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News You Can Use – June 2024

Ab Saraswat

Ab Saraswat

Lupl's News You Can Use
In this article

    Hello June! ☀️

    As summer approaches, our team is fired up to put the finishing touches on some exciting new enhancements and integrations. In the meantime, this past month, we saw the release of even more improvements to our DMS integration and ways to organize workstream items.

    With GPT-4 now available for over a year, more legal community members are stepping up to share their insights on how this tool has revolutionized the efficiency and adoption of best practices. Also in this issue, discover how Hugo Arellano, head of the CMS Dispute Resolution team in Luxembourg, is leveraging Lupl to transition from selling time to selling services. We also delve into the benefits of a firm adopting a “blank page” approach to change management and provide insights on how to effectively introduce GenAI tools to solve practical problems early in the adoption journey.

    Join us as we spotlight the success of legal teams leveraging Lupl and reveal some of the great features we recently released! 👇🏼

    What's New in Lupl

    This month saw the release of exciting enhancements to support more complex workflows and seamless document management.

    🗄️ Improve Support for iManage on Premise with our new DMS integration 

    Plus, we now have full support for NetDocuments with our new integration on all platforms - Web, iOS and Android.

    📍 New In-App Onboarding Journey 

    After answering a few questions, new users are provided a walkthrough of the app customized to their role - improving the onboarding experience with Lupl.

    🗃️ Mid-Matter Archive Download

    With our new Mid-Matter Archive Download, you can now create an archive of Matter communications and activity without needing to close your Matter first, giving you more control over your workflow.

    🔍 New Workstream Item Filters  

    Enhanced filters that let you group workstream items, hide completed tasks, and more!

     

    Speak with our Sales team to learn more or schedule a Lupl demo, or experience our new 2 min. interactive demo here.

    Discover How Your Peers Are Utilizing Lupl

    Next gen legal teams use Lupl to manage everything from M&A, Litigation, Regulatory matters and Real Estate work. We enable firms to seamlessly organize, manage, and execute distinct phases of matters with Workstreams, capture information with Forms, and integrate the firm’s playbooks and know-how into Solutions Templates, all the while providing real-time visibility into progress across matters. Each month, we showcase a different use case to inspire and empower your practice.

    This month, we're showcasing how the CMS Dispute Resolution team, which has lawyers across 84 offices acting for clients all over the world, is using Lupl to facilitate a shift to a better way of working—a shift from selling time to selling services. Hugo Arellano, Partner and Head of Employment & Dispute Resolution in Luxembourg shares how using Lupl impacts the team's profitability.

     

    Challenges: While it's the norm in other industries to use a centralized system to apply a project management approach to service delivery, many legal teams are still managing work primarily via email and team meetings. This results in time inefficiencies by increasing inbox traffic, gathering information scattered across systems & documents, and the number of meetings held just to report status and follow up on the file.

     

    Lupl's Impact: Lupl brings matter management into one central space and allows everyone on the team to see who is doing what and how that work is going. Email traffic is reduced, and when a meeting is held, everyone enters with a shared understanding of the status, clearing the time for more strategic discussions. Using a centralized system like Lupl, the team can better identify more opportunities to streamline their approach to planning, delegating, and delivering work.

     

    The Future of Legal Work: 
    Hugo's exploration of other industries' work management approaches has led him to a stark realization about the future of legal services. "Today, everyone sells services, except [lawyers]…We need to change now because if we wait five years to make the change, it is going to be too late; everyone else will have done the changing, and we will be the last." Driving efficiency and repeatable processes is a key part of Hugo's "services, not time" mindset. With Lupl's easy and simple ways to repurpose work into templates and playbooks, Hugo envisions Lupl Matter Templates as a tool that could someday be rolled out to the entire firm, enhancing efficiency and increasing revenue for all.

    Take a closer look at how the CMS Dispute Resolution team uses Lupl to streamline processes and maintain a shared understanding of progress.

    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).

    • What If Your Law Firm Had a Blank Page for Legal Tech? Anthony Widdop, a management consultant specializing in change and transformation in professional services firms, explains why traditional change management is outdated. He emphasizes that existing legal systems and processes must be designed to keep pace with the rapid advancement of GenAI tools. When a firm completes a two-year change program, its outcomes are likely already obsolete. To avoid being left behind, firms must accelerate their internal pace of change, especially concerning genAI. While many firms start with low-value, low-risk tasks for genAI implementation, Widdop argues this is too conservative. Instead, firms should systematically review all services and processes to identify new growth drivers and integrate genAI capabilities into routine tasks. He concludes that firms successfully leveraging genAI will position themselves at the forefront of innovation in this evolving ecosystem.
    • Legal and Gen AI - Use cases and 4 other insights from the field. In this article, Carl-Axel Dahlin of CMS Wistrand recounts some of what he learned from working with OpenAI's GPT-4 over this past year. He highlights the importance of creating a use case map to address real-world problems, ensuring practical applications that align with firm goals, reduce non-legal tasks, and enhance management buy-in. The article underscores the value of identifying and supporting enthusiastic lawyers, or "explorers," who can drive AI adoption and refine use cases. To foster broader acceptance, the article recommends hands-on training and workshops to encourage a proactive mindset among lawyers and advises balancing specialized and generic AI tools to match user skill levels and evolving needs. In conclusion, he stresses the importance of fostering a collaborative environment with colleagues and industry peers to maintain momentum and encourage continuous innovation in the rapidly evolving legal tech landscape.
    Upcoming legal events that Lupl will be participating in

    Legal Tech Talk

    Europe's Event for Legal Transformation. LegalTechTalk is the place to learn about the latest innovations in legal technology and how you can use them to improve your practice. Get in touch by replying to this email to book a meeting with the Lupl team.

    🇬🇧 London | 13-14th June, 2024 

    In this article

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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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