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What Lupl Can Do to Improve Legal Knowledge Management

Ab Saraswat

Ab Saraswat

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In this article

    Did you know that only 14% of law firms believe that technology is driving efficiency and productivity to its full potential? Or that law firms currently invest just 1% of revenue on innovation projects?1 2

    It’s no surprise, considering the challenges of implementing new tech in an industry that is known for being slow to adopt innovative tools. Law firms tend to stick to their tried-and-true methods – despite the need to demonstrate a tangible return on investment (ROI), maintaining the status quo is far less risky than taking a chance on new tech.

    But here’s the burning question: are premium solutions really worth it for legal knowledge management when free tools like Google Suite exist?

    In this article, we’re going to show you how Lupl can bring your legal knowledge management out of the dark ages.

    Suggested reading: If you want to learn more about the challenges and how law firms can embrace digital transformation, check out Is Successful Digital Transformation in The Legal Industry Even Possible?

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    Easy to Adopt

    Busy lawyers have a million things on their plate, and the last thing they need is yet another new technology solution that is so complex it disrupts their workflow.

    We understand that lawyers are busy professionals who struggle to find time to learn new ways of working or adapt to additional communication channels. But firms must embrace new technologies if they want to remain competitive and thrive in the digital age. 

    In a recent PwC report, 80% of law firms recognize that having a clear digital strategy is crucial for future success, but only 23% say that they have one in place.3 

    So, what’s the solution?

    How Lupl can help

    First and foremost, Lupl knows that a law firm’s time is always in short supply.

    That’s why we prioritize user experience, so that every legal professional can enjoy a seamless work experience, no matter the project or task. 

    Our platform is: 

    • Simple to set up: We designed Lupl to be super fast to set up and be hassle-free to integrate with. In fact, you can have the platform up and running in your firm within just one day.
    • Designed for legal professionals: That’s right, Lupl is a project management tool built specifically for the legal industry. We continually work with firms such as Cooley, CMS, Rajah & Tann, and One Essex Court to ensure that the user journey is smooth and makes sense for legal workflows.
    • Centralized and consolidated: Lupl keeps everything relevant to your matter together, in one place: all your matters, tasks, documents, legal research, and communications. 

    By choosing a non-disruptive solution, your IT team won’t have to spend hours on the phone with frustrated lawyers and paralegals, but instead will be able to focus on what you do best: spreading knowledge. 

    Suggested reading: If you want to learn more about how a centralized hub can drive success in your firm check out, CMS Customer Story: A Central Hub for Collaboration

    Seamless and Secure Knowledge Sharing

    When it comes to law firm knowledge management, relying on free tools like Google Suite may seem tempting, but they often fall short of meeting the specific needs of lawyers and legal professionals. 

    Similarly, while practice management systems (PMS) and legal project management (LPM) systems are useful for running the business and handling legal matters, they may not effectively address knowledge management challenges.

    But fear not, because Lupl is here to fill this gap and revolutionize the way you share knowledge within your legal team.

    How Lupl can help

    Lupl promotes efficient legal knowledge sharing with:

    • Pre-built Matter Templates: Lupl offers a range of pre-built matter templates, ensuring standardized processes and saving your team valuable time and effort. 
    • Custom Matter Templates: You also have the flexibility to create your own templates, delivering fresh and unique knowledge to your legal team. Transform your client and firm playbooks into custom Matter Templates to save you time and effort when starting a new matter in Lupl. Muslim Albakri, lead partner at Albakri LLC, reports that his custom templates: “Cut down learning time by more than half for the less experienced members of [the] team.” 
    • Seamless upload and sharing: Securely share documents and other important files without relying on email. We offer unlimited cloud storage across all our plans so that you can share whichever knowledge resources you need to. Plus, with our handy “Pins” feature, you can link legal research and external web pages to matters with ease.
    • Robust security measures: Your firm’s knowledge assets are a top priority. Lupl complies with SOC-2 and has end-to-end encryption in place to keep your team’s peace of mind.

    Frictionless working is at the heart of what we do, and that includes making it easy for Chief Knowledge Officers to deliver and standardize knowledge.

    Demonstrate ROI Quickly with Lupl

    It can be challenging to demonstrate ROI with something intangible like software.

    But Lupl is more than up for the challenge.

    Let’s take a moment to revisit the amazing benefits that Lupl brings to the table:

    • Seamless and secure knowledge sharing: Lupl is the ultimate hub that brings everything together in one place. It simplifies communication and collaboration and removes the hassle of juggling multiple apps and programs. Users report a reduction of email traffic in their inbox of up to 75%.
    • Easy adoption and improved efficiency: Embracing new technology can be a daunting task, but Lupl makes it a breeze. Designed with lawyers in mind, Lupl offers an easy integration process that frees up valuable time for your lawyers to focus on what they do best — delivering exceptional legal services.
    • Rapid results: Lupl can be up and running within a day. Law firms such as Rajah & Tann, have seen “adoption grow faster than anything [they’ve] experienced with any other legal technology platform.” 

    Improve your legal knowledge management today with Lupl

    Your law firm deserves a solution that provides as frictionless an experience as possible. Your firm’s operational efficiency and security are on the line — so investing the time to vet and onboard the right tool for the job is crucial.

    Book a free demo today to explore how Lupl can revolutionize your legal knowledge management and take your firm to new heights of success.

    Kalina has over 15 years of experience of marketing and client management and made her home at Lupl in 2021. She is now our Director of Growth, and is instrumental in injecting creativity into our Marketing, Sales, and Product development. You can follow her on LinkedIn here. 

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    1  The Orange Rag June 2022 | Legal IT Insider

    2  The Future Shape of Law Firm IT Report 2022 | Legal IT Insider

    3  How Digital Transformation Can Give Legal Firms a Competitive Edge | PwC

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      # Lupl Workstream Design Principles: A Practical Guide to Legal Project Management for Lawyers Legal project management works when your setup is simple, ownership is clear, and statuses are unambiguous. This guide shows how to turn existing processes and checklists into a lean, reliable Workstream. Lupl is the legal project management platform for law firms, making it easy and intuitive to apply these principles. It also supports moving your work from Excel, Word tables, or if you are transitioning from Microsoft Planner, Smartsheet, or Monday. You will learn what belongs in a Workstream, a Task, or a Step, and which columns to use. If you want practical project management for lawyers, start here. **Excerpt:** Legal project management works when ownership, dates, and statuses are clear. This guide shows lawyers how to turn checklists into Lupl Workstreams with the right columns, Tasks, and Steps. Use it to standardize project management for lawyers, reduce follow ups, and move matters to done. --- ## How to organize your work with Workstreams, Tasks, and Steps Workstreams, Tasks, and Steps are three different types of objects in Lupl. They form a simple hierarchy. Workstreams contain Tasks. Tasks may contain optional Steps. This hierarchy aligns with standard project management. In project management, you break work into projects, deliverables, and subtasks. Lupl adapts this for lawyers by using Workstreams, Tasks, and Steps. This makes it easier to map legal processes to a structure that teams can track and manage. * **Workstream.** Use when you have many similar or related items to track over time. Think of the Workstream as the table. * Examples: closing checklist, court deadlines, pretrial preparation, regulatory obligations, due diligence, local counsel management. * **Task.** A high level unit of legal work. A key deliverable with an owner and a due date. Tasks are the rows. * Examples: File motion. Prepare Shareholder Agreement. Submit Q3 report. * **Step.** An optional short checklist inside a single Task. Steps roll up to the parent Task. * Examples: Draft. QC. Partner review. E file. Serve. ### Quick test * If it can be overdue by itself, make it a Task. * If it only helps complete a Task, make it a Step. * If you need different columns or owners, create a separate Workstream. --- ## Do you need to track everything in Lupl Not every detail needs to be tracked in a project management system. The principle is to capture what drives accountability and progress. In Lupl, that means focusing on deliverables, not every micro action. * Use the level of detail you would bring to a weekly team meeting agenda. * Position Tasks as key deliverables. Treat Steps as optional micro tasks to show progress. * Example: You need client instructions. Do not add a Task for "Email client to request a call." Just make the call. If the client approves a key deliverable on the call, mark that item Approved in Lupl so the team has visibility. --- ## Start with the Core 5 columns Columns are the backbone of a Workstream. They define what information is tracked for each Task. In project management terms, these are your core metadata fields. They keep everyone aligned without overcomplicating the table. Keep the table narrow. You can add later. These five work across most legal project management use cases. 1. **Title.** Start with a verb. Example: File answer to complaint. 2. **Status.** Five to seven clear choices. Example: Not started, In progress, For review, For approval, Done. 3. **Assignee.** One named owner per row. If you add multiple assignees for collaboration, still name a primary owner. 4. **Due date.** One date per row. 5. **Type or Category.** Show different kinds of work in one table. Example: Filing, Discovery, Signature, Approval. **Priority.** Add only if you actively triage by priority each week. If added, keep it simple: High, Medium, Low. --- ## Add up to three Helper columns Lupl includes a set of pre made columns you can use out of the box. These allow you to customize Workstreams around different phases or stages of a matter. They also let you map how you already track transactional work, litigation, or other processes. Helper columns are optional fields that add context. In task management, these are similar to tags or attributes you use to sort and filter work. The key is to only add what you will update and use. Pick only what you will use. Stop when you reach three. * Party or Counterparty * Jurisdiction or Court * Phase * Approver * Approval, status or yes or no * Signature status * Risk, RAG * Amount or Number * External ID or Client ID * Document or Link * Docket number * Client entity **Guidance** * For Task Workstreams, prefer Approver, Approval, Risk. The rest are more common in Custom Workstreams. * Aim for eight columns or fewer in your main table. Put detail in the Task description, attachments, or Steps. --- ## Simple rules that keep your table clean Consistency is critical in project management. A cluttered or inconsistent table slows teams down. These rules ensure your Workstream remains usable and clear. * Only add a column people will update during the matter. If it never changes, set a default at the Workstream level or set a default value in the column. * Only add a column you will sort or filter on. If you will not use it to find or group work, leave it out. * If a value changes inside one Task, use Steps. Steps show progress without widening the table. * Keep columns short and structured. Use Description for brief context or instructions. Use Task comments for discussion and decisions. Link to work product in your DMS as the source of truth. * One accountable owner per Task and one due date. You can add collaborators, but always name a primary owner who moves the Task. If different people or dates apply to different parts, split into separate Tasks or capture the handoff as Steps. * Add automations after you lock the design. Finalize columns and status definitions first. Then add simple reminders and escalations that read those fields. --- ## Status hygiene that everyone understands Status is the single most important column in project management. It tells the team where the work stands. Too many options cause confusion. Too few cause misalignment. In Lupl, keep it simple and consistent. * Five to seven statuses are enough. * Use one review gate, For review or For approval. Use both only if your process needs two gates. * One terminal status, Done. This is the end state of the Task. Use Archived only if you report on it or need it for retention workflows. --- ## When to split into multiple Workstreams In project management, it is best practice to separate workstreams when workflows, owners, or audiences diverge. Lupl makes this easy by letting you create multiple Workstreams for one matter. Create a new Workstream if any of the following are true. * You need a different set of columns for a chunk of work. * Ownership or cadence is different, for example daily docketing vs monthly reporting. * The audience or confidentiality needs are different. **Signal** * If half your rows leave several columns blank, you are mixing processes. Split the table. --- ## Decision tree, three quick questions Use this quick framework to decide where an item belongs. This is the same principle used in task management software, adapted for legal workflows. 1. Is this a list of similar items over time, or a discrete phase of the matter * Yes. Create a Workstream. 2. Can it be overdue by itself, and does it need an owner * Yes. Create a Task. 3. Is it a step to finish a Task and not tracked on its own * Yes. Create a Step. --- ## Common mistakes to avoid Many project management failures come from overdesigning or misusing the structure. Avoid these mistakes to keep your Workstreams lean and effective. * Wide tables with many optional columns. Keep it to eight or fewer. * Two columns for the same idea, for example Status and Phase that overlap. Merge or define clearly. * More than one approval gate when one would do. It slows work and confuses owners. * Mixing unrelated processes in one table, for example signatures and invoice approvals. --- ## Build your first Workstream Building a Workstream is like setting up a project board. Keep it light, pilot it, then refine. Lupl is designed to let you do this quickly without heavy admin work. 1. Write the Workstream purpose in one sentence. 2. Add the Core 5 columns. 3. Add at most three Helpers you will use. 4. Define clear Status meanings in plain words. 5. Set defaults for any value that repeats on most rows, for example Jurisdiction. 6. Add two light automations, a due soon reminder and an overdue nudge. 7. Pilot for one week and adjust. --- ## Where this fits in legal project management Use these principles to standardize project management for lawyers across matters. Keep structures consistent. Reuse column sets and status definitions. Your team will find work faster, reduce follow ups, and close loops on time. --- ### On page SEO helpers * Suggested title tag. Lupl Workstream Design Principles, Practical Legal Project Management for Lawyers * Suggested meta description. Learn how to design lean Lupl Workstreams for legal project management. Get clear rules for Tasks, Steps, statuses, and columns to run matters with confidence. * Suggested URL slug. legal-project-management-for-lawyers-workstream-design

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