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CCCA_V4No3_Dept-Technology-V2.qxd:CCCA_V1No2_Dept-CrossBdr-V1.qxd 9/2/10 7:30 AM Page 14 Technology Keeping tabs on external counsel Budgeting and cost control gets easier with client-centric practice management systems. By Luigi Benetton I n-house counsel have struggled for president of strategic development for billing, so we introduced fee schedules.” years to assert more control over their online practice management system ven- Since RIM implemented Serengeti and dealings with — and the billing prac- dor Serengeti Law. schedules, Maxwell says RIM has seen fil- tices of — outside law firms. Still, getting a grip on billing appears to ings per year and prosecution go up,while Law firms, long accustomed to manag- be the main reason inside counsel consider costs have flatlined. ing their relationships with clients, have client-centric practice management systems. Maxwell also appreciates the system’s had the luxury of picking from several “The system we had was adapted from expense allocation features.“You can create high-powered practice management sys- an enterprise expense tracking tool,” says fields to apply specific legal costs to specific tems that integrate billing, matter man- David Allgood, executive vice-president products and business units,”he says.“As bills agement, document management and and general counsel for the Royal Bank of come in, they are automatically allocated to other tools used to oversee work done for Canada. “It was designed at a corporate specific products or units,and Serengeti pass- multiple clients. level to do things for the organization.” es this data to the accounts payable system.” But software developers have come to While RBC is several months away from Budgeting the legal spend provides more realize that in-house law departments have completing its CTTyMetrix practice man- opportunities for cost control,among other similar needs just as sophisticated as those agement system implementation, Allgood objectives. “At the start of a case, counsel of law firms. And they are responding to looks forward to leaving the old system can put a budget in place as a plan, to get their growing demands. behind.“It’s like trying to put a square peg the firm to think about how to staff a mat- Consider corporations with a high vol- in a round hole,” he says. “You can chip ter, to build a strategy to bring the matter ume of ongoing legal files that are handled away at the edges to eventually get it in,but to resolution,” Matthews says. by several law firms. Their legal depart- it never really fit.” “With more sophisticated approaches, ments must constantly monitor their Michael Maxwell, the manager of IP you get the discipline of checking against progress and face increasingly complex administration for BlackBerry maker contractual arrangements with law firms,” risk management scenarios. And though Research in Motion, explains his firm’s Allgood adds.Any one of these vendors will they field hundreds of legal bills in various decision to use Serengeti as a third-party tell you you’ll save 3 to 5 per cent of legal different currencies, they are mandated to billing system. spend just by checking bills. keep costs in check. “Our group deals with patent regula- “Meanwhile, procurement will tell you These needs, plus an increasing accept- tion and prosecution,” Maxwell says.“We that processing a paper bill is costlier than ance of the technology it takes to handle deal in high volume. We’re one of the electronic.You can reduce human interven- them, drive in-house counsel to explore biggest filers right now at the Canadian tion in paying your bills to reduce this cost.” client-centric practice management systems. patent office. No one firm could possibly RIM counsel also use their system to Law firms don’t mind this shift. “It helps handle the work that we currently have.” track legal exposure for specific business facilitate better communications with Of the 46 Canadian and U.S. firms shar- units,“so that issues don’t become lawsuits,” clients,” says Lee Matthews, principal busi- ing RIM’s workload (RBC uses about 150 Maxwell says. ness consultant for online practice man- firms in each country),Maxwell notes:“We Thomas mentions another practice agement system vendor CT TyMetrix. were approaching 4,000 invoices to the management feature: enhanced project “Law firms are one of our major sources patent group per month.We had to get col- management. “As lawyers, we don’t learn ISTOCKPHOTO of new business,” adds Rob Thomas, vice- laborative with law firms to get a handle on to be good project managers,” he says. 14 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association FALL 2010