In this article, we’ll discuss the use of Robotic Process Automation as an instrument to streamline and perform a legal firm’s day-to-day tasks. By automating repetitive operations, RPA enables law firms and legal departments to increase their productivity and serve thier client better. 

The use of Robotic Process Automation in legal industry is gaining wide popularity of late. RPA or Robotic Process Automation is the latest trend in the technology industry that has managed to make waves and pique the interest of other industries as well. It is a technology that has the capacity to considerably increase the efficiency of any business by reducing or even eliminating redundant and repetitive tasks. The sooner we jump on the bandwagon, the better as RPA can take away the burden of completing mundane tasks and let one focus on more integral processes of the workspace. Robotic process automation for legal firms holds great potential as it can save time that is spent on filing, paperwork, and other tedious tasks and help the lawyers focus more on their cases.

To get a detailed understanding of the role of RPA in the legal industry let’s have a look at the below sections –

• Need for RPA in legal industry
• What is Robotic Process Automation or RPA?
• What are the benefits and applications of RPA for legal teams?
• Where to start?
• Case studies

Need for RPA in legal industry

There are a couple of challenges with manual processes that legal firms face. They cost a lot of working hours that reduce productivity and use the time that could be dedicated to clients. Tasks like drafting contracts, processing information, making transactions are extremely time-consuming and have possibilities of errors. RPA can bring down the probability and cost of errors that can destroy the reputation as well as the resources of a firm.

Robots can lessen the burden of due diligence by looking for information in records; an employee will take hours whereas the bot can finish searching for information within minutes, saving a huge chunk of time. The automation process also aids in other operations like registering trademarks, reviewing disputes, digitizing client records, automating accounts payable, etc. These processes do not need human intervention. Instead, humans increase the turnaround time for these tasks, costing the firm money.  

What is Robotic Process Automation or RPA?

Robotic Process Automation involves software that automates a business process. Without the actual presence of a robot, these are software that runs on a computer and performs tasks. It copies the interaction between humans and machines and empowers the business to configure the task that they want automated. The software can search, interpret, communicate and process information, emulating a human but faster and more efficiently.

It also evades the probabilities of errors as it uses complicated and accurate algorithms to perform mundane, tedious tasks. It can manipulate data, offer responses, complete transactions, and do anything that the algorithm asks it to do. It uses machine learning for data processing, easing the burden on employees who perform basic repetitive tasks, based on logic-based outcomes. It doesn’t require any ancillary hardware and can be compatible with existing technology, hence diminishing the investment cost, along with producing high returns. The automation can copy-paste data, move files, fill forms, perform calculations, replicating almost every other human interaction with machines.  

What are the benefits and applications of RPA for legal teams?

All industries are gradually partaking in the application of RPA, realizing its value. It is integral for businesses to adopt new technologies, which have shown veritable advantages in the working paradigm. RPA is one such branch that is changing into a coveted technology that can significantly transform the way we work. After successfully illustrating its merit in Human resources, customer services, insurance, and financial industries, it’s time for the legal industry to realize the value of RPA. Here are a few of the many applications of RPA that legal teams can take advantage of:

• Risk Assessment: A very human task that requires a lot of research and effort can be made easier with the assistance of RPA. Removing the need for human interference, automation processes can calculate case-to-cost data, find a client’s credit rating, search accounts payable,  and categorize them in risk registers and work out the opportunity cost of taking on a certain client. RPA  can also use anti-money laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) risk assessment forms and find the client’s details including their locations, services, relationships and integrate the information into documents that can be easily retrieved. Building a complete profile, it will save huge chunks of tie and resources that an employee would use.
• Simple and repetitive tasks: Law firms hire paralegals to perform minor actions that are not important enough for senior lawyers. These include filing, recording, searching databases, etc. An automated robot will free up the paralegal’s time by fulfilling all these responsibilities by doing all the sludge work like creating spreadsheets, scanned documents, websites, tools, etc. Therefore, it opens up the employees to pay attention to the client’s needs and perform other strategic actions. One can choose between using controlled and uncontrolled robots or a hybrid mix, depending on the task. The flexibility to create one’s own automated task can hugely contribute to the firm’s efficiency and productivity.
• Financial Management: Finance is an area that usually requires a lot of human labor and effort. Automation can reduce the burden and errors in this grueling process. A survey by Deloitte discovered that 91 percent of the finance executives want accounts payable to be automated. The RPA software for legal teams can help with the processing of vendor invoices by drawing out data from different formats and feeding it into the financial planning system, creating smooth payments. Generating bills from an existing management system will also help save labor costs. 
• Compliance Checks: Another cumbersome task that can be simplified by RPA in legal firms is compliance checks. It can help mitigate risks and also protect the firm from fines and sanctions. Robots can do due diligence, and create suspicious activity reports to fish out potential risks. RPA can search and fill in the information and browse through to find dubious activities by clients. 

Where to start?

Increasingly, RPA for legal teams is being implemented to empower them with a tool that speeds up their processes and ameliorates accuracy. As a first step, digitization of written paperwork can assist with the setting up of robotic process automation for the legal industry. They can set up different software with the help of RPA firms, choosing the ones they need first.

It is ideal to recognize the areas that will produce the most impact in terms of cost and labor-saving and automating those processes. Using it as a service instead of going through a mediator will help the legal firm customize the tools it needs and cater to the current requirement. E-discovery programs can be designed to aid with data management systems. Tracking software that audits expenses can also be a good start. Based on the wide range of applications, the firm can pick and choose the software that best aids their employees in finishing day-to-day tasks. 

Case studies

Husch Blackwell is a Missouri-based law firm with 19 offices across the US. The firm looked around, consulting with other legal industry experts to talk about RPA, and then reached a decision on which processes to automate and then ran their own proof-of-concept bots. One of their first bots was to deal with conflict checks. It digitized the clients and cases and then cross-checked to see if there was a conflict of interest. Another bot was utilized for scanning emails and flagging any litigation possibilities. The bot further extracts more data which is interpreted and packed in an email and sent out to the appropriate departments who can look for who needs legal action. It will aid the firm to get more clients and produce a sizable influence. 

In another example, we’ve helped a firm in moving 1700 property lot records from their inhouse database to a cloud-based system without any manual process involved. Their cloud application was unable to load and validate solicitor records. With an automated process of reading an excel file and validating each cell, the RPA inserting it into an E-Conveyancing platform. The RPA saved 1500 hours of work time by processing it in 4 hours, with 100% data accuracy.

Robotic process automation for legal operations has helped firms save a lot of time and money while also aiding their growth through increased proficiency. By taking away the attention from tasks that can be automated, it focuses more on customer satisfaction. RPA for legal teams has emerged as a boon, helping both the lawyers and their clients. The sooner we leverage its potential, the better.