Legal software reporting provides a wealth of benefits for data-driven legal departments
Legal departments cannot thrive without robust reporting tools, like those in legal software. In the past, attorneys and paralegals might have been able to rely on spreadsheets and personal knowledge to get a sense of what was happening in their department. However, we are now living in a data-driven world.
To get ready for 2020, you should run year-end reporting to learn more about what happened in 2019. Gaining information about legal matters, issues, workflow and employees is critical to your success. Data mining can also help you gain more specific insight into other areas.
Legal Files Software offers a comprehensive reporting feature to help with risk and spend legal case management. Leveraging such tools allows your team to be better equipped to function in 2020.
Risk management is possible with legal software reporting
People outside of the legal profession often think attorneys only come into the picture once there is an issue. However, attorneys are also working hard to prevent legal issues from occurring in the first place. This is known as risk management.
Corporate legal departments often rely on Legal Files to collect and analyze liability and risk information. By running reports as part of a risk management strategy, legal teams can create heat maps. These tools allow them to see each business’ hot spots. Such reports include information about the types of incidents and whether they are increasing or decreasing. This data can help with developing educational efforts.
A great example is a business with multiple franchises. Legal software can help legal team members review complaints in a more strategic, “big picture” way. They can see each type of incident and what franchises are involved. In cases where certain locations are getting more customer complaints than others, the legal department can suggest training or other changes for that location to minimize risk.
Use reporting to find ways to save money for your organization
In every industry, people are trying to do more with less. At its core, this is what spend management is. In the legal profession, teams often try to find ways to reduce the cost of outside counsel. A tool like Legal Files can provide the strategic data to help make these decisions based on concrete figures, not speculation or a gut feeling.
Our reporting tool can help you see more granular information than just costs. Why is this important? If you only track costs, you might think it makes sense to hire outside counsel with a lower fee. However, once you have the whole picture, you might find that a specific outside counsel with higher fees produced better results. As a result, this is worth the cost to your legal department.
Making the move to incorporate legal software reporting in 2020
Reporting tools in legal software clearly offer a wealth of benefits for legal departments that are looking to benefit from past data. From identifying staffing needs, to handling risk management, tools like Legal Files can help you generate the reports you need to be more organized and proactive in the coming decade. What more could a data-driven legal department ask for?