ASSOCIATED BANK INTERVIEW
On August 16, 2010, InsideCounsel Magazine Custom Media Editor, Scott Gawlicki, interviewed Jan Neal, Vice President and Associate Counsel, at Associated Bank. The conversation focused on replacing disparate processes and moving to e-Billing for a total of spend.
Achieving a Global View of Legal Spend
SCOTT GAWLICKI:
Do you know where your legal spend stands at this very moment? Is senior management asking you to not only justify but assert greater control over the amount you spend on outside services? In today’s economic climate maximizing your outside legal spend is crucial. But with so many companies negotiating rates, staffing and other expenditures, sometimes on a per matter basis, keeping track of your spend has become difficult at best.
As a solution, many corporate legal departments are turning to Mitratech’s TeamConnect Electronic Billing and Matter Management System. My name is Scott Gawlicki and I’m a Custom Media Editor with InsideCounsel Magazine.
To learn more about Mitratech TeamConnect, we’re talking to Jan Neal, Vice President and Associate Counsel at Wisconsin-based Associated Banc-Corp. Thanks for joining us today.
In 2009 Associated moved to Mitratech TeamConnect. What were you using before and why did you choose to automate?
JAN NEAL:
We were using an Access database, Outlook tasks, legal pads and Excel spreadsheets. Everyone had their own way of organizing and tracking their matters and we were receiving paper invoices – lots and lots of paper invoices which made things difficult. We wanted a system that would allow us to move to electronic billing and standardize our internal management processes.
SCOTT GAWLICKI:
Now why was e-billing so important?
JAN NEAL:
In general, it gives you more information and more accurate information in real time. With TeamConnect, you can pull up total spending to date as well as invoices currently in the approval process. If necessary, you can examine how much you’ve spent on each matter to date and compare that to what’s been budgeted. All of which will help us forecast our monthly expenditures. You can also drill down to see what you’ve spent on each attorney per matter or each associate per matter and compare what law firm costs in various practice areas. Reporting is an area where we are continuing to enhance our use of the system.
SCOTT GAWLICKI:
Just so our listeners understand how e-Billing works, attorney fees, task codes and billing guidelines for each firm are loaded into the system. Once that’s done the firm sends its invoices to TeamConnect where they’re reviewed to ensure compliance with the billing guidelines. If there’s a mistake, TeamConnect red flags it and returns the invoice to the firm. If it passes, it’s sent to the internal contact at Associated for review.
So Jan, was it difficult getting your law firms on to the system?
JAN NEAL:
Well, we tested the process with two types of firms first. One, a large firm with a sophisticated team that already had experience with electronic billing and one small firm that planned to manually enter each invoice. Then after we demonstrated that the system really worked for both of those firms we organized a series of meetings with our outside council, accounts payable departments, and attorneys to answer questions and get them started. Now that we have done that, getting the firms’ accounts payable teams access to Collaborati is really routine.
SCOTT GAWLICKI:
And once you completed the pilot, you replicated the steps with your other firms?
JAN NEAL:
Yes, it’s been about a year now and we have 75 percent of our firms on board. The remaining firms are handling work that we have not brought into the system. We expect all invoices to be electronic by September of 2010.
SCOTT GAWLICKI:
What do you like about e-Billing? What are some of the benefits?
JAN NEAL:
Well, first it’s electronic so the invoice doesn’t get lost on my desk or in transit from one location to another. We can also quickly check to see if the budget is under control, by individual matter. Another feature that we want to take more advantage of is the automated review system that the system does for us. For example, if we agree to pay ten cents per page for copies, TeamConnect checks all of that for us. If there’s a discrepancy, it brings to our attention. We also have started to track the amount of time spent on a matter by partners and associates and average the cost per hour.
SCOTT GAWLICKI:
You said you also wanted to improve internal processes as well?
JAN NEAL:
Oh, absolutely. In the past, we had our own way of setting up each matter. Now, we have an established format and we can track all matters in one system. In addition, we now have an intake specialist who will enter matters for us. Once a matter is assigned, our attorneys are notified automatically by email. They log into TeamConnect and the matter is there formatted and waiting for them. They can take notes right in TeamConnect.
In addition, documents associated with that matter can be uploaded and attached to a particular matter. Our invoices are automated, too. The approval workflow is built into the system. Once approved, they go directly to Accounts Payable and are uploaded into the general ledger system on a regular schedule. I think the key to our success is that everyone was open to the new system and we have full participation. I would say 75 percent of our attorneys have embraced it fully.
SCOTT GAWLICKI:
Now that you’ve laid the groundwork so to speak, what are your future plans?
JAN NEAL:
Well let’s see, near term we intend to implement more sophisticated budgeting and reporting. For example, we will soon require outside counsel to submit a budget for each matter electronically including rates. Right now we discuss the budget off-line and manually enter the data ourselves.
Besides electronic billing what we liked most about TeamConnect was the suite of products. Down the road, we’re looking at other modules such as vendor management, security, risk and government compliance. Now that we’ve got our feel for what the system can do we want to make it as robust as possible.
SCOTT GAWLICKI:
Jan, thanks for filling us in about this. We hope our audience found this conversation interesting and useful.