JFK Law simplifies complex legal document management with iManage in the Cloud

Specialist law firm, JFK Law, is on a mission to help Indigenous communities protect their title, rights and way of life. To reduce time spent manually filing thousands of documents, they needed a next-generation document management system, and selected iManage Work 10 in the Cloud, which aligns with their cloud strategy. Today, staff are more productive than ever and can offer clients more cost-effective services by reducing time spent on administrative tasks.

JFK Law is a mid-sized Canadian firm that represents Indigenous communities seeking justice and reconciliation. Its team of more than 40 lawyers and legal support staff provides complex litigation and consultation services, negotiates treaties, and undertakes regulatory work such as environment assessments. It aims to protect the rights of Indigenous people and drive meaningful change in society.

The business challenge

Simplifying management of thousands of documents

Working on complex cases requires huge volumes of documents, and matters can span decades. While the firm had an on-premises document management solution, lawyers needed to manually fill in document cards every time they stored a file. This was time consuming and resulted in low adoption and poor compliance.

“When people were pushed for time, they’d end up storing information in their email, which is bad for collaboration and made it more difficult to search for all the relevant documents relating to a matter,” explained Monique Cotton, Manager, Legal Support Services and Firm Operations, JFK Law. “Inefficient processes were impacting our productivity and we were losing billable time.”

This also risked impacting data security. The firm handles a significant volume of confidential personal data, but the incumbent document management solution lacked advanced security features. This resulted in lawyers password-protecting individual files and manually setting up ethical firewalls to ensure client data was protected.

The firm also wanted to make documents available anytime, anywhere to support a hybrid workplace. The Vancouver and Victoria offices serve clients in every jurisdiction in Canada, and lawyers often travel to remote locations.

The solution

Feature-rich document management and secure collaboration

Holman Webb implemented iManage Work 10 in the Cloud to their four offices and rolled out a change management program to streamline user adoption. During pilot sessions, the IT team worked alongside lawyers to workshop the best ways to structure documents to meet their needs.

“iManage was the obvious choice for us. It’s the weapon of choice for the legal sector, and clients expect us to have the best possible solutions,” said Steve. “It’s not just a great document management system, iManage is a long-term partner invested in our success. We’ve got expert advice on tap and don’t have to worry about maintaining hardware.”

The platform is integrated with workplace solutions, such as the time-tracking system and the data warehouse. This gives the team insight into how documents and data are stored in relation to specific matters. In the future, this will help to categorize matters faster and identify common clauses that can be templated for similar cases.

Enhanced searches are also helping lawyers to save time. When they drag and drop files into a folder, they’re automatically tagged with metadata that makes it easier to find relevant documents during discovery. Another small change making a big impact is version control. Previously, matching PDFs to the document they were created from was challenging, but in iManage, finding the latest version is simple.

Holman Webb also implemented iManage Share, which provides a crucial layer of protection against cyberattacks. “iManage Share is vital for us. We can share documents with the right people without using risky third-party collaboration tools,” Steve noted.

Business outcomes

More cost-effective client services

While the iManage rollout is accelerating the firm’s cloud strategy, the efficiency gains of iManage Work 10 have dramatically improved work life for JFK Law’s employees. “Being able to find and store what you need quickly may seem like a small thing, but over the day and across our whole team it adds up to significant time savings for the firm,” said Cotton. “iManage makes our services more cost-effective for clients and means we can spend more time focusing on higher-value tasks.”

The migration has also enhanced data security by establishing a more consistent, enterprise-wide approach to data management and ensuring high levels of buy-in from staff. Meanwhile, being able to create ethical walls quickly and easily with iManage Security Policy Manager saves time and helps the team meet industry-specific compliance regulations.

Looking ahead

As the firm continues its move to a fully cloud-based environment it will integrate more solutions with iManage so staff can work on one platform — without the need to toggle between solutions.

“Our long-term goal is to give employees a seamless cloud-based experience, and — as our most-used platform — iManage was instrumental in paving the way for the rest of the migration,” said Cotton. “Change management can be the most difficult part of any project, but now our employees have seen how transformative great technology can be, and they’re excited for what’s to come.”