Building a better way
MinterEllison sought a better and more cost-effective way to handle high-volume matters. The firm’s project team, which included lawyers, developers, system analysts and automation specialists, began the process of building new software to streamline this work in 2015.
The team analysed its legal processes and soon realised the overall ‘workflow’ of any given case could be broken down into a number of tasks. By better organising these tasks into a stream of work, the team concluded it could standardise repeatable tasks that were otherwise time-consuming. Lawyers from different practice groups participated in workshops to discuss commonalities across their processes and figure out ways to create a solution within a single interface.
Lawyers also liaised with clients to understand their most pressing needs and ensure they were addressed in the new system. Among client’s top priorities were, improved reporting, data capture and real-time tracking of matters.
Innovation in action
The Taskflow portal was ready in early 2016 and employees instantly benefited. The user-friendly interface lets legal teams tailor their workflows to suit matters, making it easier to assign the most appropriate person to each task. In this way, the system is highly efficient and collaborative, providing greater transparency across the entire business.
Taskflow works seamlessly on the client side, too. For example, MinterEllison’s team met with AMP to get a better understanding of its ongoing financial advice matter, the type of access employees required during the case and how they could view work-in-progress. This has helped AMP follow the matter closely, providing a level of transparency they otherwise would not have had. Importantly, Taskflow helps instil a sense confidence in the work being carried out, every step of the way.
Efficiency advantage
While Taskflow is designed to standardise tasks, it’s also built to provide more cost certainty. It does this by providing a level of project management and organisation via business process templates which are used by administrators and lawyers. This level of efficiency also allows lawyers to focus with confidence on the more complex aspects of the matter.
In this way, Taskflow has become invaluable when a case involving a high volume of transactional work ramps up. Taskflow’s intuitive web-based environment also means lawyers can construct unique workflows with little or no need for IT assistance.
The outcome: Award-winning service
Taskflow is a game-changer because it assures clients of high quality work, faster, and at a more competitive price.
The client interface is also unique and, as such, has been widely praised. It offers clients confidential real-time information about their cases in a way that can’t be found anywhere else in the marketplace.
As a result, Taskflow was named Innovative Project of the Year (Client-Facing) by the International Legal Technology Association in Washington DC in August 2016.
