Legal operations managers in the public sector are facing a variety of challenges today: overwhelming workloads, talent shortages, outdated technology, lean budgets, limited resources—and that’s just a few. These obstacles get in the way of government professionals doing what they really want to do—deliver high-quality legal services.
But, what if there is a way to solve these challenges through technology designed specifically for the public sector?
In our last post, we covered how legal case management software is the fully customizable solution government organizations are using to manage their critical case and matter data (contacts, emails, cases, complaints, etc.) from a single platform. It combines all the sought-after tools that public sector professionals are seeking to streamline operations, reduce risk and deliver better outcomes.
The Benefits of Using Legal Case Software For Smoother Operations
While the majority of sectors in the legal industry are adopting technology for legal operations, the government sector still has room for growth. In the Thomson Reuters Institute’s 2024 State of the Government Legal Department Report, the survey showed that out of 150 respondents over a quarter of them (35%) believe that their department struggles to adopt and implement new technologies. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents said their departments have yet to determine how to address a lack of internal efficiency, and 58% said that staff spend too much time on administrative tasks.
These statistics show that there is a legitimate need in the public sector that legal case management software can readily solve. Here are just a few ways public sector professionals can utilize legal case management software to help solve today’s challenges:
- Increased efficiency and productivity.
Managing outside counsel can be time consuming, as it requires more than one dedicated team member. Some organizations don’t have the resources to dedicate an employee specifically to this task. Plus, balancing an existing workload can cause work quality to suffer.
With legal operations management software, you can streamline important, repetitive tasks like intake, approvals or document generation directly to the software to free up time and focus on more important initiatives. Additionally, standardizing workflows repeat tasks automatically, resulting in saved time and money (i.e., contract review, public records responses).
2. Boost cost savings.
Legal operations management software has built-in expense tracking features that allow you to monitor costs of any kind. This helps with managing the department budget, tracking accruals and forecasting through an up-close look at all incoming and outgoing funds.
Armed with all the information you need, you can work directly with the finance team to identify spending trends, as well as potential cost savings and efficiency opportunities. Legal operations management software provides budget and cost management insight across different practice areas, matters or matter types. It also naturally encourages time and expense tracking with features that establish billing rates for users and cases, tax rates and pro-forma invoices automatically.
- Better understand data.
With so much data required in legal operations, it can be hard to keep a pulse on all the information going in and out of the organization. With reporting dashboards and analytics tools within your operations software, you can view data from a new lens. Quantifiable data analytics that provide metrics and measurements help you make more informed decisions and improve processes.
With a single location to store all your important information, you can also use the software to create a records management program complete with retention schedules, policies and processes.
- Streamline operations.
Legal operations team members are always thinking about how to make things easier and better for the legal professionals they support. One easy win with legal operations software is the ability to collect, store and organize documents and content relevant to a given matter.
In addition, the platform allows you to automate the generation of standard forms, letters, contracts and other case-related correspondence. This seamless access to a comprehensive legal and departmental knowledge base containing templates, policies, memos, processes and more can help boost your team’s productivity. There’s no need to look multiple places to find what you need—and you always have the right information just when you need it.
In summary, legal case management software can help you solve your greatest legal operations challenges:
- Integrating automation to complete repetitive tasks automatically
- Giving team members access to self-serve legal tools
- Utilizing real-time data for strategic decision-making
- Strengthening cross-functional collaboration
- Optimizing vendor relationships for greatest impact
- Maintaining compliance and adaptability.
You no longer have to worry about how you will do more with less when you have the right technology to help you accomplish all your most important objectives and more.
Legal Operations Runs More Efficiently with Expert Legal Software
The key to staying on top of the changing public sector legal landscape is utilizing the right tools and technology. Legal case management software is essential to helping you achieve your goals of maximizing efficiency and accountability with limited resources.
Customized dashboards in Legal Files are tailored to your organization, helping guide your day so you can manage high caseloads or contract volume without increasing headcount. You can also use automated workflows and standardized forms to help you rely less on external counsel while still meeting deadlines. The beauty of Legal Files software is that it can be tailored to meet your organization’s specific needs and requests.
Legal Files brings nearly 35 years of experience supporting agencies at every level of government—federal, tribal, provincial, state, county, and municipal—across the U.S. and Canada. Legal Files is designed to help government and public sector organizations manage a higher volume of work with the same or fewer staff— by as much as 40 percent! If you’re seeking a trusted, consultative partner, you’ve found it.
“Legal Files is a great fit for our busy and innovative municipal law practice. It meets our litigation and our advising matter management requirements because it is easy to configure to all our practice areas. Of all the vendors who made proposals, Legal Files was far and away the best at explaining how its software accomplishes our legal matter management.”
King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
Request a demo to learn more about how we help government organizations like yours manage what matters most.