Dentons

Dentons talk candidly to Legatics about their journey of adopting the platform

Roll-out and training

Sally Roberts, Head of Customer at Legatics: Going back to when you originally started using Legatics, how did you approach the roll-out and getting people trained up?

Joe Cohen, Head of Innovation at Dentons: Training sessions are very important, but regular use case showcases are also paramount within the practice group. And actually, you need to target the right teams. In fact, Legatics is the one tool where we’ve developed very specific guidance on exactly how and when it should be used on Banking deals, and we update that regularly.

We’ve tried very hard to integrate it as far as possible into matter processes. And, make it more like business as usual. So, I think all of those things are important. But again, as with most things, a lot of it comes from the top saying, “We’re going to be using this…”.

Stephen Knight, Partner at Dentons: I will also just add that, when it comes to training, there is no replacement for doing it yourself. Do you really learn if somebody gives a presentation to you compared to actually doing it yourself? Just irreplaceable. Having that virtual training and seeing the product is great, but if you really want adoption, you need somebody to feel the benefits for themselves.

Spreading the word and promoting successes

SR: How do you go about promoting the successes of Legatics, internally, or externally?

JC: So, we go probably at least a few times a year to the sub-groups within Banking to present on the tools that are available to them. And Legatics is always a part of that. Presenting use cases is very important. Getting leadership involved as well, to say, “actually for all these types of deals, we have to be using it”.

I think there’s certainly a bottom-up approach to training and word of mouth between the associates. But then also the top-down approach of the Head of Banking saying “well, we’ve got to be using this on all of the Banking matters”.

Advice for firms seeking to introduce Legatics

SR: Is there any advice that you would give to other firms who are looking to implement Legatics?

JC: Make sure that you’ve got the senior department stakeholders involved to say, “actually, yes, we could definitely see ourselves using this and we’re willing to sponsor its usage”, and help you push that out. But also do a pilot, definitely do a pilot on a couple of matters. 

SK: I agree with Joe on the pilot side, but also keep it simple to start off with. For example, we talked about a multi-jurisdictional cross-border deal on something that needs to be done pretty quickly. That wasn’t our first deal, we tried it on something else first. So, start off simple and just get used to the functionality.

JC: You should be testing from a core perspective, how is the functionality, does it work for us? Could our lawyers predominantly see themselves using it? What feedback do they have? Ultimately, do they think it’s going to make their lives easier, do they think it’s going to save time and improve client service?

So, make sure you’ve got the right sponsorship. And then, you can look at rolling it out in the department. If you do decide to do that, make sure you do plenty of training, try to push out in the right departments as widely as possible.

Make sure you’re talking about successes and use cases, that’s really important. Having some one-on-ones with partners and associates, and ensuring that it’s always front of mind. Because otherwise, despite the best intentions, things can fall by the wayside.