Building on her long-standing relationship with the client and intimate knowledge of its business and the regulatory landscape, Blakes Partner Bonny Murray worked with our innovation team to reinvent the contract management process for the line of business through a combination of legal technology and an alternative service delivery model.
At the heart of the effort was a customized collaboration portal built by Blakes using cloud-based software.
Following interviews with key people at the bank, our team developed an improved workflow to cut out unnecessary layers of communication and constructed an intake system that allows members of the client’s sales team to initiate work directly on a contract by filling out a simple online form.
On the Blakes side of the portal, an automated workflow delivers new files to lawyers staffed by inSource — our fully integrated in-house alternative service delivery provider. Trained and supervised by Bonny Murray, this team of reviewers can handle ongoing requests for new agreements, renewals and amendments at the same level of service guaranteed to all Blakes clients, but on a more efficient and cost-effective basis.
Checks and balances are programmed into the system for quality assurance and accuracy, catching potential issues before a draft is submitted. Relevant stakeholders stay informed every step of the way through automatic notifications that are triggered each time an important step in the process is completed or a file changes hands.
Meanwhile, all the communications about a specific agreement are stored in a centralized location, rather than fragmented across the emails of individual team members, creating a searchable repository for future tracking purposes.
An intuitive digital dashboard gives the bank’s in-house counsel and upper management a snapshot of work in progress, including the number of agreements newly opened or awaiting approval at various stages of the process, and the agreements that are already complete.