News & Events

     Organizing workflow, controlling costs, eliminating duplication of effort and improving efficiency have become increasingly important to law firms and their corporate clients over the past two decades.  Competition for corporate legal work has transformed the way law firms cultivate and retain clients and how they deliver and bill for legal services.

     Law firms are not immune from the current economic stress faced by other businesses and are under increased pressure to reduce their own costs of doing business.  Law firm administrators and management committees are reviewing the day-to-day costs of operations with an eye toward reducing expenses and improving cash flow.

     Legal assistants are looking for ways to reduce costs to assist their lawyers in delivering quality legal services and that is to be commended and encouraged.  However, all too often, the focus is strictly on the cost of services at the expense of adding value and improving productivity.

     Paralegals should focus their efforts on building long-term, mutually-beneficial relationships with service providers who can save them time, offer solutions to challenges and improve efficiency and productivity.  Paralegals should examine the added value that service providers may offer and determine how that can improve the overall quality of services that the legal professionals provide to their clients.

     Two examples come to mind when thinking about efforts to save time and reduce costs.  The first example outlines how good intentions did not achieve the desired result.  The second example demonstrates how hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost savings were achieved by utilizing project management and technology in a huge piece of litigation.

     Working with a firm that provides court reporting services puts me in contact with numerous legal professionals seeking the “best rates” for services.  Clients expect their law firms to do some due diligence before contracting for services; however, going with the lowest bid may not always provide the best value to the client.  On one occasion our firm was contacted by a local paralegal who requested rates for services in a remote area of Virginia.  She informed me that she was rate shopping to save money for their client and that our firm was the fifth and last call on her list.  After being informed that the deposition was scheduled with another service because their page rate was ten cents lower, I was surprised when less than a week before the scheduled deposition we were contacted to handle the court reporting services.  Although the service with the “best rate” was selected, the reporting firm only had three court reporters.  When the court reporter realized there was a scheduling conflict on the day of the deposition, the firm was unable to supply another reporter.

     The paralegal estimated that she spent about 1.5 hours conducting internet research, placing the initial phone calls, reviewing the requested rate information, making follow-up calls with additional questions, and scheduling and noticing the deposition.  How much money did this legal  professional save the client in securing services after spending more than 1.5 hours on what could have been achieved in one five-minute phone call -- perhaps $7.50.  What was the cost to the law firm for her salary, internet usage and phone calls?  More importantly, was the client well-served by her decision?

     Working for a firm that coordinates depositions for complex multiple party actions makes it necessary to keep up with the latest technology and cost savings methods for delivering our services.  Many of the parties involved in one complex matter with more than 900 depositions across various states opted to access electronic versions of transcripts and exhibits in order to reduce the associated costs of reproducing printed copies.  Transcripts and exhibits can be viewed or downloaded from a web-based repository maintained by our reporting service.  The amount of money saved on printing, binding and shipping of transcripts and exhibits is significant when you consider that one deposition can yield several boxes of exhibits.  Eliminating the need for multiple sets of millions of pages of exhibits ordered by 10 to 15 law firms not only reduces  the expense  but prevents waste that effect the environment.  Additionally, law firms reduce their storage and real estate costs when documents are hosted on web-based repositories, as well as eliminate staff time spent on searching for transcripts and exhibits that can easily be viewed or downloaded 24/7/365.

     In the same litigation, some lawyers elected to attend depositions remotely from their home offices by viewing the deposition on their computers.  The video, audio and reporter text are streamed over the internet and can be viewed on any computer that has internet access.  The lawyers are still able to get a sense of how well or poorly a witness may do at trial, and protect their client’s interests by asking questions or offering objections.  Video streaming of depositions eliminates attorney travel time charges as well as air, hotel and other travel expenses that would have been billed to the corporate client or incurred by government agencies.  Experts and in-house corporate counsel can also view the proceeding without leaving their offices, again saving valuable time and eliminating travel costs.

     The law firms further reduced expenses by ordering exhibits that are electronically linked to transcripts.  Electronic exhibit linking totally eliminates the time spent searching for exhibits.  Long gone are the days when paralegals were asked to reproduce multiple sets of printed exhibits for use by the case team. This is a significant cost savings to clients.  Exhibit linking also gives lawyers a competitive advantage over their opponents who are not using the product because the entire record is at their fingertips at all times.  Exhibit linking requires no training time because you simply point the cursor to the exhibit reference in the transcript and click on the link to open the exhibit on the computer screen.

     Lastly, the lead law firms saved additional time on this case by ordering video synchronized to the transcript text and electronically linked to the exhibits.  This bundle allows the lawyers to create their own clips for export to trial presentation software programs.  A clip can be quickly e-mailed to experts, trial consultants or co-counsel for final review or further collaboration.  The need to dictate start and ending page and line numbers from deposition transcripts has been totally eliminated.  In fact, a video clip can be made during trial while sitting in the court room should the need arise.

     Although the parties involved in this litigation have spent enormous amounts of money on this high stakes case, they have reduced their overall expenses by improving their productivity and eliminating time-consuming and duplicative costs and effort.

     In order to control costs paralegals must stay informed about the changes and improvements in technology offered by service providers.  Paralegals must also think like business managers in the performance of their jobs.  Partnering with service providers who continue to invest in those technologies can improve your productivity and efficiency while maximizing results.  Knowing that paying five cents more per page means not having to reschedule the reporter at the last minute or includes value added services, will not only make your life easier but will show that you understand the client’s need to get the best deal.

     Technology will continue to change and improve the way lawyers practice law and deliver services.  The same is true for paralegals who want to provide increased value to their employers.  NCAPA is a valuable local resource for continuing education and networking.  Leverage your NCAPA membership by tapping into the collective wisdom of your colleagues.


Nancy Huber is Vice-President of Business Development for Henderson Legal Services.  For the past 15 years, Nancy has consulted with clients on how to improve case management efficiency.  As a Certified LiveNote Trainer, she has trained hundreds of legal professionals on how to streamline and manage the deposition process.