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Our January 2021 Update

Matt Pollins

Matt Pollins

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In this article

    Lupl secures $14 million funding round and management hires as it prepares for 2021 launch

    • USD 14 million funding round takes Lupl’s overall funding past USD 25 million, making it one of the most well-backed legal technology start-ups at its stage of development.

    • Over 500 firms and corporates join Lupl’s waitlist, with a growing list of technology and knowledge integration partnerships.

    • Lupl has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore’s Ministry of Law to leverage the platform to advance the digitalisation of the legal sector in Singapore.

    • Lupl’s open industry platform is built with “bring your own system” technology that aims to synchronize all the moving parts of a legal matter – the conversations, the documents, the scope, the knowledge, the data.

    • Key hires are now on board, including Jeff Green as CEO, as Lupl prepares for 2021 launch.

    Jeff Green, Lupl’s new CEO, comments:

    “I’m thrilled to be joining the team as we complete the final stages of beta testing and prepare for full launch later this year. Raising USD 14 million from our investors reflects the incredible momentum which Lupl has built up over the last nine months. I am excited about the continued growth of our team and community around this open industry platform that has the potential to transform the legal market for the better for all.”

    Funding

    Lupl has completed a USD 14 million funding round as it builds momentum for a 2021 launch. Lupl is being incubated through its development by a trio of international law firms, CMS, Cooley and Rajah & Tann Asia, working with input from an advisory board of 16 leading in-house lawyers from blue chip multinationals through to the world’s fastest growing tech companies. The wider testing group includes Slaughter and May, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Khaitan & Co and One Essex Court.

    Lupl’s latest funding round is in addition to the more than USD 10 million raised prior to its beta launch, taking its overall funding to in excess of USD 25 million and making it amongst the most well-backed legal technology start-ups at its stage of development.

    Development

    Lupl has been in worldwide private beta testing since March 2020, supported by a group of leading law firms and corporations. Together, the group behind Lupl represents 10,000+ lawyers in 100+ jurisdictions (https://loopl.net/community). Over 500 companies in more than 50 countries are currently represented on its beta waitlist.

    During the beta, more than 30 development sprints have been completed and several hundred new product features have been added in response to user feedback from participating law firms and legal departments. Amongst others, these features include a “Knowledge Hub” which provides a global repository of matter and workflow templates, designed to help users operationalise legal knowledge and repeatable process, and a data and analytics dashboard surfacing real-time analytics about legal matters.

    Lupl is on track for a wider public release commencing from the beginning of April 2021. The initial focus will be accelerating the rollout of Lupl within participating organisations followed by a phased onboarding of legal departments and law firms.

    Partnerships

    Lupl has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore’s Ministry of Law to leverage the platform to advance the digitalisation of the legal sector in Singapore. This collaboration will begin with a series of industry engagement sessions in the first quarter of 2021.

    Over 100 other industry partnerships are in progress as part of Lupl’s open industry platform vision, with “bring your own system” technology that works with the tools lawyers already use today.

    These partnerships span enterprise communication and collaboration tools, document management systems, pricing and scoping tools, data and analytics tools and standards, and industry knowledge libraries. Further details of current and future partnerships will be announced in the coming months.

    Management Team

    Lupl has strengthened its management team with Jeff Green joining as Chief Executive Officer working alongside Matt Pollins as Chief Commercial Officer. Cheryl Wilson Griffin has also joined as Chief Customer Officer. By the end of 2021, Lupl expects to have a team of more than 75 people around the world.

    Jeff Green is an industry veteran who joins Lupl following a 30-year career with leading public and private companies, during which he built and led businesses providing consulting and technology services to law firms, corporate legal departments and other clients. In addition to advising clients on complex disputes and investigations, Jeff has held segment and practice leadership as well as executive leadership roles.

    Matt Pollins is an international technology lawyer and former partner and Head of TMT with CMS in Asia Pacific.

    Cheryl Wilson Griffin is an industry thought leader with 18 years’ experience in the rollout and adoption of cutting-edge legal technology solutions.

    Matt Pollins, Chief Commercial Officer, Lupl says:

    “During our beta phase, we’ve been blown away by the interest in our open industry platform amongst legal departments, law firms, technology and knowledge providers. This is a pivotal year for Lupl and I’m excited to be joined by Jeff and Cheryl as we start to scale up our global team to launch the platform in 2021.”

    Notes to Editors:

    About Lupl

    Lupl is an open industry platform for legal matters being developed by a group of legal departments and law firms from around the world. Its matter synchronization software brings together all of the people, conversations, documents and data for legal matters in one place.

    About CMS

    Founded in 1999, CMS is an integrated, multi-jurisdictional organisation that offers full-service legal and tax advice. With more than 70 offices in over 40 countries across the world and more than 4,800 lawyers, CMS has long-standing expertise both in advising in its local jurisdictions and across borders.

    About Cooley LLP

    Clients partner with Cooley on transformative deals, complex IP and regulatory matters, and high-stakes litigation, where innovation meets the law. Cooley has 1,100+ lawyers across 16 offices in the United States, Asia and Europe.

    About Rajah & Tann Asia

    Rajah & Tann Asia brings together leading law firms and lawyers in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, with each offering the highest standards of service to locally based clients while collectively having the capability to handle the most complex regional and cross-border transactions and to provide excellent legal counsel seamlessly across the region. With over 800 fee earners, all working towards one shared goal, we are lawyers who know Asia and who give our clients home advantage.

    For further information, please contact:

    Victoria Sabin, Lupl Communications & Marketing, + 44 7971 430244, victoria@loopl.net or Ingrid Valk at Headland Communications, +44 7717 827258

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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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