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News You Can Use – January 2024

Ab Saraswat

Ab Saraswat

Lupl's News You Can Use
In this article

    That's another year in the books.

    As we plan for 2024, it's important first to look back. It was an exciting year for the team here at Lupl - we added several talented members, attended 15+ events worldwide, gave over 500 demos, and our users created thousands of new matters on the platform.

    We start the year recapping Lupl's product releases (there were quite a few!) and highlighting a couple of conferences/virtual events where you can connect with the Lupl team. Looking ahead into 2024, we will continue to build upon the strong foundation, be obsessed with delivering value to our clients, and endeavor to be the legal project management platform of choice for law firms worldwide.

    From a broader industry perspective, as is tradition, several publications have complied their 2024 predictions. Law.com provides a broad perspective from vendors to firms, but it can best be summed by the comment by Wendy Butler Curtis, Chief Innovation Officer at Orrick: "2023 was about how generative AI works. 2024 will be about how people work with generative AI."

    Richard Susskind, in the Legal IT Insider, postulates that the market will push out the "traditional ways of working," suggesting that law firms will face something akin to the innovator's dilemma, a concept popularized by Clayton Christensen: "It's the innovator's dilemma. Law firms might say they are not going to change until they need to, but by the time they need to change, it's too late."

    Lastly, Zach Abramowitz summarizes the predictions in a sentence: "In 2024, #legaltech is going to hit back." At Lupl, we are ready and excited for this to be a big year.

    What's New in Lupl

     

    In our 2023 product recap, we highlight just a few of the many updates our team rolled out this past year. Below is a look at three enhancements we shipped recently:

    🔐 Roles & Permissions

    Lupl is utilized by law firms to manage internal projects and also to invite clients into the matter to extend the platform as a shared desk that enables collaboration and effective working.

    But what if you want to invite others to your matter but don't want them to have access to documents? We've extended Lupl's roles and permissions, allowing you to lock down any part of the matter to others using customized matter roles.

    📝 Solution Templates 

    Matter Templates already offers time-saving tools to help you re-use your best work. Solution Templates take this one step further. You can now create templates that include any custom workstream, from tasks, issues list, to WIP trackers.

    Solution Templates launches with several publically available templates, free for all Lupl users, and you can create your own easily.

    🚀 Small updates that make a big impact

    We shipped too many updates and improvements to list them all. While big feature releases get a mention, we know that all enhancements make an impact for power users. Here are just a few updates that customers appreciated during Lupl demos:

    • The ability to export Worksteams to Excel and Word formats.
    • The global tasks were redesigned to make sorting and searching tasks, matters, tags, and more a breeze.
    • Being able to create matters by simply forwarding an email to Lupl.
    • Significant speed improvements, which make Lupl a joy to use.

    To see the updated Lupl in action, get in touch with our Sales team to schedule a demo.

    Discover How Your Peers Are Utilizing Lupl

    Harness the power of Lupl to enhance your practice, unlocking higher levels of efficiency, client satisfaction, and profitability for your law firm. Our dedicated Success team has meticulously curated a comprehensive list of almost 100 use cases across various legal practices. Each month, we showcase a different use case to inspire and empower your practice.

    Leverage Lupl to manage the planning, permitting, and land use matters from beginning to end, which reduces risk & manages compliance, enhance visibility, and elevates the client service.

    How it works:

    • Manage and organize zoning memos, stakeholder meeting reports, plot plans, and more - all in one place, securely integrated with your firm's Document Management System.
    • Use Matter Templates to embed best practices for your firm or a given client, accelerating the scoping and planning of matters and ensuring that they are handled in a consistent way, regardless of the team member taking it on.
    • Use Milestones to track key submission, approval, and meeting dates.
    • Pin site location, authority questionnaires, relevant cases, and other resources to your matter for easy reference by the matter team.

     

    Have a use case you want to share? We would love to hear it. Check out our Use Case Library and submit yours today!

    IRL / URL

    A collection of interesting finds across the web (URL) and updates on where to meet with the Lupl team in real life (IRL).

     

    • SKILLS 2024 Survey Report: Analysis of 500+ KM and Innovation Leaders survey highlights that AI isn’t going anywhere. While it might be clear that AI will have an impact, firms seem to be still searching for established use cases. Beyond this, there is a strong desire to continue focusing on foundation technologies, such as KM, process improvement, and matter management.
    • US Supreme Court's Roberts urges 'caution' as AI reshapes legal field: In his year-end report, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts expressed a cautious stance on the role of artificial intelligence in the legal field, acknowledging its potential benefits like increasing access to justice and improving legal research, while also highlighting concerns such as privacy and AI's inability to replicate human discretion. Roberts noted: "I predict that human judges will be around for a while.. But with equal confidence I predict that judicial work - particularly at the trial level - will be significantly affected by AI."
    • New Law Firm Pierson Ferdinand LLP Begins Operations: Pierson Ferdinand LLP, a new law firm founded by former FisherBroyles leaders, has started operations with over 130 lawyers, primarily from FisherBroyles, signaling a significant development in the U.S. legal industry. The firm's strategy includes a unique recruitment approach, offering profit-sharing and "founding partner" titles to early joiners. It aims to set new standards in operational efficiency and technological integration in the evolving legal market.
    • EU Strikes Deal to Regulate ChatGPT, AI Tech in Landmark Act: The European Union has reached a significant agreement on what is set to become the most comprehensive artificial intelligence regulation in the Western world. The deal includes controls for generative AI tools like ChatGPT, limitations on live biometric identification, and substantial financial penalties for non-compliance, representing a major step in shaping AI policy and balancing innovation with fundamental rights protection.
    Upcoming legal events that Lupl will be participating in

    SKILLS 2024

    Known as the Strategic Knowledge & Innovation Legal Leaders’ Summit, or SKILLS, this virtual summit offers a platform for knowledge management and innovation leaders to share insights, discuss current developments in KM and innovation, and the business aspects of law.

    💻 Online | January 18, 2024 | 10 AM - 4PM EST

    Legalweek 2024

    Legalweek is a staple of the legal conference circuit, considered a must-attend legal tech event for information, education, and industry networking. Legalweek offers actionable insights with educational sessions, as well as a chance for legal professionals to get a taste of what new tech is on the market.

    🇺🇸 New York City | January 29 - February 1, 2024

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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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