Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
Legal Document Solution Saves Law Firms Time and Money
Drafting custom contracts from scratch is arguably the most labor intensive and expensive part of the legal process. At Giampolo Law Group (GLG), we economically enable growth for our clients by offering the breadth of services and preventative advice of a full-service law firm. We are a boutique law firm located in Philadelphia with offices in New Jersey that provides progressive regional and international corporate, civil rights and real estate legal services to small and medium-sized businesses.
Sticking to our mission has led us to experiment with several cost-reducing measures to minimize our clients' financial burden. These measures include repurposing our contracts and addendums when possible and working with pre-written contract templates purchased from a handful of online legal forms sites.
We quickly discovered, however, that this is not the most effective method of reducing cost, particularly after factoring in the amount of time required to source the right documents, modify the text and correct style inconsistencies. We were wasting too many unbillable hours editing and formatting legal contracts for the sole purpose of creating some semblance of cohesion between documents.
Contract management was equally problematic. In the absence of a formal infrastructure for document management, we relied on file name conventions to version and track contracts. This process, however, became too unwieldy and difficult to control as the contents of the archive quickly snowballed into hundreds of original and modified contracts. We were needlessly duplicating files and driving up data storage costs.
Our ballooning archive consisted of multiple subdirectory folders, which made information difficult to access and painstaking to navigate. Finding the correct folder, then manually opening each file impeded our ability to quickly find and use important information. This system was neither elegant nor intuitive.
Furthermore, when associates were required to collaborate on a contract, they used e-mail to exchange files. This exacerbated the problem of tracking multiple versions, congested the internal mail server, and presented a confidentiality risk that potentially compromised our privacy and security compliance. The other vulnerability was losing cumulative unsaved work in the event of a system failure. It has happened that an associate's hard drive keeled over before her work could be saved or transferred. IT did perform regular server backups, but we were nevertheless susceptible to losing data between backups.
My practice also specializes in international law focusing in the Asian markets and East and West Africa. I frequently travel to China, Vietnam, and countries in Africa, and remotely work with internationally based clients. Preparing forms, agreements, and contracts in Chinese is another example of a costly endeavor. Thus, translation is an effort to coordinate, but doubles my cost.
For myriad reasons, contract writing is difficult for us to accomplish in a precise and cost-effective way without some form of automation. Since we are structured to offer a full range of services, our efficiency is hypercritical.
Legal Templates Software
I first discovered Business-in-a-Box in 2009 while talking to a colleague about e-lawyering. Based on the recommendation, I downloaded the free software demo to evaluate it as a contract-drafting tool that would help mitigate costs and allow us to pass the savings along to our clients.
Within minutes, I was able to preview the entire collection of 1,500 documents. The quality and variety of the templates was impressive, and the software was easy to use. Reassured after a few minutes of reconnaissance on the provider, I found that Biztree had three million users and was affiliated with highly reputable technology partners such as HP and Lenovo. For such comprehensive legal software, the cost was nominal, equivalent to less than one hour of legal services billed by an associate, and the three-user license stretched the value even further.
Hugely beneficial for the international practice, the software supported up to four language modules in any combination. Today, there are seven language versions (English, French, Spanish, Chinese Italian, German and Portuguese). Integrating the Chinese and French editions allowed me to serve these markets more efficiently and communicate more effectively with both clients and prospective clients, without incurring translation fees. The language setting is fully customizable, which allows us to interface with the software and work on documents in the same language.
The contract drafting practice we have today runs more smoothly than it did before. We are now able to focus on modifying and enhancing contract specifics quickly and more effectively rather than engaging in redundant drafting from scratch. This not only saves time for me and my associates, it also saves the client money.
Apart from the convenience of having a store of hundreds of standard contracts on hand, the software's integrated search functionality allows us to browse them instantly. The library is organized by document category and document type. Moreover, the content manager is easy to navigate. You can search by subject (i.e., copyright, patent, release, deeds, affidavits), keyword (i.e., distribution agreement), and view all documents associated to a business or legal task, such as incorporating a company, entering into or dissolving a partnership, or protecting intellectual property or assets.
As a document manager, Business-in-a-Box also proved to be practical for GLG. Our intranet is networked to the application's “My Files” library folder, which is a common repository allowing us to share files internally within the application, bypassing e-mail completely. The built-in security feature “AutoSave” automatically saves work, which enabled us to minimize the risk of lost data. We are able to edit in Microsoft Word, Excel, Apple iWork and OpenOffice.org and “Save As” PDF or any format. Document tabs allow us to toggle between five templates at once. Auto-Fill enters repetitive information automatically.
Conclusion
Business-in-a-Box has made a positive impact on GLG's productivity and helped us fulfill our mission to deliver cost effective legal services. It's allowed us to be more competitive globally both in our pricing and in the breadth of services we provide. We are now better equipped to do more for our clients, resulting in our continued growth.
Angela D. Giampolo is the Managing Partner of Giampolo Law Group in Philadelphia. Her practice focuses mainly on corporate transactions, LGBT law, civil rights, employment discrimination, real estate, domestic and international adoptions, and estate planning and administration.
Drafting custom contracts from scratch is arguably the most labor intensive and expensive part of the legal process. At Giampolo Law Group (GLG), we economically enable growth for our clients by offering the breadth of services and preventative advice of a full-service law firm. We are a boutique law firm located in Philadelphia with offices in New Jersey that provides progressive regional and international corporate, civil rights and real estate legal services to small and medium-sized businesses.
Sticking to our mission has led us to experiment with several cost-reducing measures to minimize our clients' financial burden. These measures include repurposing our contracts and addendums when possible and working with pre-written contract templates purchased from a handful of online legal forms sites.
We quickly discovered, however, that this is not the most effective method of reducing cost, particularly after factoring in the amount of time required to source the right documents, modify the text and correct style inconsistencies. We were wasting too many unbillable hours editing and formatting legal contracts for the sole purpose of creating some semblance of cohesion between documents.
Contract management was equally problematic. In the absence of a formal infrastructure for document management, we relied on file name conventions to version and track contracts. This process, however, became too unwieldy and difficult to control as the contents of the archive quickly snowballed into hundreds of original and modified contracts. We were needlessly duplicating files and driving up data storage costs.
Our ballooning archive consisted of multiple subdirectory folders, which made information difficult to access and painstaking to navigate. Finding the correct folder, then manually opening each file impeded our ability to quickly find and use important information. This system was neither elegant nor intuitive.
Furthermore, when associates were required to collaborate on a contract, they used e-mail to exchange files. This exacerbated the problem of tracking multiple versions, congested the internal mail server, and presented a confidentiality risk that potentially compromised our privacy and security compliance. The other vulnerability was losing cumulative unsaved work in the event of a system failure. It has happened that an associate's hard drive keeled over before her work could be saved or transferred. IT did perform regular server backups, but we were nevertheless susceptible to losing data between backups.
My practice also specializes in international law focusing in the Asian markets and East and West Africa. I frequently travel to China, Vietnam, and countries in Africa, and remotely work with internationally based clients. Preparing forms, agreements, and contracts in Chinese is another example of a costly endeavor. Thus, translation is an effort to coordinate, but doubles my cost.
For myriad reasons, contract writing is difficult for us to accomplish in a precise and cost-effective way without some form of automation. Since we are structured to offer a full range of services, our efficiency is hypercritical.
Legal Templates Software
I first discovered Business-in-a-Box in 2009 while talking to a colleague about e-lawyering. Based on the recommendation, I downloaded the free software demo to evaluate it as a contract-drafting tool that would help mitigate costs and allow us to pass the savings along to our clients.
Within minutes, I was able to preview the entire collection of 1,500 documents. The quality and variety of the templates was impressive, and the software was easy to use. Reassured after a few minutes of reconnaissance on the provider, I found that Biztree had three million users and was affiliated with highly reputable technology partners such as HP and Lenovo. For such comprehensive legal software, the cost was nominal, equivalent to less than one hour of legal services billed by an associate, and the three-user license stretched the value even further.
Hugely beneficial for the international practice, the software supported up to four language modules in any combination. Today, there are seven language versions (English, French, Spanish, Chinese Italian, German and Portuguese). Integrating the Chinese and French editions allowed me to serve these markets more efficiently and communicate more effectively with both clients and prospective clients, without incurring translation fees. The language setting is fully customizable, which allows us to interface with the software and work on documents in the same language.
The contract drafting practice we have today runs more smoothly than it did before. We are now able to focus on modifying and enhancing contract specifics quickly and more effectively rather than engaging in redundant drafting from scratch. This not only saves time for me and my associates, it also saves the client money.
Apart from the convenience of having a store of hundreds of standard contracts on hand, the software's integrated search functionality allows us to browse them instantly. The library is organized by document category and document type. Moreover, the content manager is easy to navigate. You can search by subject (i.e., copyright, patent, release, deeds, affidavits), keyword (i.e., distribution agreement), and view all documents associated to a business or legal task, such as incorporating a company, entering into or dissolving a partnership, or protecting intellectual property or assets.
As a document manager, Business-in-a-Box also proved to be practical for GLG. Our intranet is networked to the application's “My Files” library folder, which is a common repository allowing us to share files internally within the application, bypassing e-mail completely. The built-in security feature “AutoSave” automatically saves work, which enabled us to minimize the risk of lost data. We are able to edit in
Conclusion
Business-in-a-Box has made a positive impact on GLG's productivity and helped us fulfill our mission to deliver cost effective legal services. It's allowed us to be more competitive globally both in our pricing and in the breadth of services we provide. We are now better equipped to do more for our clients, resulting in our continued growth.
Angela D. Giampolo is the Managing Partner of Giampolo Law Group in Philadelphia. Her practice focuses mainly on corporate transactions, LGBT law, civil rights, employment discrimination, real estate, domestic and international adoptions, and estate planning and administration.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Removing Restrictive Covenants In New York
In Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?