Managing compliance to drive legal practice success

The role of legal practitioners is becoming ever more complex. The last 18 months alone have seen new protocols such as the European Union’s GDPR and HMRC’s Making Tax Digital initiative shake-up processes within legal practices. Whenever change is on the horizon, practice managers must ensure that their firms make provisions in order to adapt and remain successful. 

Managing a large volume of cases simultaneously with industry regulation can often prove challenging. Amidst ever-increasing industry regulation, law firm decision-makers are being tasked with finding ways to simplify both internal and external policies in order to help fee-earners remain both efficient and compliant. 

The industry is responding as it continues its shift towards a more digital approach to case management. In a profession bound heavily by procedure, technology can play a fundamental role in helping law firms achieve best practice, both internally and in the eyes of those governing the sector.

Give your staff the tools

As with any sector, having information readily available and accessible is important for completing tasks correctly. For law firms, this requirement is only amplified by the additional need to remain compliant with regulations at every stage of a case.

Firms have to be proactive in providing staff with the tools to achieve this. For example, using a single system that stores and uses information efficiently, practitioners can not only improve their task workflow but enhance internal and external compliance monitoring to ensure all tasks are completed appropriately. 

Taking this one step further, it is also crucial that tasks are completed timeously. Firms should look to utilise tools that enable automated prompts and reminders. This will prove extremely valuable for helping practitioners keep up with tasks as a case progresses, improving overall case management and ensuring no regulatory deadlines are missed. 

Supporting a firm’s individual needs

Every firm will have its unique internal procedures for staff to undertake throughout the duration of a case. Any modern supporting IT system should provide flexibility and enable customisable workflow to align with each firm’s individual needs. Doing so will not only allow firms to streamline their chosen working practices but also ensure that all procedures are met and staff can deliver a high-quality, tailored, efficient service for their clients.

As the needs of practitioners constantly change with the tides of industry policy, having the freedom to build unique workflows to meet a firm’s specific needs is now the key to delivering effective case management for both staff and clients. 

This technology, along with comprehensive training, can make the difference needed to operate more efficiently and with greater control at every phase of a case. Firms which embrace these necessary steps will ultimately be well placed to continue their success in an ever-changing legal sector.