Reducing costs using legal extranets

In today's challenging economic times, reducing costs is more important than ever.

Legal extranet systems provide several potential opportunities for corporate counsel and law firms to work together in a manner which streamlines litigation support and management in a way that both improves quality and reduces costs. A few of the cost savings opportunities are below.

• Commonly requested or frequently used items (master calendars, contact lists, etc..) can be posted on an extranet site once so that frequently redistribution is not required.
• We can use these technologies to share documents within printing them (which also reduces a firm's carbon footprint and contributes to "Green Law" Initiatives.
• Case management data can be posted on-line, eliminating the need for law firms to produce weekly/monthly reports on a client's matters.
• Documents, either those which are works-in-process or those which are completed works (trial exhibits, depositions, transcripts), can be posted eliminating the need to distribute them in paper format or in a duplicative manner (e.g. sending sets of documents to multiple individuals).
• Tasks and research related to a matter which are completed can be posted on an extranet, potentially reducing the amount of duplicative work done by local counsel on a broad, nationwide set of related litigations.

These are just a sampling of the various efficiencies which are made possible by collaboration and legal extranet systems. One is limited only by their own imaginations and creativity in developing and exploiting cost savings opportunities via the use of legal extranet and litigation support software.