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No Train, No Gain: Conflicts of Interest

The administrative resources dedicated to New Business Intake and Conflicts of Interest operations within a law firm are highly-specialized resources. Whether training inexperienced resources or recruiting analysts with a background in these areas, the effort dedicated to bringing on new employees can be significant. Decreased work performance and increased turnover rates among administrative staff are also issues faced by many law firms. To reduce turnover and prevent a stressful hiring process for experienced analysts, law firms can focus on streamlining their on-boarding process and establishing robust training plans.

In recent years, Conflicts of Interest and New Business Intake functions have seen an uptick in specialization and scrutiny. Law firms nationwide have adopted new technology systems for the proper vetting of conflicts of interest issues and streamlining new business intake, allowing for faster client/matter generation. They are also competing for experienced talent which can increasingly be recruited from other law firms. At the same time, law firms continue to attract lateral attorney hires and entertain potential mergers at a record pace. Law firms must plan for how core team members that perform these conflict of interest checks and facilitate new business intake will adapt to new technology and new processes. They must also defend against this expertise walking out the door to another law firm position.

If your firm is deploying a new system to handle Conflicts and/or New Business Intake, training is a vital component of effective user adoption. InOutsource’s typical training initiative for an Intapp Open deployment, for instance, would last two full days onsite with a minimum of four to six weeks of follow-up remote training sessions. These additional sessions include lessons to help reinforce the concepts covered during the initial training. Quick guides for reference and firm-specific user guides can also be utilized while the analysts are still adjusting to the new system.

training weight liftingIndependent of any particular vendor product, InOutsource also offers our comprehensive Conflicts Essentials training. Led by a former large-law-firm Deputy General Counsel and a former large-law-firm Director of Risk Management expert with over 20 years of experience, our training program reinforces professional responsibility principles, and educates lawyers and administrative staff alike. Our Conflicts Essentials training aims to educate across the range of lawyers and administrative staff, arming everyone involved with the knowledge to help deal with potential conflicts of interest more effectively. This in turn results in faster new matter requests, improved start time on billable work, and less administrative hours taken out of busy billing attorneys’ schedules to clear conflicts.

The type of training offered by InOutsource leads to enhanced confidence in a conflicts analyst’s work product and performance. The firm can continue to rely on staff with deep institutional knowledge of firm business processes, minimizing turnover and lost time required to train new hires. A clear professional development path also means that administrative staff can envision a career trajectory. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your staff, and your law firm, grow professionally.

bio_marciacook

Marcia Cook

Sr. Data and Analytics Consultant

Marcia Cook comes to InOutsource with 17 years of IT experience with the last 7 years heavily focused on Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse Development, as well as Data and Analytics solutions. Prior to completing her bachelor’s degree, Marcia also worked as an Executive Assistant for various employers including Micron Technology, American Express, University of Utah, and the United States Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA).

Marcia has extensive experience with various Analytics tools including Qlik, Tableau, Sisense, OBIEE, and Domo. She has studied both Kimball and Inmon data warehouse methodologies, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), and various programming languages including SQL, C++, Java, .NET, and python.

Marcia obtained her Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Science with a minor in Computer Science from University of Alabama in Huntsville.

In addition to work, Marcia has been a college Math tutor for all ages, specializing in general mathematics, algebra, and calculus.