Author: Onit

Six Ways Universities Use Legal Software to Better Manage Documents and More

Posted on October 27, 2025 by - Blog, Universities

Whether you are general counsel, a compliance officer or contract manager, you are likely managing a large volume of complex documents for your university on a daily basis. Without a dedicated way to efficiently and effectively manage these important files, you are at risk of wasting valuable time and money. But, there is a better way to organize, track, and safeguard your valuable documents through legal case management software. 

University legal professionals are increasingly turning to legal technology to help them be more productive and efficient so they can focus on what’s really important—strategizing and building relationships. Whether it is vendor contracts and student policies or research agreements and employment issues, legal case management software helps you manage all your critical documents and more—within a single system. 

The legal document management industry continues to see unprecedented growth and is expected to reach $9.67 billion by 2034. By adopting legal technology now, your university will be one step closer to keeping pace with the rapidly evolving industry. Here’s a quick look at just a few of the ways universities can utilize legal software to boost performance. 

Six Ways Universities Can Use Software to Better Manage Legal Files

  1. Centralized Document Storage 

As a university legal professional, the amount of documents you are juggling daily can’t be overstated. With legal software, you can maintain all your legal and compliance documents in a single, searchable digital hub. This provides numerous benefits including: 

  • Access control (i.e. other departments such as Human Resources can view employment contracts but not student files). 
  • No more lost or outdated files. 
  • Quickly view current versions of contracts, policies, or MOUs. 
  • Accessible by remote and hybrid teams (especially important if you have multiple campuses). 

A legal case management system that provides comprehensive, built-in document management features eliminates the need for multiple systems, leading to cost savings and preventing data silos.

  1. Version Control and Document Integrity

One of the essential parts of the job is not only maintaining research agreements, vendor NDAs or endowment contracts, but also managing the draft iterations of each of these items and more. Legal case management software can help reduce the manual, labor intensive process this can sometimes be through: 

  • Automatic tracking of each edit, when it occurred, and who made it. 
  • Record of redlines and comments from various departments including procurement, research, and IT. 
  • Maintaining the final version of documents with signatures for safe recordkeeping. 

These features are instrumental in safeguarding the university from outdated clauses or incorrect versions of documents—while also helping minimize risk and maintain compliance. 

  1. Advanced Search and Metadata Tagging

With so many documents to manage and fewer demands on your time, being able to easily tag documents by specific parameters and instantly retrieve them is an essential component to look for in legal software. These search parameters can include: file type, contract owner, expiration date, department, risk level, and more. Searchable metadata can help universities when staff must quickly produce: 

  • Institutional policies
  • Student-related legal documents
  • Sponsored research agreements
  • Compliance certifications (Title IX, FERPA, export controls)

The ability to search documents quickly is important especially when responding to public records requests, accreditation audits, or legal discovery.  

  1. Security and Access Control

Gone are the days of passing legal documents and sensitive files back and forth via secure email links. Through legal case management software, you can share student records, donor agreements, HR files, research data, and more directly via the legal software. Plus, everything is tracked, saved, and shared in one place. You can assign permissions directly within the software, giving you full control over who can access the documents through: 

  • Role-based permissions: restricts who can view or edit documents.
  • Encryption and audit trails: ensures data integrity and accountability.
  • Cloud or on-prem deployment options: tailored to the university’s IT and data privacy requirements.

This helps provide more peace of mind in a world where one mistake or data leak could be quite damaging to the university’s reputation and costly. 

  1. Analytics and Reporting 

 By maintaining all your legal data in a single location, you can easily generate reports and dashboards informing you of important data such as:

  • Approaching renewal and compliance deadlines. 
  • Department workload distribution. 
  • Average time to conduct a review or gain signatures. 
  • Volume and types of contracts handled. 

These built-in analytical features give universities the chance to showcase value and efficiency to leadership, while also providing valid reasons for requesting more resources or staff.

  1. Contract Lifecycle Management 

When dealing with a variety of contracts such as vendor services, leases, athletic sponsorships, research funding agreements, and more— you need a way to quickly move documents through the appropriate processes. Legal case management software can help with this through automating key parts of the workflow such as: 

  • Contract template libraries: Approved standard templates with university terminology. 
  • Clause management: Pre-approved clauses (FERPA, HIPAA, data privacy) can be automatically inserted. 
  • Approval notifications: Contracts can be automatically routed to legal, finance, and administration for sign-off. 
  • Renewal reminders: Standard notifications automatically sent before contract expiration or renewal deadlines. 

Universities can utilize these features to eliminate administrative bottlenecks, provide consistent legal communication, and reduce lapsed agreements. 

Managing Your Most Important Documents Through Legal Software 

The right legal document management system can help speed up your workflow, improve your accuracy and save you valuable time and money, but the right legal case management system can do all this and more. 

With a comprehensive, built-in document management system, legal case management software allows you to manage all your important documents and eliminate the cost of multiple systems. Legal case management software is the complete solution to manage your entire legal process from intake and matter management to workflow automation and reporting/compliance. You no longer need disparate systems to manage everything your university’s legal department might require. 

By focusing on the unique needs of higher education, Legal Files is able to help colleges and universities implement superior legal software that minimizes risk while promoting transparency, efficiency, and compliance. 

It’s this tailored approach that sets Legal Files apart from other legal software providers. With a dedication to customer feedback and continuous improvement, Legal Files ensures that your university or college software system will work the way you want it to no matter what your needs are. 

“We are incredibly impressed with the flexibility and customization capabilities that Legal Files offers.”

Kim Benoit, Assistant to the Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police

University of Connecticut, a Legal Files client 

Request a demo to learn more about how we help organizations like yours manage what matters most.

Unlocking The Value of Legal Case Management Software in Public Sector Legal Operations: Part One

Posted on July 14, 2025 by - Blog, Uncategorized

Metro Fall

When today’s emerging legal technologies combine with proven business principles—you get what most legal teams strive for: smart, strategic and streamlined legal operations. 

Legal operations professionals face more demands than ever—ranging from strategic planning and change management to budgeting, compliance and document management. They are the glue holding legal organizations together, tasked with increasing productivity while managing growing caseloads and shrinking resources.

To meet these challenges, legal teams are increasingly investing in legal software that delivers measurable efficiencies. According to Gartner, legal technology spend is on the rise, with the global legal technology market expected to reach $50 billion by 2027. 

So, how can your legal operations team keep pace with the rapidly evolving public sector legal landscape? 

Why Government Legal Operations Teams Are Turning to Legal Case Management Software

Legal case management software provides government organizations with a fully customizable solution to manage critical legal information—cases, matters, contacts, emails, complaints, etc.) from a centralized system. It combines all the sought after tools that professionals are seeking today: document management, spend management, e-billing, contract lifecycle management, legal matter management and more. With legal operations teams focused on a variety of tasks, legal case management software enables teams to streamline operations, reduce risk and deliver better outcomes. 

Here’s how:  

  • Strategic Planning and Organizational Alignment: Legal case management software supports long-term planning by centralizing crucial data, enabling leads to analyze trends and anticipate future leads needs. Built-in analytics and report tools help teams:

track case progress, performance metrics; manage budgets and resources effectively and align legal work with broader agency goals. 

  • Centralized Legal Database: A single, secure place for all your case documents eliminates data silos, ensuring consistency and accessibility across your organization.
  • Version Control: The last thing you need is multiple versions of the same document floating around. With Version Control, you can ensure that everyone works with the most up-to-date versions of documents, minimizing errors and improving collaboration. 
  • Easier Access and Retrieval: With advanced search functionality, you can enable quick searching and retrieval of specific case details and documents, helping reduce manual searching. 
  • Streamlined Workflows and Task Management: Optimizing workflows is key to increasing productivity and reducing costs. Legal case management software allows teams to:
  • Automate Repetitive Tasks: Save time and increase efficiencies of scheduling, billing, document generation and sending reminders.
  • Centralize Information: With all your case-related information in one place, including documents, deadlines and communications, you can easily access and organize your workday and caseload. 
  • Track Tasks and Deadlines: Maintain accountability and avoid delays.
  • Enhanced Communication and Collaboration: The way in which your team communicates can be the difference between success and failure. Effective communication is essential to building strong relationships between internal and external contacts to ensure that communication lines stay open and there are no miscommunications or errors. 
  • Internal Collaboration Tools: Enables teams to work together with no complications, with the ability to share updates and collaborate on cases in real-time. 
  • Centralized Communication History: This is an important feature that maintains a record of all client interactions, improving accountability and reducing communication errors. 
  • Secure Client Portals: Features secure communication and document sharing with clients, increasing transparency and overall satisfaction. 
  • Data-Driven Decision Making: Legal operations professionals who have accepted that technology is essential to being successful are more likely to utilize it to make informed decisions, streamline workflows and demonstrate all the legal operations team has to offer. By implementing legal case management software, team members can use the data they have captured to track performance, identify trends and make recommendations.  
  • Analytics and Reporting: Monitor case progress, performance and financials, enabling better decision-making. 
  • Custom Reports: Tailor insights to meet your agency’s specific requirements to guide operational improvements. 
  • Compliance and Risk Mitigation: Successful legal operations enhance compliance and risk management, protecting the organization from legal and regulatory issues. Legal case management software offers several tools to help mitigate risk and enhance compliance in the government sector: 
  • Secure Data Storage: Legal case management software offers robust security features to protect your most sensitive constituent information and ensures compliance with data protection regulations. 
  • Compliance Reporting: The software has the ability to monitor adherence to legal standards and generate compliance reports, which helps minimize the risk of non-compliance. 

Empower Your Legal Team with the Right Legal Software

The right legal case management software helps your legal operations eliminate manual tasks, improve visibility and stay aligned with agency goals. With customizable dashboards and integrated tools, your team can stay focused on what truly matters—serving your constituents, meeting compliance deadlines and delivering legal services efficiently.

Legal Files brings nearly 35 years of experience supporting agencies at every level of government—federal, tribal, provincial, state, county and municipal—across the U.S. and Canada. Legal Files is designed to help government and public sector organizations manage a higher volume of work with the same or fewer staff—by as much as 40 percent! If you’re seeking a trusted legal tech partner, Legal Files is here to help.

“Everyone has access to the information they need. Legal Files gives us the ability to easily see the types of cases DEP is handling, the number of cases, as well as determine the related costs. If we need to know the number of active cases in a particular area, or how many items we cannot bill, Legal Files can help us do that too.”

Lynn Dunlap, a Legal Files Customer
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection 

Request a Demo

Discover how Legal Files can help your agency improve legal operations and manage what matters most. Request a demo today. 

How to Select the Right Government Legal Case Management System: Part Two

Posted on June 6, 2025 by - Blog, Uncategorized

The federal government currently employs nearly 35,640 attorneys, making the need for efficiency and effectiveness in public administration more critical than ever. According to a recent Government Law Agency Survey, 47 percent of respondents identified a major challenge: spending too much time on administrative tasks and not enough time practicing law.

This is where legal case management software is making a difference. By consolidating all essential legal data in one place, government legal professionals can more easily meet deadlines, stay compliant with regulations, and achieve more in less time.

However, with so many technology options available, choosing the right software can be a challenge. In this post, we’ll dive deeper into a few more important features to consider when selecting legal case management software for your department.

How to Select the Right Government Legal Case Management Software

In government legal administration, the need for efficiency and effectiveness has never been higher. In a recent Government Law Agency Survey, 47 percent of respondents cited a major challenge facing their department: spending too much time on administrative tasks and not enough time practicing law.

Legal case management software is transforming how government legal professionals work. By consolidating all essential legal data into one secure, centralized system, legal teams can more easily meet deadlines, comply with regulations and accomplish more in less time.

But with so many legal software options available, it can be difficult to know which solution is the right fit. In our previous blog post, we discussed three essential features to look for in a government case management software system. In this post, we’ll continue the conversation by exploring two more critical features and how they can help your department boost efficiency and performance.

Three Must-Have Features in Legal Case Management Software

1. Easy-to-Use Interface
An intuitive user interface is essential. A system that’s hard to use will likely be ignored or underutilized. A clean, user-friendly UI encourages adoption and ensures your team can quickly access the information they need.

2. Collaboration Tools
Modern legal software makes it easier to collaborate across departments. With everything stored in one place, there’s no more guessing who’s responsible for what or where documents are located. Team members can work together effectively—no matter where they’re located.

3. Legal Service Request Management
A strong system enables you to automate and streamline legal service requests. Requests are routed to the correct team members instantly, reducing bottlenecks and ensuring that all relevant information is included up front.

Two More Critical Features to Consider in Legal Software
Let’s take a look at two more powerful features that can significantly impact how your legal team manages cases and achieves its goals.

4. Dashboards: Turn Your Data into Action
Dashboards offer a centralized, visual view of your organization’s caseload and operations. They make it easier to track progress, meet deadlines and manage priorities.

Key Dashboard Capabilities:

Case Management

  • Case Status Updates: Monitor progress, deadlines and critical dates in real time.
  • Document Management: Access and version-control key legal documents.
  • Timeline of Events: Visualize filings, calendar events and communication logs.

Reporting & Analytics

  • Performance Metrics: See billing trends, attorney productivity and case profitability.
  • Workload Tracking: Identify where resources are overextended or underutilized.
  • Customizable Reports: Tailor insights to your department’s specific needs.

Collaboration & Communication

  • Team Access: Share up-to-date information across departments.
  • Communication Tools: Leverage internal messaging, client portals and secure communications.

Task Management

  • Deadline Tracking: Never miss an important date again.
  • Task Assignment: Assign tasks and track completion within the system.
  • Reminders: Receive alerts for upcoming tasks and milestones.

Dashboards help you tell the story behind your data, enabling smarter decisions and clearer visibility into performance metrics.

5. Reporting: Insight That Drives Results

With legal case management software, reporting becomes faster, more accurate and more actionable. You can track trends, evaluate performance and make informed decisions based on real-time data.

Types of Reports You Can Generate:

Caseload & Workload Reports

  • Caseload: See how many cases are active, opened or closed within a time frame.
  • Workload: Evaluate assignments and deadlines across teams or individuals.

Performance & Efficiency Reports

  • Cycle Time: Measure how long key case stages take—from review to settlement.
  • Case Outcomes: Track the success of cases (won, lost, settled) and related costs.
  • Team Performance: Identify high performers and areas needing development.

Compliance & Risk Reports

  • Compliance: Monitor deadlines, procedures and regulatory benchmarks.
  • Risk Assessment: Spot potential risks in high-profile or sensitive cases.

Financial Reports

  • Billing & Invoicing: Review hours billed, expenses and client invoices.
  • Expense Tracking: Manage budgets by tracking expert fees and other costs.
  • Financial Summaries: Gain an overview of profitability and financial health.

These reports eliminate the need for tedious spreadsheets and provide high-impact, visual insights.

Why Legal Case Management Software Matters for Government Legal Teams
The benefits of using case management software in government agencies are extensive—more accurate data, advanced analytics and greater operational efficiency, just to name a few. With the right legal software in place, your legal professionals can spend less time on administrative burdens and more time practicing law.

Why Legal Files?
Legal Files serves as a comprehensive hub for government and public sector legal teams. It makes your information more accessible, reduces redundancy and streamlines collaboration across departments. Custom dashboards help guide your daily priorities, enabling your team to stay focused on serving constituents and meeting compliance deadlines.

With nearly 40 years of experience supporting federal, tribal, provincial, state, county and municipal agencies across the U.S. and Canada, Legal Files helps organizations do more with fewer resources—by as much as 40 percent. If you’re looking for a trusted, consultative partner in legal case management software, you’ve found one in Legal Files.

Legal Files has streamlined our process by centralizing all of the Department’s information, creating a high level of standardization. The consistent field names and naming conventions have made our work so much easier.

Ryan Saxby
City of Tucson, a Legal Files Customer 

Request a demo to learn more about how we help government organizations like yours manage what matters most. 

Top 5 Takeaways from CLOC 2025: AI Agents, Real Conversations & Legal Ops in Its Prime

Posted on May 14, 2025 by - Company News and Events

CLOC 2025 was more than just another industry event. It was a reunion, a reality check, and a roadmap for where legal operations is heading. From agentic AI hype to real-world results, the energy was high, the demos were packed, and the conversations were refreshingly honest.

Here are five key takeaways that stood out from the Onit team and beyond.

1. AI Isn’t Just a Buzzword. It’s an Agent Now.

This year wasn’t about theoretical AI. It was about AI agents, intelligent, task-executing, purpose-built digital workers designed to streamline legal workflows in real time.

Everyone was talking about agentic design, native AI platforms, and how these new agents can do more than analyze—they can act. From invoice approvals to contract data extraction, the future of legal ops looks less like dashboards and more like delegation.

If your AI can’t do the work? It’s already behind. Onit is proud to be bringing its own suite of AI agents to market this summer. Stay tuned! 

2. Relationships Still Rule in the Age of AI

While automation dominated the tech talk, the human connection was just as powerful. Onit’s customer happy hour at Zuma and CAB brunch brought together clients, partners, and team members in all the right ways.

The best conversations didn’t just happen at the booth—they happened over sashimi and strong coffee. Legal ops is still, at its core, a relationship-driven business and it showed.

3. Onit’s CounselMatch Reveal Was a Crowd Magnet

On day one at the Exchange Stage, Onit unveiled CounselMatch, a powerful new solution developed in partnership with SharePoint Leopard Solutions. Think of it as a next-gen Rolodex for law firm intelligence.

CounselMatch gives legal teams instant access to a rich database of law firm data, enabling faster, smarter decisions when sourcing outside counsel. The reaction? Immediate interest.

📰 Read the full announcement here

4. Real AI in Action: Corteva’s ReviewAI Story

Forget the fluff. Corteva’s breakout session showed what happens when AI agents go from concept to execution.

Michele Compasso, Global Deployment & Analytics Leader of Legal Operations at Corteva, shared how her team tackled a mountain of legacy contracts using Onit’s AI-first ReviewAI.

“We had 4,000 contracts that needed to be input into our CLM system. A task like that would’ve taken a lawyer two to three hours per contract—and I don’t speak Portuguese and I’m not a lawyer,” said Compasso.

“Instead, we used digital workers to read, extract, and enter the necessary data. What would’ve been impossible manually was done in minutes per contract.”

The session ended with a two-and-a-half-minute demo video showing the full end-to-end process. The room was hooked and the follow-up conversations proved it.

5. Change Champions Are the Secret to Legal Ops Scale

One of the most insightful sessions at CLOC 2025 wasn’t about tech, it was about people. In a standing-room-only “fishbowl” discussion, legal ops leaders opened up about what really moves transformation forward: cultural buy-in.

The lesson? Start with the team that’s ready. One company shared how they consolidated 29 templates into 8, cutting contract turnaround from a month to 1–2 weeks—not with fancy tools, but by piloting change with a group open to new ways of working.

That small success became a case study. That team became internal champions. And that momentum earned executive buy-in.

If legal ops wants to scale AI, ELM, CLM, or any major shift, the strategy is clear: start small, prove impact, and build an army of change ambassadors.

Wrapping It Up

From AI agents to relationship building, CLOC 2025 proved one thing: legal operations isn’t just evolving—it’s leading. And Onit is proud to be right in the middle of that momentum.

How to Select the Right Government Legal Case Management System: Part One

Posted on April 25, 2025 by - Blog, Government, Record Management, Records Management

Mount Rushmore

If you are a government legal professional—whether a district attorney, public defender, county and municipal attorney or another role—you’re probably always looking for ways to be more efficient and improve your legal operations. 

As government agencies continue to evolve and become more technologically sophisticated, legal case management software is playing a central role in shaping the future of public administration.

The benefits of adopting legal software specifically for government professionals are numerous—enhanced constituent services, increased accountability, improved resource allocation, better compliance and data security—just to name a few.

Recently the American Bar Association conducted an in-depth analysis of technology adoption and usage trends within the legal profession. Its survey showed a continued shift toward digital transformation, with organizations embracing cloud solutions, AI-driven legal research and enhanced security protocols.

In fact, 73% of organizations use cloud-based legal tools, with document management and practice management software seeing the highest adoption rates.

As more organizations look to adopt government legal case management software, it’s important to know exactly what to look for when choosing a provider. 

How to Select the Right Government Legal Case Management System

Selecting the right government legal case management software to help you become more organized and efficient is no small task. With a variety of options, many organizations aren’t sure where to begin when it comes to selecting the right software for their agency. Here are just a few of the essential components to look for in a government legal case management system: 

  1. Easy to Use Interface

A good user interface (UI) can have a profound impact on how government professionals experience the software. A hard-to-use application will be underutilized or disregarded completely. The best user interfaces contain the following elements:

  • Simple and concise. The UI should be clutter-free and without excess elements that can distract. By containing the main features in a simple interface that users can easily navigate and read, you can ensure you have everything you need with a few simple clicks.  
  • Intuitive. A system that lets you find what is important and quickly get back to what you were working on is crucial for boosting productivity. Features like saved searches and navigation history help you do just that.
  • Flexible. Every government organization is different, and the software should be able to adjust to meet your unique needs. With a user interface that can be customized without any technical expertise, you can ensure you have a system that will grow with you no matter what. 
  • Consistent. With clear labels and messaging throughout, there are no surprises and learning the application is quicker and easier. A logically ordered helps you find what you need in the application promptly. 
  • Responsive. You want a system that you can access on multiple devices—and quickly. With a responsive design, you don’t have to worry about wasting time waiting around for pages to load.

If you give your government team members all the tools they need, it’s hard for them not to be successful. And having an application with the appropriately designed UI is a critical part of adequately equipping your team so they can be more productive and efficient.

  1. Increased Collaboration Opportunities  

Good communication and collaboration are essential components to a successful government legal team. Government legal case management software provides a central place for this to happen easily and efficiently with all your important legal case information within a single platform. You no longer have to worry about disparate communication, misplaced documents or confusion about what tasks need to be done, as everything is organized and easily seen by all team members no matter where their location.

When handling complex government legal cases, multiple team members are typically involved and need regular updates to stay informed and on task. Government legal case management software enables team members to collaborate efficiently and assign tasks to the appropriate individuals.

The software allows you to track basic information about each party (e.g., name, phone number, address) and their role in the case. You can customize security permissions based on user role in the case.

By ensuring that everyone has the most up-to-date information, the team can complete assigned tasks, improving productivity across the department. If someone is out of the office or a case is transferred, other team members can easily step in and continue the work without missing a beat. All relevant information is instantly accessible, making it easy for someone to understand the context of a case or document in just a few minutes. Government legal case management software simplifies tracking communication and task progress, so everyone stays on track, regardless of location. 

  1. Efficient Legal Service Requests Management 

From the moment a government legal service request comes in, there is no shortage of important activities that must take place—from evaluation, assignment, tracking and resolution. You need a way to manage every step along the way. Today, many organizations are still doing everything manually because  a government legal case management software system is not in place.

A legal service request is typically the first step to kick off the opening of a case or matter. This can happen in numerous ways: emails, handwritten notes, jotting down data in Microsoft Office, having requesters complete automated forms TO send to the legal department, plus many more. Government legal case management software enables you to switch from paper files, phone calls and emails to online legal service request forms, which allows you to maintain better organization and decrease the amount of time spent on administrative tasks. 

The software also allows you to establish a customized workflow to ensure that each legal service request is automatically routed to the right person or persons on your team. You can have peace of mind knowing that no important information gets lost and all relevant information is included the first time. 

The benefits of using government legal case management software to manage your legal service requests are numerous—increased efficiency, more complete information up-front and better service— just to name a few. And since your government legal team members are already tasked with doing more with less, you can almost immediately boost morale across the entire organization by eliminating time-consuming manual processes.

Government Legal Teams Are More Efficient with the Right Software

There’s no doubt that the pace of work for government legal professions has accelerated, and things are moving faster than ever. However, with government legal case management software on your side, you no longer have to struggle to keep up. This technology works for you, helping you accomplish more in less time. With superior workflow and productivity tools, Legal Files Software is designed to help government and public sector organizations manage a higher volume of work with the same or fewer staff— as much as 40 percent!

Legal Files serves as a central hub for storing and managing data across all your government and public sector cases. This makes information more accessible, reduces duplicate data and greatly enhances collaboration across departments. Customized workflows in Legal Files are tailored to your organization, guiding cases through various stages and ensuring each step is completed efficiently. This allows you to focus on serving your constituents, surpassing agency goals and meeting compliance deadlines, instead of being bogged down by routine administrative tasks.

Legal Files brings nearly 35 years of experience supporting agencies at every level of government—federal, tribal, provincial, state, county and municipal—across the U.S. and Canada.  If you’re seeking a trusted, consultative partner, you’ve found it.

“Only a handful of systems specialize in municipal case management; Legal Files does, they have supported the integration of the system and assisted critical improvements in tracking efficiency.”

Stephen D. Button, County Attorney
St. Lawrence County (NY) Attorney, a Legal Files Customer 

Request a demo to learn more about how we help government organizations like yours manage what matters most. 

Going Paper-Lite: How Legal Technology Can Help Reduce Paper and Improve Results

Posted on April 11, 2025 by - Blog

Is your legal organization considering going paper-lite? It’s more than minimizing paper use—it’s about shifting your mindset to better manage and access all your legal information. This approach is increasingly popular among legal organizations because of its ability to boost efficiency and cut costs. 

So, what does it mean to be a paper-lite legal organization? 

A paper-lite legal organization is one that minimizes paper usage by leveraging digital solutions for document management and workflows, while still recognizing the need for physical documents in certain situations. 

The transition to a paper-lite legal organization offers an opportunity to enhance efficiency, improve customer service and increase security. However, the change to a paper-lite organization doesn’t happen overnight. It requires careful planning, the right technology and proper training to ensure it benefits the entire organization. 

Many legal organizations are turning to legal case management software to support their transition to a paper-lite organization. 

Five Benefits to Going Paper-Lite Within Your Legal Organization 

According to the latest American Bar Association’s Tech Reports, the use of cloud computing within legal organizations has risen significantly, now encompassing 60-70% of all organizations. 

As this trend shows, adopting digital software isn’t stopping anytime soon. Here’s a look at  some of the advantages to going paper-lite: 

  1. It’s better for the environment. 

Switching to a digital platform to manage your legal information extends beyond just increasing efficiency. An average office worker uses close to 10,000 sheets or 20 reams of paper a year. By reducing paper use, you not only demonstrate to your customers and partners your commitment to sustainability, but also help  protect the environment. This is an important factor to building relationships with eco-conscious customers and colleagues. 

  1. You’ll improve efficiency in your daily legal operations. 

Legal files are fluid and often need frequent updates. With multiple team members working on the same document, version control can become a challenge. Paper documents make it difficult and time consuming to manage such changes. On the other hand, a digital system allows for quicker retrieval, easier version control and seamless collaboration. Documents are created and stored online, enabling real-time editing by multiple team members and reducing confusion over document versions. This streamlines operations, saving countless hours that otherwise would be spent making paper-based changes. 

  1. You’ll save money through reduced expenses. 

Traditional paper systems incur significant expenses—printing supplies, labor and storage space. Legal organizations typically allocate about 3% of annual revenues to printing and document input. Whether you store paper files in house or at an off-site facility, maintaining them requires ongoing investment. By adopting a legal case management system, these expenses, potentially saving thousands of dollars annually, with year-over-year savings compounding over time. 

  1. Your valuable information will be more secure and protected. 

Without a legal case management system, critical information might be scattered across email inboxes, network/shared drives, local hard drives, scans, phones, handwritten notes, physical files etc. While team members may have personal systems for managing these repositories, this exposes sensitive case and matter data to risk, it makes it harder for other team members to step in and retrieve necessary information. A legal case management system centralizes case data, making it easily available to everyone who needs it, while keeping offices clutter-free. Plus, housing information in the cloud also enhances security by preventing unauthorized access.  

  1. Your team can work flexibly from anywhere, at any time. 

Not being physically present with your teammates is no longer a barrier for making progress on cases and matters. With a paper-lite legal matter management system in place, your team members can remotely access information they need in real time with an internet connection. Storing files in a central location makes it easy to search and retrieve necessary documents whenever needed. Plus, built-in workflow and notetaking features allow for efficient collaboration from the comfort of  home or the office. With data securely stored in the cloud, you can rest assured  that your information is protected. . 

Going Paper-Lite Is Easy with the Right Technology Partner To Help

Transitioning to a paper-lite system is a great opportunity to elevate your organization’s efficiency, customer service and security. Legal Files can help in migrating your paper files to the cloud, making it easier to manage, store and organize critical legal information from a single platform. Say goodbye to multiple legal filing systems and paper trails. Your team can quickly access all their legal information whenever they need it, from anywhere. 

With nearly 35 years of experience supporting organizations across a number of industries, Legal Files Software, Inc. provides the security, peace of mind and collaboration capabilities that only a centralized platform for all your legal cases, matters, issues or projects can offer. 

“Working with Legal Files has been perfect. As a non-profit representing low-income clients, we are required to file quarterly reports. Normally, these can take up to anywhere from 10 days to two weeks; but with Legal Files it takes only a day or two. The time saved allows us to assist more clients. Legal Files has met all our other needs and more.”

M. Elizabeth deCastro, CLR Project Attorney
Transitions of PA, a Legal Files Customer 

Request a demo to learn more about how we help organizations like yours manage what matters to you.

How to Embrace Change and Effectively Adopt Legal Case Management Software: Part Two

Posted on March 2, 2025 by - Blog, Training

The word 'change' and an arrow formed by clouds in a bright blue sky over a rolling green landscape, symbolizing the transition process in legal software implementation

We recently discussed the importance of embracing change as you adapt to the evolving legal industry. The good news is that this process no longer has to be painful or cumbersome for your organization. There are numerous tools and support available today to help you make the switch from outdated legal systems to industry-leading legal case management software. 

Why Choose Legal Case Management Software For Your Organization 

Legal case management software is a digital tool for all your legal files and activities. Within a centralized platform, you can organize and manage your legal cases, related documents and users to help you become more efficient and effective through streamlined workflows, increased collaboration and overall better case management. Here are a few ways legal case management software can help boost productivity: 

  • Document management: Securely store and organize your critical legal documents related to each case. 
  • Time tracking: Efficiently track all your legal tasks to stay organized and on top of deadlines. 
  • Communication tools: Consolidate all your critical communications (email, phone calls, documents, instant messages and more) in one single location with all team members (including outside counsel) working on the case. 
  • Contact information management: Manage all  the details, contact information and case history. 
  • Calendar and scheduling: Track court dates, deadlines and meeting information. 
  • Document management: Safely store and organize all your legal-related documents for every case/matter. 
  • Task management: Assign tasks to team members, track case/matter progress and set deadlines for your team members. 

How Change Management Can Help You Transition to Legal Software 

One of the best ways to help you transition from your current system to legal case management software is to use proven change management techniques. We recently reviewed three of the six change management principles for legal software implementation which included:

  1. Develop a clear vision.
  2. Get key stakeholders involved early.
  3. Deliver comprehensive training tools and resources.

Three more important change management principles that will help you in your onboarding process are: 

  1. Communicate often and transparently. 
  2. Monitor your strategy and adjust as needed. 
  3. Cultivate an adaptable culture. 

By focusing on these change management principles for adopting legal case management software, your organization will be well positioned to successfully implement new technology, increase efficiency, build better team unity and accomplish your mission more effectively. 

Three More Ways to Manage Change While Adopting Legal Software

Here’s a look at the three final ways you can manage change while adopting a legal case management system with as little disruption as possible. 

  1. Communicate often and transparently. 

Most anyone would agree that the keys to good communication are transparency and openness. To have good communication you need to:  

  • Set clear expectations from the start: Make sure to let your team know what changes are likely to occur, when and how you plan to support them through it. 
  • Address problems as they arise: Through formal communication channels, like Q&A sessions, and access to leaders, your team will feel that they can voice their concerns and help resolve issues when they come up. 
  • Celebrate small victories along the way: As with any big change, there will always be challenges. If you can celebrate the wins as they occur, this will help the team persevere through challenging times and focus on long-run gains. By finding ways to communicate the good things happening, you will give your team the momentum needed to achieve a successful adoption.
  1. Monitor your strategy and adjust as needed. 

Implementing new legal technology is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. After establishing a strategy, continuous monitoring and adjustments are essential. This can be achieved through:

  • Develop a plan: By giving your team members realistic timelines and expectations you can gain their support for your vision of how tasks should be completed and when.. You will want to ensure that your team has the capacity to manage the extra tasks required.
  • Solicit regular feedback: This will help you proactively address issues as they come up. You can also identify any unforeseen challenges or issues and collaborate with the leadership team to address them before they escalate.
  • Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): By setting measurable goals from the start you can track the progress of your technology implementation as it unfolds. By closely monitoring these KPIs, you can assess the impact the new technology is having on the organization and identify areas for improvement. 
  1. Cultivate an adaptable culture. 

The success of any software implementation is wholly dependent on the people using it. By focusing on these key points, you can get more buy-in from your team: 

  • Encourage a growth mindset: By fostering a culture of continuous learning and adaptability, your team will want to adopt the new legal technology and tools as it aligns with the organization’s key values. 
  • Reward adoption: For those individuals who are advocates for the new technology and quickly adopt it, make sure to reward and recognize their efforts. This will also demonstrate to others the importance of maintaining unity and a team mindset. This positive energy will hopefully inspire others on the team as well. 
  • Pivot as needed: When challenges do arise, respond to them quickly and efficiently. This maintains momentum and demonstrates resilience to the team. 

Change Doesn’t Have to Be Hard When You Have the Right Partner

The legal industry continues to evolve, and your organization doesn’t have to fall behind. For more than 30 years, Legal Files has partnered with its customers to help them move from outdated legacy systems to the latest legal case management software. 

The goal is to use technology to its fullest to help your team members work smarter, not harder. Through proper change management, transparent communication and empathetic technology adoption, Legal Files can help you harness the full power of legal case management software to help your team become the best it can be. 

Legal Files excels at setting your team up for success, regardless of your type of practice or industry you are in. Whether your team members work remotely or on-site, Legal Files can provide one-on-one training to ensure that all your requirements are covered and more. If you are seeking a customizable legal case management system, with all the necessary services, including implementation assistance, professional technical training and ongoing support, you can trust Legal Files to help you successfully navigate this transition and future changes. 

“We took a phased approach to implementation. It was important to keep it simple at first. We knew if it became overwhelming, we wouldn’t get it done. What was important was that the people at Legal Files helped us stay on the right path and build a strong foundation. We knew with Legal Files that we could add more functionality ourselves later if we wanted.”

Heritage Crystal Clean Inc., a Legal Files Customer 

Request a demo to learn more about how we help organizations like yours manage what matters to you.

Is Your Contract Management Stuck in the Past? How Generative AI is Transforming Operations

Posted on February 20, 2025 by - Artificial Intelligence

Harness the Power of AI for Smarter Contract Extraction

Manual contract tagging is time-consuming, error-prone, and inefficient.  AI Contract Extract for ContractWorks automates this process using generative AI to identify and tag critical data elements and clauses. This functionality ensures greater accuracy, and improved compliance—helping legal and procurement teams focus on strategic tasks.

From tagging payment terms to tracking force majeure provisions, traditional contract management methods often introduce inconsistencies and blind spots—leading to missed renewal deadlines, costly compliance violations, or even disputes over unclear obligations. A single overlooked clause can mean significant financial and legal consequences, making accuracy and efficiency in contract tagging more crucial than ever. AI Contract Extract eliminates these inefficiencies, offering an intelligent auto-tagging solution that brings contract management into the future.

Why Contract Management Needs Innovation

Organizations today face growing pressure to optimize workflows while avoiding costly errors. Conventional methods for reviewing and tagging large volumes of contracts are not only labor-intensive but also prone to oversight. As businesses expand, the risk of missing critical obligations or mismanaging renewals increases exponentially.

AI Contract Extract addresses these pain points head-on by leveraging generative AI. It’s built to handle the heavy lifting of identifying and tagging key data—such as governing law or payment terms—so legal, procurement, and risk management teams can reclaim time and reduce compliance risks.

How AI Contract Extract Transforms Your Workflow

  • Automated Clause Tagging
    Automatically identifies and tags crucial contract elements—like confidentiality, force majeure, and governing law—drastically reducing manual inputs and potential errors.
  • Customizable AI Prompts
    Tailor the solution to your organization’s specific needs by defining unlimited custom prompts for AI-driven tagging, ensuring complete alignment with your business requirements.
  • Enhanced Searchability
    A centralized tag library, combined with precise auto-tagging, makes it easy to locate and organize key clauses across vast contract repositories.
  • Improved Compliance Tracking
    By consistently capturing obligations and risk clauses, AI Contract Extract mitigates compliance errors and promotes more reliable contract oversight.

Efficiency Meets Innovation

Beyond streamlining manual tasks, AI Contract Extract is designed to elevate your legal and procurement operations:

  • Speed and Accuracy: Eliminate time-consuming reviews and reduce errors.
  • Better Compliance: Gain a transparent view of critical obligations, reducing risk.
  • Greater Visibility: Centralize and structure data to make faster, more informed decisions.

The Future of Contract Management Starts Now

AI Contract Extract provides a sophisticated, automated approach to organizing and analyzing contract data, allowing teams to focus on strategic tasks rather than routine administrative work.

Ready to see AI Contract Extract in action?

Already a ContractWorks customer? Contact your CSM to learn more about how AI Contract Extract can transform your workflow.

New to ContractWorks? Book a demo today to discover how generative AI can revolutionize your processes—and learn about Onit’s full suite of AI-driven solutions designed to streamline every aspect of legal operations.

What’s New! Onit’s Winter 2025 Release

Posted on February 12, 2025 by - Company News and Events

Smarter Contracts, Seamless Integrations: Meet Onit’s Winter 2025 Enhancements

At Onit, we’re redefining legal operations with AI-driven automation and seamless integrations. The Winter 2025 Release introduces smarter contract workflows, streamlined invoicing, and powerful API enhancements to help legal teams work faster and more efficiently.

What’s New?

AI Contract Extract: Smarter Contract Tagging

Revolutionize contract management with generative AI-powered auto-tagging in ContractWorks.
✔ Automate clause identification for faster document analysis.
✔ Enhance accuracy and visibility by ensuring consistent tagging.
✔ Save time by eliminating manual data entry.

Contracts API: Seamless Integration & Automation

Effortlessly connect ContractWorks with your existing tech stack. Contracts API enables:
✔ Automated document uploads and report retrieval.
✔ Seamless CRM integration for optimized workflows.
✔ Scalable data management to reduce manual effort.

Pro Forma Invoices: Streamline VAT Compliance

Eliminate billing disputes with Pro Forma Invoices, designed for VAT-regulated regions. Benefits include:
✔ Draft invoices for accuracy before VAT liability applies.
✔ Automated reconciliation to reduce errors.
✔ Clear audit tracking for improved compliance.

Contract Hierarchy: Better Organization & Visibility

Gain greater visibility into contract relationships with this new feature, allowing you to:
✔ Visualize links between master agreements, amendments, and subcontracts.
✔ Streamline workflows to minimize risk and save time.
✔ Centralize contract data for improved transparency.

Looking Ahead

This release is just the beginning—stay tuned for our Spring Q2 update featuring even more enhancements across Onit, SimpleLegal, and DocuSign integrations.

Ready to experience the future of legal operations? These features are live as of February 12, 2025!

Current customers – Contact your CSM to learn how to enable these enhancements.  New to Onit? Book a demo today!

How to Embrace Change and Effectively Adopt Legal Case Management Software: Part One 

Posted on February 4, 2025 by - Blog, Uncategorized

Technology has been reshaping industries worldwide, and the legal field is no exception. Once considered to be an industry resistant to change, the legal profession has been rapidly evolving to meet growing demands in recent years. This includes adopting software tools like legal matter management systems to be more efficient and better meet client needs. 

But change can be hard when breaking away from years of traditional methods, and routines don’t just happen overnight. While adopting new legal technology is one piece of the puzzle, you also must ensure that your team members are eager to adopt it and utilize it in their daily lives. This is where legal technology change management comes in to help. 

The Importance of Change Management in Adopting Legal Software 

According to Forbes, 70% of digital transformation projects fail. This statistic is staggering and prompts the need to understand why this happens and how to prevent it. 

Legal technology change management is the process of implementing new legal technology in a legal organization. This involves planning, execution and oversight to processes, policies and existing technologies in order to make the organization more efficient and productive. 

When it comes to the legal field, many traditionalists believe that new technology may be a disruption rather than an improvement to their antiquated work processes. They also aren’t sure how they will be able to squeeze in time for the adoption of something new. By understanding these normal concerns and possible challenges, your legal organization can then develop a coordinated approach to change management.  

Three Proven Ways to Manage Change While Adopting Legal Software

Here’s a look at how you can approach the process of adopting a legal case management system with as little disruption as possible. 

  1. Develop a clear vision. 

If you want to succeed with implementing legal matter management software, you need to ensure all your staff members support the new system. One way to do this is by establishing a list of requirements for the system and what you want to accomplish with it. For example:

  • Understand the Goal: Why are you introducing new technology? Do you want to automate your contract process to alleviate the amount of time employees spend creating them? Is risk management your ultimate goal? Take the time to really understand what you aim to achieve with the software.  
  • Envision What Success Looks Like: How does this technology change your team members’ daily lives? Do you want to develop custom reports so you can easily communicate to upper management how your organization stacks up on key initiatives? 

Whatever your goals may be, establishing them from the beginning will serve as a great reference point for staying on track as you configure the technology to meet your organization’s specific needs. Later, it will help you determine if you were actually successful in accomplishing everything you set out to do. 

  1. Get key stakeholders involved early. 

A successful change management strategy relies on involving the people affected by the change and getting their buy-in. This is made possible in the following ways: 

  • Secure executive management support: An executive sponsor can help you garner the support you need for the technology adoption to be successful. This person is also responsible for the project’s success and can help you navigate any challenges that may arise. 
  • Seek change champions. These individuals are influential and can help motivate peers to better receive and utilize the new technology. By getting them involved early, these individuals can help advocate the need for new technology and help address the concerns of other team members. 
  • Garner feedback from team members. It’s important to gather input from potential end-users. They might have recurring issues that a legal matter management system can resolve, and you’ll want to be able to configure the system to meet their needs. By giving your team members a voice, they will be more likely to adopt the new system. 

It is crucial to involve key leaders from every department or function from the start, as they will provide valuable insight and ensure the technology meets needs across the organization — not just one area. 

  1. Deliver comprehensive training tools and resources. 

The best legal technology solution will fail if no one knows how to use it. That’s why training is essential in your software adoption process. Here are a few tips to ensure training is successfully delivered to your team: 

  • Adopt user-friendly technology. Don’t settle for less than the best when it comes to your legal software. Look for a solution that is easy to use, offers vast customization options and online training support long after you sign the contract. With legal professionals often working remotely, you also want the training to be accessible to all your team members regardless of their location. 
  • Seek customizable training offerings. Since you have a variety of roles within your organization, training needs will also vary. Since what will suit your general counsel may differ from your in-house legal team, look for a provider who offers one-on-one training as well as customizable online training options. 
  • Adapt training offerings to different learning styles. It’s important to choose a provider who offers a variety of training options and styles to suit the varied needs within your organization. On-demand training videos and comprehensive “help” resources will ensure that your users can access the type of training information they need at any time. 
  • Look for ongoing training opportunities. As users proceed through the software adoption process, new questions will undoubtedly arise and additional training will be needed. Ensure that your provider offers ongoing support personnel to be there when you need them. Look for opportunities to gain feedback from your team on what’s working and what isn’t and continually train your team so that they can grow with the software and maximize the software’s utility. 

Adopt Legal Software Seamlessly With The Right Provider and Tools 

With the right support and change management processes from Legal Files, the process of adopting a new legal technology system no longer has to be daunting. As the legal industry continues to evolve, using Legal Files will help keep your organization updated on the latest technology changes, enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. By effectively managing change, you can reap all the benefits that come from driving technology adoption and gaining trust from your team by involving them from the start and giving them the tools they need to be successful. 

Legal Files’ training and implementation specialists are experts at setting your team up for success. Their purpose is to give you the resources you need—whether remotely or onsite. Legal Files Software offers customized configuration and implementation assistance, technical training courses provided by full-time, in-house professionals and annual maintenance and support. Knowing you’ll receive regular software upgrades and unlimited support from Legal Files employees will provide peace of mind. 


Legal Files Software Inc. offers 30+ years of experience supporting organizations across all types of industries. Based on our years of experience helping other organizations improve and thrive through legal software, we can help you manage change and configure a system that is uniquely designed for your organization.

“Legal Files provides a very robust and customizable matter, contract and document management system. It has more functionality than our previous system and interfaces nicely with Microsoft Office applications. Legal Files customer support made the conversion painless, and has been there for us throughout the implementation.”


Alan Greenspan, Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits LLC, a Legal Files Client 

Request a demo to learn more about how we help organizations like yours manage what matters to you.