to sift through to ensure your client isn’t posing a potential risk. This severely impacts your time and, again, puts you at a compliance risk.
Next, documentation and forms. Finding forms, filling out forms, creating templates, printing forms, and posting forms take a large amount of time out of your day. Although form-filling and documentation almost comes as part of the job, it’s a demanding and draining task and impacts efficiency. Again, technology that provides document templates and the sending of online forms can support and save time for firms and clients.
Finally, most firms and agencies have to use several platforms just to complete one simple task, which is probably the most impactful in terms of efficiency. The average conveyancer needs to switch between 15 different platforms each day! Integrations between client onboarding platforms, case management systems, KYC software, and more are paving the way for a simpler, more compliant and more efficient way to onboard clients.
A lack of efficiency can be a significant problem, especially when onboarding clients. Firms and agencies need processes that ensure fast, efficient workflows that meet their needs without having to use multiple platforms.
Simplified onboarding to ensure efficient processes
As we’ve discovered, several tasks impact the efficiency of firms and agencies in the legal sector and it should be regularly considered how these tasks can be supported by technology.
Whatever the size of your firm, having efficient processes in place ensures you can fully focus on the things that matter and improve your overall services. Your clients are valuable and having a complicated onboarding process can create a web of challenges including a lack of understanding, frustration in completing checks and the time it can take to obtain the information you need.
Simplified onboarding processes can be a game changer so it’s essential that they meet the needs of you and your team. Efficiency is a key component of any functioning law firm and without this, there is no room for growth and expansion. Keep your processes simple and efficiency will follow.
