Part 3: The iManage view

Legal leaders answer the call for change in 2024

Change isn’t optional

This commentary follows our Legal Leaders Answer the Call for Change: 2024 executive summary and analysis of Ari Kaplan Advisors' The Changemakers Report. If you inadvertently came to this page without reading our summary and analysis, we strongly encourage you to check them out first.

So. We’ve already written a summary and an analysis. What more can we offer you from this report? Why, our takeaways, of course! And boy, do we have some takeaways.

Let’s just start with the title — Legal Leaders Answer the Call for Change: 2024 We love it! Because all you leaders out there (you know who you are), that’s you. And because if the past four years have shown the legal industry anything, it’s that change isn’t optional. The only choice is in how you manage it. And — as we’re sure you know — the best way to manage change is to stay firmly ahead of it. If you don’t, you’re a hamster on a wheel, and the best you can hope for is to keep that wheel circling around and around; which, by the way, is what water does when it circles the drain, am I right? Good. Then we’re agreed that we all want to stay ahead of change. How do we do that? You already know.

Change is challenging. You are replacing something that is working with something unknown.

People know it is going to be different, and it may affect their work lives in a big way. They only have your word that change is going to be better. They may love it, or they may hate it, and people don’t welcome that kind of uncertainty.

Let’s talk about how to deal with that. Here are a few pointers from our 9 steps to leading change in law firms.

Be curious. Listen.

Find people who are willing to talk about what needs to change and why. People are more collaborative when you listen and show your desire to make their work easier.

Foster leadership in others.

Providing too much guidance too soon can undermine the goal of fostering individual leadership on your team. That wealth of experience will pay dividends.

Set aside the fear of failure.

As counterintuitive as it may sound, sometimes failure is a necessary step on the path to success. Maintain a healthy approach to failure.

Be a good facilitator.

Create an environment where junior staff feel comfortable contributing to the conversation without the worry of being judged.

Welcome new ideas.

No matter how similar a project, assignment, or initiative feels to something you’ve done before, a new approach might produce better outcomes.

Build trust.

Support people throughout a change and incorporate their feedback to ensure they feel invested, or you risk them continuing to operate per the status quo.

Keep the lines of communication open.

Gather ideas for improving a process or technology. Listen to their concerns and explore their challenges. Find outcomes you can both support.

Remain encouraging and supportive.

When people feel they have a role in creating your change strategy they have a compelling reason to engage. Encourage mentoring.

Let’s get started

In Ari Kaplan 2024 Legal Leaders Research: Key themes, we look at how leaders at midsize firms approach technology, AI, collective knowledge, challenges, and growth. Now we’ll talk about these results in terms of solutions. And we’ll mix things up a bit and start with challenges.

Opportunities

Talent, culture, and technology take the main stage for many of the study respondents.

The iManage view: Value people, cherish diversity, and optimize technology

Talent

Talent acquisition and retention is not just a pain point for midsize law firms — small firms struggle in this area as well.

Organizations may need to reset how they value people. More than half of respondents in our research (51%) think their company puts profits over people. Just 28 percent feel strongly that they are valued as individual, and 80 percent of respondents would consider changing employers for a position at the same salary.

Employee attrition is costly on many levels, but having knowledge literally walk out the door is the greatest potential loss to the long-term health of the business. If we want our carefully curated talent to stay committed to our organizations, weaving recognition into company culture is an economical means of making an impact.

Culture

Many law firms rely on traditional methods of networking that limit the opportunity for people of all genders and all races to attain expert status in their organization. Our research indicates that knowledge workers perceive knowledge hoarding as both intentional and important for individual gains. Even if that is not the intent, perceptions matter.

Experts can emerge from any demographic in the company, and opening new avenues for exchanging knowledge allows an organization to break free of its conventions and entertain new ideas, which leads to different, and often better, outcomes.

Soliciting and rewarding contributions from employees at all levels boosts their feelings of being valued and respected as people within their organizations. According to Gallup and Workhuman, high-quality recognition yields tangible benefits, helping to reduce employee turnover and lost productivity.

Technology

In the Kaplan study, a respondent remarked that firms in a growth phase are wary of creating insecurities around job reduction due to new technology. The goal is to expand services with technology rather than using technology to reduce roles.

The right document management technology can empower users to work efficiently and securely from any location, consolidating data into a secure, centralized, cloud-based system to reduce search times and improve access. Streamlining administrative and repetitive tasks with AI-enabled automation reduces hours spent on non-billable work. And the best technology integrates seamlessly into daily workflows — opening opportunities to improve existing processes.

Implementing these technologies checks boxes on both sides — enabling your firm to expand its services while bringing greater satisfaction to employees. Clients benefit, too, because the best platforms protect sensitive data using advanced security protocols so you can maintain client trust, while positioning the firm as forward-thinking. They can also provide usage analytics that help leaders make better-informed decisions.

And speaking of decisions, where does generative AI fit into the scenario we just described?

The AI conundrum

Seasoned lawyers may question new approaches. But emerging legal leaders know their firm needs modern strategies and technologies that solve foundational issues to build a more sustainable, more profitable future.

We can't prevent change, but we can prepare for it. Your firm's success hinges on its readiness to adapt quickly with all the means in your control.

Teamwork is foundational to success. A culture of cooperation underpins innovation. Measurable firmwide goals such as profitability, productivity, and growth can guide the introduction of new tools and processes.

To modernize operations and integrate AI, analytics, and automation tools seamlessly into workflows, a concerted effort with commitment from all levels is necessary, but the effort is worthwhile and yields tangible benefits.

You can apply automation, analytics, and AI tools at nearly every step of a matter. Invest in change that aligns with the natural flow of legal work:

  • Understand root problems and their related inefficiencies.
  • Map workflows: steps taken, data exchanged, systems accessed.
  • Identify where AI-enabled technology can automate repetitive tasks and support decision-making.
  • Determine where to incorporate role-based and customizable functions.
  • Embrace an iterative approach with periodic reviews, refine workflows, and address usability issues.​


The proliferation of publicly available large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and others seemed to take the world by storm. But while there is potential for generative AI to be transformative, this “breakthrough technology” looks far less new and novel to the organizations that began successfully applying AI to solving knowledge work problems many years ago.

Collective knowledge

Or, as we like to say, collective intelligence.

We discussed using a centralized platform to manage and track client and matter information, documents, and communications and enable collaborative work. Connecting your people, processes, and data creates an agile information-sharing network. This structured approach makes it easy for lawyers and staff to find and access relevant information quickly. But what more can you do on that platform to get the maximum return on that information?

Access to matter-specific and business intelligence data empowers legal professionals to refine processes and deliver more profitable services. By standardizing the methods used to collect, organize, and analyze data and by prioritizing data-driven decision-making, you can gain actionable insights to help you meet the diverse needs of various user groups.

In fact, one of the most important current outcomes of upping your collective knowledge game is being better positioned to acquire, retain, and nurture the best talent in the industry.

Strategies for making better use of knowledge

According to our research, the top three knowledge work strategies are:

Evaluating and optimizing existing technologies

Reorganizing the company structure to align with the knowledge work goals

Training existing employees to gain the required skills

A solution that enables organizations to manage content — from governance and compliance to proper disposition — underpins and supports the adoption of effective AI-enabled technologies. And supported by a culture that promotes and rewards change, optimizing knowledge work can help bring about the business growth and outcomes knowledge-based organizations seek.

Create a new blueprint for growth

You can shift outdated mindsets and unify your teams to treat problems, not just symptoms, and build a more modern, more profitable legal ecosystem.
The Changemakers Report touts “How midsize law firms achieve growth through adaptation.”

All of the observations we’ve made here are examples of how midsize firms are doing exactly that. You are overcoming obstacles with pluck, preparation, and persistence. You are taking on the promise and the perils of a rapidly changing legal technology landscape and prevailing over it. You are coming to terms with the need to preserve, democratize, and build the business on your knowledge.

You represent a new era for law firms — an era of change. You are Changemakers.
“We are 100% full steam ahead on change, and I am a change agent, which is why the firm hired me six months ago,” said one respondent to the survey.

iManage embraces the future of work with the same energy, excitement, and enthusiasm that you do. We’ve been a force for change in the industry, too, for nearly 30 years, and we aren’t slowing down anytime soon. What’s more, we look forward to partnering with your firm to help you reach those goals, and we’ll meet you wherever you are on the continuum. Explore the site, book a demo, look us up on Youtube. We can’t wait to meet you!

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