04 APR 2024
The Price of Rankings: What Law Firms Really Invest
From extensive data collection to meticulous submission creation – the effort is enormous and raises an essential question: How much do law firms really invest in time and effort in their rankings?
Visibility costs
The true price for rankings is measured in what is probably the most precious currency for attorneys: time. Hours upon hours flow – not billable – into the creation of submissions.
The effort behind the scenes is enormous
Behind the scenes, law firms invest enormous effort in submissions: from comprehensive documentation of mandates and successes to strategic formulation of submissions. The crucial challenge is initially to gather and prepare the necessary information about completed mandates.
A managing partner of a mid-sized German law firm reports: "We tracked all the hours spent creating submissions over the course of a year. On average, indirect costs per submission amount to over 10,000 euros. With more than 50 submissions per year, we invest roughly half a million euros annually."
Optimization needed in many firms
Many law firms need urgent optimization. There is a lack of both personnel and modern tools. Manual processes quickly reach their limits, as they provide neither the required scalability nor the flexibility to handle the workload.
Smart investment in knowledge and client intelligence
"No law firm would do this long-term if ultimately the benefit didn't clearly outweigh the effort," says Gina-Maria Tondolo, longtime Head of BD and Marketing at Schoenherr Attorneys at Law and founder of the submission & pitch tool LAWRENCE Submission and Pitch Automation..
"Today, it's critical to capture and actively use data about mandates and clients digitally. Law firms should have such information ready at the push of a button – not just for preparing submissions, but also for creating tailored proposals, forming specialized teams, and optimizing overall service quality. For many firms, it would already be a win if they made their time-consuming internal processes more efficient," Tondolo adds.
Strict timelines, precise task allocation, and seamless communication within the firm are essential to meet the extensive submission requirements on time and in high quality while avoiding inefficient redundancies.
Automating workflows with Lawrence
"With a submission tool like Lawrence, law firms can significantly optimize their workflows. Our customers report that with Lawrence they could completely restructure their submission processes and save more than 70% of the time," Gina-Maria Tondolo comments.
Through automation with Lawrence, significant efficiency gains can be achieved. Lawrence enables law firms to collect and manage all relevant data in one central location. From this, Lawrence automatically generates suggestions for each submission and provides all stakeholders with an easy way to update and coordinate their references. Templates are automatically filled in. Law firms can thus significantly reduce the manual effort involved in creating submissions.
JUVE at the push of a button
A special advantage of Lawrence is the direct interface to JUVE Publishing for Legal Information GmbH. Law firms can simply transfer their submissions to the JUVE online platform at the push of a button, which further simplifies and accelerates the process.
Gina-Maria Tondolo is founder and CEO of Lawrence, the leading provider of marketing and BD software for law firms.