Legal Department Meet Document Automation

Transcription

1 REUTERS / Ilya Naymushin Legal Department Meet Document Automation April 25 th 2017

2 The panel Andy Wishart Global Head Contract Express, Thomson Reuters Andy is a Legal Technologist specialising in contract automation and drafting. Andy was a co-founder and the CTO at Business Integrity until it was acquired by Thomson Reuters in Previously, he was a researcher and lecturer in artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology at the University of Edinburgh. Adrian D Amico Attorney & IT Consultant, FedEx Ground Adrian D'Amico is a licensed attorney with specializations in commercial transactions, business law, and real estate law. He has advanced consulting experience with expertise in information technology, legal-support technologies, advanced web strategies, and contract management/automation solutions. Jamison Barr General Counsel, Jenzabar, Inc. Jamison oversees Jenzabar s legal affairs, managing its legal group, and providing legal advice to the company s Board of Directors. Prior to joining Jenzabar in 2001, he represented emerging technology companies in private practice. He is a certified mediator and an adjunct law professor who speaks and writes on issues and topics relating to the practice of law in a corporate setting. 2

3 Agenda 15 mins Introduction to Document Automation (Andy Wishart) 15 mins Customer story: FedEx Ground (Adrian D Amico) 15 mins Customer story: Jenzabar, Inc. (Jamison Barr) 15 mins Q&A (All) Use the WebEx chat panel to submit your questions! 3

4 Introduction to document automation for legal departments Document automation technologies enable Legal Departments to empower the business and reduce risk Cost and time pressures by making the contracting process more efficient the legal team has the ability to focus on more valuable work, keeping more legal work in house Risk management by using automation software, drafting errors and unapproved / out of date document use is greatly reduced Long contracting process by streamlining and pre-approving standard legal documents, business users are able to self-serve 24/7 without legal getting in the way No time to start new initiative Document automation technologies are robust and mature with quick implementation times 4

5 What types of documents do legal departments automate? 5

6 Automation through self-service 6

7 Tech-enabled document automation workflow Contract request Contract creation Contract review User logs onto prequestionnaire which directs to the appropriate template and/ or provides guidance. If request non-standard user could be prompted to contact the appropriate contract management/ legal team member. User completes dynamic questionnaire, where answers determine which further questions are asked. Questions accompanied by guidance, which informs user of your standard positions/ parameters and whether risk approvals will be triggered. System pulls data from relevant CRM systems such as Salesforce. User can review contract which has been created. User is informed what risk approvals will be triggered (if any). Non-standard provisions are highlighted. When user is happy with draft it can be submitted to the customer/ supplier or for internal approvals if required. Where internal approvals are required user is prevented from exporting the contract until the approvals are received. 7 Tech-enabled contract process flow

8 8 AI/ automation tech enabled contract process flow

9 9 AI/ automation tech enabled contract process flow

10 Tech-enabled document automation workflow Contract negotiation Contract issued to customer/ supplier as PDF and customer invited to provide comments rather than redline. Interface with digitized playbook(s) to automatically produce a response to the supplier/customer, redline of the contract and risk report- all based on the your preferred position. User could review the redline and review and edit the response and then send it to the supplier/ customer. User could adjust the response by selecting from other possible responses. Throughout this process the system would show guidance from the legal team. Certain optional responses could require additional approvals before the response could be submitted to the supplier/ customer. Throughout the process, the user can request assistance from the legal team. To the extent possible negotiations are concluded via use of this playbook functionality. Where this isn t possible the contract will be relayed to the legal team for manual input. This would be processed via a word based plug-in which automatically records and tracks changes to the contract and can recognise such changes as metadata within the system. 10

11 11 AI/ automation tech enabled contract process flow

12 Tech-enabled document automation workflow Approval Execution Storage Reporting When the contract is finalised it would be circulated via the system (and Outlook) to any further approvers necessary. Contracts are watermarked as in draft- not intended to create legal relations until all approvals are received. When all approvals are received contract can be relayed to relevant colleagues, customers and suppliers via the system and for digital signature Signed contracts and data created through the system (for example approvals) should be stored on a single platform, which is effectively a master data library which could be integrated with other systems (e.g. SAP) The system can produce certain predefined reports and enable bespoke reports from time to time (for example how many contracts vary from our standard payment terms). Further the system should enable contract search by user, customer/ supplier name and content Approval requests should identify divergence from the your standard position. 12 Tech-enabled contract process flow

13 13 AI/ automation tech enabled contract process flow

14 14 AI/ automation tech enabled contract process flow

15 Customer story Adrian D Amico Attorney & IT Consultant, FedEx Ground 15

16 Why did FedEx Ground need document automation? Pain points solved Legal department work overload Move standard transactions off docket Better client service (instant, self service contracts) 16

17 Research and selection process Must-have features for FedEx Ground HotDocs, Exari, and Contract Express Contract Express was lawyer friendly SharePoint environment Ability to update templates without third parties 17

18 Methodology General roll-out process Resources involved, skills required IT Background Project Management Internal Approvals Gradual roll-out Challenges IT Approval Helpful if you speak IT language What types of documents automated first and why High volume Client needs agreements FAST Error prone (Audits) 18

19 Benefits realized Client satisfaction Minimize non-compliance Paperless system (DocuSign) Vast improvement in contracting speed Reduced legal workload (focus on more complex issues, less outside counsel spend) 19

20 Customer story Jamison Barr General Counsel, Jenzabar, Inc. 20

21 Why Jenzabar chose document automation The future has many names. For the weak, it s unattainable. For the fearful, it s unknown. For the bold, it s ideal. Victor Hugo 21

22 Why Jenzabar chose document automation It was the next big step we need to take as part of our daily commitment to our constituents We knew what we needed to change; We knew what we could change; We knew what we could accomplish if we made the change; We were ready as a legal team; We were ready as a company; and We were fully supported in this endeavor. 22

23 Before we started, we had to answer one question... Who should drive customer contracts within Jenzabar? Legal? Finance? Sales Managers? Sales People? 23

24 What did we look for? We only had one shot at this. We looked far and wide. We wanted to return who drives the contracts back to sales a sales centric system We needed it to fit in with our technology and our contracts: Our systems; Our people; and Our contracts and statements of work are very complex We needed a team like us as committed as we our to our customers and to our constituents. 24

25 What did we look for? More specifically, we were looking to launch a salesperson, contract centric system that was: Visible Automated In the generation, tracking, and return of contracts and statements of work Integrated E-signature capable Efficient Eliminate drafting bottlenecks Reduce redundancies 25

26 So What Happened? Launched in October of 2015 Processed very first customer contract start to finish in minutes! But, what did the sales people say? 26

27 Unsolicited feedback following launch By the way just signed this this is a great way to handle this and kudos to whomever got this rolling! Fantastic! Thank you for the explanation and getting back to me. I love the new system. It is really easy to use and I get things done so much more efficiently and effectively for the clients. Thanks for all of your work with the new Contract Express system. It has made life so much better!!! 27

28 So what happened? Processing times greatly decreased as well as traffic and spreadsheet usage. Processing capacity increased dramatically. Greater visibility into contracts increased. Legal team more productive and more agile. We re exploring what else can we do Used for customer contracts initially. Expanded to NDAs. Soon to be launching with HR forms. Expanding to partner agreements. 28

29 A few additional stories Professional services team Side comments and whisper complaints reduced actual shared conversation on contracts Two leaves and a trial. 29

30 Questions? 30