OVERVIEW
If you don’t already know him, you really should. Meet Bart Gabler, CIO and Director of Pricing and Legal Project Management of one of the largest law firms in the world: K&L Gates. With over 1800 attorneys managing a wide variety of complex, high value matters, data is of the utmost importance for pricing, budgeting and matter management. K&L Gates has been using Clocktimizer since 2018, championing the wave of firms using data analysis to offer increased client transparency.
K&L Gates was looking for a way to utilize their existing data without having to resort to ‘time consuming’ spreadsheets and pivot tables. By using Clocktimizer’s Natural Language Processing algorithm, along with self-identified task and phase codes, Bart and his team have been able to make pricing and project management a bespoke task, based on historical data. The firm can now compare similar matters and activities in a costeffective manner. More importantly, Bart and his team use the data Clocktimizer produces to reduce repetitive manual work and track performance more effectively.
SOLUTION
Like many firms, K&L Gates was not short of data. With a team of highly intelligent analysts, it was possible to find answers to important questions.
Questions like “how much did the last similar matter cost?” or “how efficient was the service delivery for client A?” The challenge lies in how difficult and ‘time consuming’ it was to come to those answers. Spreadsheets and pivot tables can, to a certain extent, provide the information, but they require manual input and are often based on task and phase codes which can be inconsistently applied. This makes it difficult to create an accurate, ‘like for like’ fee quote. It was the search for this kind of information that led K&L Gates to Clocktimizer.
GETTING STARTED
Like many firms, K&L Gates was able to take advantage of the hassle-free implementation process Clocktimizer offers. “It was extremely easy to get started with Clocktimizer” says Bart. “The interface offers a great balance between being intuitive and allowing the team to drill down into the data. The Clocktimizer team has been unbelievably thoughtful when it comes to coaching and running training programs that help us understand both aspects of implementing new technology: How to implement the Clocktimizer platform and how to get the most out of it.”
IMPROVED PRICING, DATA VISUALIZATION & LEGAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT (LPM)
After implementing Clocktimizer, the Matter Planning team, which is responsible for client engagement around pricing and legal project management, has been spending their time differently and more efficiently. Before Clocktimizer, a significant amount of time was spent digging through matter details and ‘pressure testing’ certain hypotheses. Using Clocktimizer, the team gathers and compares all the relevant data much faster, leaving more time to build rock-solid fee quotes based on accurately categorized historical data.
“The pricing comparison tool helps us understand the work that was done, who was doing it and what timeframe was involved” says Bart.
“If you really want to take people with you in a data-driven story you need to present your data in an attractive manner. Clocktimizer allows us to take data out of boring data fields and present it in a visual way that allows for easy comparison and consumption of the data.”
WHY K&L GATES RECOMMENDS CLOCKTIMIZER
In addition to the value Clocktimizer has delivered to K&L Gates, the Clocktimizer team is one of the key reasons Bart would recommend Clocktimizer.
“You can find a great tool, but if you don’t implement it in the right way and if you don’t have a group of folks that are willing to problem-solve when there are issues, be very thoughtful to your feedback, and really help you get the most out of that tool, you won’t get the full value. To me, Clocktimizer struck a very nice balance. A great tool that fits very nicely within the law firm structure and solves a common problem that law firms are facing on the client service side. Plus, a great customer success team to ensure K&L Gates gets the maximum value out of the Clocktimizer platform.”
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