<b><i>Case Study:</i></b> Online Practical Guidance Resource Gives Business Lawyer a Competitive Edge

My Practice

I began as a solo practitioner in 2005 and incorporated my New York City-based firm in 2007. With a staff of five, complimented by contract attorneys, we service individuals in the private sector, small business owners and incorporated businesses. Clients come to us seeking assistance with a broad set of transactions, ranging from contract queries and disputes, to bankruptcy protection and real
estate purchases.

At the beginning of this year, I intensified my search to find ways to make our firm more efficient, improve our service quality and identify opportunities to expand our offerings. I was convinced that our efficiency and productivity could be greatly enhanced without needing additional staff, so I looked at online resources. I chose the Business Law module from Lexis Practice Advisor as it combines forms, practice notes and checklists, all put together by attorneys who have expertise in the specific area. It also includes the supporting primary law and legal analysis that is essential to our client work.

The product quickly became an invaluable resource in our day-to-day work as all information and materials needed for a specific transaction were now at our fingertips ' best practices, forms and templates, as well as the related codes and procedures. In fact, by cutting back on the time needed to search materials and prepare transactions, we increased our firm's efficiency by roughly 35% to 45%.

In many ways, using a resource like Lexis Practice Advisor levels the playing field between a small firm like ours and a larger firm. Firms can benefit from a practical guidance tool in a variety of ways.

Document Drafting

As a law firm that focuses on business matters, we spend much of our time drafting documents for relatively routine transactions. With limited resources, we do not have the luxury of dividing tasks among a large staff of associates and paralegals specializing in a specific area. As a result, we have become consummate multi-taskers, working against the clock to complete multiple assignments quickly, always aware that a serious delay in one project can create a chain reaction of delays for our colleagues and extend the time-to-resolution for our clients.

It used to be a stressful task to quickly pinpoint authoritative and up-to-date guidance about the transaction at hand, find the relevant forms and templates and double-check related provisions, cases and codes. Now, with Lexis Practice Advisor, we have the ideal starting point in place to tackle any matter.

The tool gives us all the guidance, practice notes and checklists needed for a specific transaction. These materials are put together by attorneys who are experts in commercial, contracts and corporate law, so we can be sure that we are following best practices. In fact, we can even look up their profile and learn about their experience.

More importantly, the tool provides the documents, templates and forms required, which can be downloaded and edited to the specific needs of our clients. And if we would like to drill deeper into the pertinent treatise, materials, cases and codes, we can do this directly in the tool as well. Additionally, a direct link in the tool allows us to reach out to the LexisNexis team to ask questions.

As a result, we are managing routine matters much more effectively and we have significantly reduced the time spent on drafting documents for our clients. This level of convenience not only helped us make our practice more productive, but also freed up our time to focus on our clients.

Prep Time and Follow-up

Preparing for client meetings quickly and confidently was another challenge we faced. Our team spent a great deal of time conducting due diligence, tracking down the legal information most relevant for their situation, and then preparing briefing books prior to consultations. Deep preparation is vital to maximize the impact of the consultation and instill a sense of trust in the client. In the past, the process could take several hours.

We now have streamlined our meeting preparation significantly. Prior to client consultations, we simply browse through the most relevant topics in Lexis Practice Advisor, retrieve the appropriate forms and templates with the practice notes and checklists, if needed, and take a look at primary law and legal analysis. This gets us up-to-speed on new and changing issues in business law, and puts us in a better position to offer greater depth of knowledge in our client meetings.

Advise Clients

A small law firm like ours often struggles to address a topic outside of its direct area of expertise. Typically, when such an inquiry would arise during the course of a consultation, I'd make a note of the subject discussed, research the topic after the consultation and return to the client with the answer as soon as possible. This delay could sometimes inhibit first-time consultations from bearing fruit. Clients want to know from the first consultation whether you can help. It's a reality that having to “get back” to prospective clients reduces the chance that they'll choose you as their attorney.

This has changed with Lexis Practice Advisor. During in-person consultations, I can now access practical guidance from the best legal minds on my iPad or laptop right in the meeting room. I can also see key cases related to my clients' needs, with summaries highlighting the relevant issues. Plus, it affords me the opportunity to cover more critical information with the client than before, which helps resolve issues more quickly and build greater trust in the attorney-client relationship. And since we are addressing client questions during the consultation, we've reduced the time needed to research and respond to follow-up queries.

Expand Legal Services

Simplifying our day-to-day routine, reducing our prep and drafting as well as maximizing the impact of consultation meetings has brought along another advantage; not only can we spend more time with our clients, we also have the opportunity to discuss additional matters that could be of relevance for their business. As a result, we were able to expand some of the transactional work we're handling for our clients.

What's more, with a trusted resource at hand, we've started to broaden our service offering to encompass assignments we previously didn't feel quite prepared to handle. With the advice from expert practitioners within the practice notes and annotated model documents in Lexis Practice Advisor, we have the confidence to advise our clients on matters new to our practice.

Conclusion

Utilizing Lexis Practice Advisor allowed us to greatly reduce time spent on search and document preparation. For any firm ' and a small firm especially ' increased productivity has a great impact on the bottom line. We are now able to focus on expanding the practice, handling new matters and advising clients rather than search and document creation. Moreover, we've have been able to serve our clients more comprehensively and strengthen their trust in our services.

Lexis Practice Advisor is unique in combining hands-on legal guidance with forms, templates and relevant deeper information. It affords you the ability to develop an appropriate strategy for your client that addresses his or her specific needs. This is a critical perspective that you don't get from automated tools that simply produce standard documents. It's like having an adviser in the room with you and your client.

We are more competitive when we are more efficient, authoritative and offer greater insight during consultations. In a time when clients have more options for their legal services, lawyers must be able to articulate their competence, preparedness and ability to bring greater depth to what they can offer. Adopting an innovative guidance tool, Lexis Practice Advisor, gave our small law firm a large firm advantage.

Business law is one of the widest fields in the legal industry, requiring attorneys to have specific knowledge of dozens of areas in order to best service their clients. On a given day, we may advise clients on a broad variety of issues, be it incorporating or buying a business, partnership agreements, real estate purchases or trademark protection. Each situation requires a nuanced understanding of current practice, the rules and regulations, and the implications for our business clients as well as the preparation of specific contracts and forms.

In large firms, lawyers can take advantage of a pool of experts, support staff and information resources to prepare for and handle these often very diverse client tasks. However, the majority of lawyers in the business arena have a small staff, little time, and limited resources to tap when it comes to getting up to speed on new topics, drafting documents and agreements, and preparing for client meetings.

Over the course of recent years, the Internet has made more and more information on best practices, model documents and legal forms available to lawyers. Yet, the challenge has been sorting out the “best in class” advice and up-to-date documents from myriad sources on the Web in a quick and efficient manner. My firm, Vivian M. Williams & Associates, has seen tremendous benefits in practice efficiency and quality of client counsel since we've started using a practical guidance tool from LexisNexis called Lexis Practice Advisor, a Web-based resource that brings together all information and documents needed to handle specific transactions.

My Practice

I began as a solo practitioner in 2005 and incorporated my New York City-based firm in 2007. With a staff of five, complimented by contract attorneys, we service individuals in the private sector, small business owners and incorporated businesses. Clients come to us seeking assistance with a broad set of transactions, ranging from contract queries and disputes, to bankruptcy protection and real
estate purchases.

At the beginning of this year, I intensified my search to find ways to make our firm more efficient, improve our service quality and identify opportunities to expand our offerings. I was convinced that our efficiency and productivity could be greatly enhanced without needing additional staff, so I looked at online resources. I chose the Business Law module from Lexis Practice Advisor as it combines forms, practice notes and checklists, all put together by attorneys who have expertise in the specific area. It also includes the supporting primary law and legal analysis that is essential to our client work.

The product quickly became an invaluable resource in our day-to-day work as all information and materials needed for a specific transaction were now at our fingertips ' best practices, forms and templates, as well as the related codes and procedures. In fact, by cutting back on the time needed to search materials and prepare transactions, we increased our firm's efficiency by roughly 35% to 45%.

In many ways, using a resource like Lexis Practice Advisor levels the playing field between a small firm like ours and a larger firm. Firms can benefit from a practical guidance tool in a variety of ways.

Document Drafting

As a law firm that focuses on business matters, we spend much of our time drafting documents for relatively routine transactions. With limited resources, we do not have the luxury of dividing tasks among a large staff of associates and paralegals specializing in a specific area. As a result, we have become consummate multi-taskers, working against the clock to complete multiple assignments quickly, always aware that a serious delay in one project can create a chain reaction of delays for our colleagues and extend the time-to-resolution for our clients.

It used to be a stressful task to quickly pinpoint authoritative and up-to-date guidance about the transaction at hand, find the relevant forms and templates and double-check related provisions, cases and codes. Now, with Lexis Practice Advisor, we have the ideal starting point in place to tackle any matter.

The tool gives us all the guidance, practice notes and checklists needed for a specific transaction. These materials are put together by attorneys who are experts in commercial, contracts and corporate law, so we can be sure that we are following best practices. In fact, we can even look up their profile and learn about their experience.

More importantly, the tool provides the documents, templates and forms required, which can be downloaded and edited to the specific needs of our clients. And if we would like to drill deeper into the pertinent treatise, materials, cases and codes, we can do this directly in the tool as well. Additionally, a direct link in the tool allows us to reach out to the LexisNexis team to ask questions.

As a result, we are managing routine matters much more effectively and we have significantly reduced the time spent on drafting documents for our clients. This level of convenience not only helped us make our practice more productive, but also freed up our time to focus on our clients.

Prep Time and Follow-up

Preparing for client meetings quickly and confidently was another challenge we faced. Our team spent a great deal of time conducting due diligence, tracking down the legal information most relevant for their situation, and then preparing briefing books prior to consultations. Deep preparation is vital to maximize the impact of the consultation and instill a sense of trust in the client. In the past, the process could take several hours.

We now have streamlined our meeting preparation significantly. Prior to client consultations, we simply browse through the most relevant topics in Lexis Practice Advisor, retrieve the appropriate forms and templates with the practice notes and checklists, if needed, and take a look at primary law and legal analysis. This gets us up-to-speed on new and changing issues in business law, and puts us in a better position to offer greater depth of knowledge in our client meetings.

Advise Clients

A small law firm like ours often struggles to address a topic outside of its direct area of expertise. Typically, when such an inquiry would arise during the course of a consultation, I'd make a note of the subject discussed, research the topic after the consultation and return to the client with the answer as soon as possible. This delay could sometimes inhibit first-time consultations from bearing fruit. Clients want to know from the first consultation whether you can help. It's a reality that having to “get back” to prospective clients reduces the chance that they'll choose you as their attorney.

This has changed with Lexis Practice Advisor. During in-person consultations, I can now access practical guidance from the best legal minds on my iPad or laptop right in the meeting room. I can also see key cases related to my clients' needs, with summaries highlighting the relevant issues. Plus, it affords me the opportunity to cover more critical information with the client than before, which helps resolve issues more quickly and build greater trust in the attorney-client relationship. And since we are addressing client questions during the consultation, we've reduced the time needed to research and respond to follow-up queries.

Expand Legal Services

Simplifying our day-to-day routine, reducing our prep and drafting as well as maximizing the impact of consultation meetings has brought along another advantage; not only can we spend more time with our clients, we also have the opportunity to discuss additional matters that could be of relevance for their business. As a result, we were able to expand some of the transactional work we're handling for our clients.

What's more, with a trusted resource at hand, we've started to broaden our service offering to encompass assignments we previously didn't feel quite prepared to handle. With the advice from expert practitioners within the practice notes and annotated model documents in Lexis Practice Advisor, we have the confidence to advise our clients on matters new to our practice.

Conclusion

Utilizing Lexis Practice Advisor allowed us to greatly reduce time spent on search and document preparation. For any firm ' and a small firm especially ' increased productivity has a great impact on the bottom line. We are now able to focus on expanding the practice, handling new matters and advising clients rather than search and document creation. Moreover, we've have been able to serve our clients more comprehensively and strengthen their trust in our services.

Lexis Practice Advisor is unique in combining hands-on legal guidance with forms, templates and relevant deeper information. It affords you the ability to develop an appropriate strategy for your client that addresses his or her specific needs. This is a critical perspective that you don't get from automated tools that simply produce standard documents. It's like having an adviser in the room with you and your client.

We are more competitive when we are more efficient, authoritative and offer greater insight during consultations. In a time when clients have more options for their legal services, lawyers must be able to articulate their competence, preparedness and ability to bring greater depth to what they can offer. Adopting an innovative guidance tool, Lexis Practice Advisor, gave our small law firm a large firm advantage.