Case Study-- Increases Document Quality and Reduces Risks with Litera

Case Study--Davison, Eastman, Muñoz, Lederman & Paone Increases Document Quality and Reduces Risks with Litera

Forward-thinking firm invests in the latest technology to deliver high-end legal services.

About DEMLP

A tech-savvy law firm that prides itself on using the latest technology solutions to enhance their delivery of highend legal services to clients.

• Represents clients in corporate litigation as well as in civil and criminal cases, business and employment law, trusts and estates, municipal, real estate and land use, community association law, and DWI defense matters.

• Situation: During a technology overhaul DEMLP hired a consultant who highly recommended that Litera Microsystems, and their technology solutions, be included in the upgrade process.

• Outcome: Contract Companion, DocXtools Companion, and 3BClean enhanced overall efficiency, drastically mitigated risk, and eliminated potentially damaging ambiguities and inconsistent legal references.

Overview

Davison, Eastman, Muñoz, Lederman, & Paone, P.A., (DEMLP) based in Freehold, New Jersey, is a tech-savvy law firm that represents clients in corporate litigation as well as in civil and criminal cases, business and employment law, trusts and estates, municipal, real estate and land use, community association law, and DWI defense matters. Five of the firm’s attorneys hold the distinction of being certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as trial attorneys in civil or municipal law.

The firm prides itself on using the latest technology solutions to enhance their delivery of high-end legal services to clients.

Situation

To improve its cybersecurity, and streamline workflow and collaboration, the firm underwent a technology overhaul. As part of this initiative, DEMLP hired a consultant who highly recommended that Litera, and their technology solutions, be included in this upgrade process.

“Before moving forward with Microsystems [now Litera], we were not fully leveraging technology,” explained Jim Petrozelli, the firm’s Information Technology Director. “We were attracted to the Microsystems solution initially because of 3BClean, a metadata scrubber with superior functionality and the ability to work in an email gateway and interact with our servers. Through that experience we were introduced to DocXtools Companion and Contract Companion. Overall, the most important aspect of our partnership is that Microsystems was able to meet our key requirements of multi-functionality, security, and internal and external solutions.”

Implementation

“What really set Microsystems apart was the implementation,” said Matthew K. Blaine, Esq., Partner and Chair of the Firm’s Technology and Innovation Committee. “A three-person team came to our offices for a multi-day kick off. The tutorials were structured in small groups of ten people, followed by one-on-one sessions and on the-floor training. You really felt like your concerns were being addressed.”

Experience

According to Blaine, “The response from attorneys and staff has been overwhelmingly positive. Our transactional attorneys rely on Contract Companion. In fact, our staff started using it on day one. They walked out of a training session and immediately ran contracts through the system. Anyone who has dealt with a 150- page document can attest to the benefit of being able to change things at the click of a button.”

The proofreading software gives attorneys an extra level of security by catching errors that the human eye can sometimes overlook. “I use Contract Companion every time I finish a document,” explained Blake Laurence, Partner, Tax and Estate Planning.

“It has made it simpler to pick up formatting, editing, and numbering issues. My documents are tight as a result. The resulting reliability and confidence is immeasurable.”

In particular, Laurence relies on the risk assessment feature. “When working with a document for an extended period of time with multiple iterations, one can easily miss numbering issues which, of course, can be so detrimental as to cause a contract indefensible,” he continued. “A lease missing a paragraph due to a numbering mishap is unacceptable and completely avoidable thanks to Contract Companion.”

Outcome - Delivering Results

The investment in Contract Companion, DocXtools Companion, and 3BClean has enhanced overall efficiency, drastically mitigated risk, and eliminated potentially damaging ambiguities and inconsistent legal references that often exist in contracts, email communication and other legal documentation. From metadata scrubbing to enhancing document quality, Litera has provided the firm with a comprehensive solution to their document production needs.

“All of our efforts and initiatives were designed with clients in mind, to answer the question: ‘How can we better serve them?’. Microsystems enabled us to level the playing field, and focus on long-term initiatives. We are now more forward thinking than ever. The tools and functionality have empowered us to play on a higher level. Today our mindset is ‘Of course, we can do that’,” Blaine concluded.

“ What really set Microsystems apart was the implementation…a three-person team came to our offices for a multi-day kick off. The tutorials were structured.. followed by one-on-one sessions and on-the-floor training. You really felt like your concerns were being addressed.”