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How law firms can (digitally) meet client expectations

Post author By admin
Post date February 10, 2023
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It has been said enough times: The legal industry is facing a turning point in its digital journey. What McKinsey dubs the “next normal”[1] centers around the acceleration of digitalization and its tech-enabled re-imagination of business to better serve its customers. Even before the crisis, 92% of business leaders felt their business model wouldn’t remain viable through current rates of digitalization – and the COVID-19 crisis has sped this up.[2] The digitalization of life is pushing companies to reexamine the way they do business,[3] and the legal industry is no exception. If lawyers were slow to evolve their services, they are now at a point where they must adapt to changing client expectations, or risk being outpaced by competition. While some legal providers are innovating to adapt, resistance from others is creating a widening gap with their own clients and an opportunity for customer-centric providers to accelerate market share gains[4]. In short, client-centricity, enabled by digitalization, is imperative for firms in order to survive and prosper.

Client expectations have changed

Customers are increasingly at the epicenter of the economy, and business has become all about improving how they are served.[5] The B2C space has set expectations of a seamless, faster and more user-centric experience (think, for example, easy-to-use banking or food delivery apps), and this is setting a new standard for business interaction in the B2B space as well. The impact of transforming their customer experience processes has been similar among B2B and B2C players, with higher client satisfaction scores, reductions of 10-20% in cost to serve, and revenue growth of 10-15%.[6] Industry structures are being disrupted, and client experience will be at the heart of legal delivery by 2025, as predicted by the Head of Global Legal Services at KPMG. Clients are also digitalizing their own businesses to a huge extent, moving to the cloud as a way to scale their services and improve security and flexibility.[7] According to a 2020 Report on the State of the Cloud, 93% of enterprises already have multiple clouds, and 57% of enterprises and SMBs predict their cloud usage will be higher in the future.[8]

Client experience in every industry now covers the entire scope of how the service is delivered – and this requires digitalization. Clients expect connectivity, efficiency, centralization and transparency. They want real-time communication with lawyers, and the ability to work on the go. They also want their services done quicker, at a lower cost – hours billed for manual processes that can be automated are no longer accepted as an inevitability. As the business they support go digital, KPMG predicts that pressure to reduce costs and growing comfort with automated solutions will combine to see the automation of routine legal work being subsumed into the legal business as a route to efficiency.[9]

How transaction management tools will streamline client experience

As business reimagines the legal function, legal departments can respond by enhancing their services through technological capabilities. Firms should prioritize tools like transaction management solutions that improve efficiency in a way that yield a high, and quickly apparent, ROI. Technologies that automate processes can free up as much as 23% of lawyers’ time by 2025, as predicted by McKinsey.[10] This does not mean reinventing the wheel but working smarter by harnessing digital and automated workflows. If implemented effectively, this technology, coupled with data security, scalability and usability, can impact client relationships in the following ways:

1. Digital collaboration for smooth interactions

Collaboration between stakeholders in legal matters can be achieved through shared digital platforms that provide easy access to information and a holistic view of the deal. Closd lets lawyers keep on top of deadlines, more easily locate and store documents, and monitor case progress in real time, making the client feel in the know and informed.[11] A digital closing solution allows the flexibility and speed clients expect; a lawyer in, say, the UK can schedule a signing with a client in Sydney to begin at their convenience and let it unfold automatically, tracking each step at a distance. Automation makes the transaction process more accessible from start to finish, allowing clients to work on a more fluid, flexible model.[12]

2. Workflow automation for quick completion of deals

Clients complain about billable time wasted on tasks like locating documents, coordinating between parties, and organizing cumbersome physical closings. This is where efficiency – the heart of transaction management tools – comes in. Streamlining workflows by automating manual and time-consuming tasks at every step of a deal, from KYC to post-closing, reduces hours doing work like shuffling through papers or assembling closing bibles. Rather than relying on email for communication, automatic reminders for case milestones or deadlines allow stakeholders to be proactive. Together, these accelerate the timeline of the deal, providing clients with efficiency at a lower cost.

3. Data and legal security to feel at ease

Clients are responding to increasing cybersecurity risks and expect their sensitive documents and information to be stored safely. They also expect their data to be compliant with shifting data sovereignty laws and regulations to avoid potential legal issues arising. The increasing adoption of cloud-based solutions is a step in this direction: These tools provide a security-by-design approach that is much safer than paper-based services and on-premises infrastructures. Closd’s software infrastructure was built from the outset to protect user data; all files and data uploaded to the platform are encrypted and hosted in the EU by a top-tier cloud services provider, whose job it is to build and maintain a tamper-proof and fully available infrastructure. Moreover, services like electronic signature are guaranteed to be compliant with established law. A digital safe like Closd’s protects clients longer-term, too, by archiving documents and conserving their probative value. Moving to the cloud is a competitive advantage for firms looking to reduce infrastructure and IT costs, while improving security and flexibility.[13]

So where is the legal industry now?

Overall, tech adoption in the law industry has been slow and fragmented; many firms have remained reluctant to invest in technology despite consumer expectations having advanced beyond what the traditional legal model currently offers. Beyond being a consequence of the industry’s traditionally conservative attitudes, one reason for this is a lack of change management strategies or senior executives with sufficient experience or resources to deploy legal tech at scale. Another is more legal tech marketplace crowding, which makes it more difficult for teams to discover and vet options.[14]

Though the majority of firms have not adapted yet, there are more and more exceptions. Forbes points to a handful of tech-enabled, scaled, and agile “business of law providers,” that have invested in technology and customer experience, that are now gaining market share. By emulating the language of business and demonstrating their value to customers, they are gaining a solid reputation, loyal clients, and are reshaping the traditional boundaries of the legal function to be more proactive and impactful for enterprises.[15]

Legal tech has not revolutionized the industry inasmuch as it has become part of the mix, as Artificial Lawyer explains, and a large amount of old-fashioned manual labour remains entrenched in the legal process. However, even these advances are enough to disrupt the economic model of legal production and provide competitive advantages to those that use technology to their advantage. Moreover, legal professionals are only at the beginning of their tech journey – the transformation is slowly, but surely happening, and has been picking up speed since COVID-19.[16]

With a continuous stream of new legal service providers entering the market, competition has never been greater.[17] To succeed in this new market, law firms need to consistently provide added value by accelerating their digital adoption and transforming their operations to meet consumers where they already are. Clients now have a plethora of legal service options to choose from,[18] and will select innovative firms that respond to client pressure and improve the quality, speed and price at which value is delivered.[19]

[1] https://www.mckinsey.com/Videos/video?vid=6179664830001&plyrid=HkOJqCPWdb&aid=7329D72E-9A50-472C-8702-8CF3F2A5F290

[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/markcohen1/2021/01/11/why-cant-the-legal-function-prove-its-value/?sh=1ad29ed8cd6f

[3] https://www.mitchellcharlesworth.co.uk/news/technology-and-the-legal-sector/

[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/markcohen1/2020/10/27/when-will-the-legal-industry-become-customer-centric/?sh=3205a8b35512

[5] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/

[6] https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/improving-the-business-to-business-customer-experience

[7] https://www.flexera.com/blog/industry-trends/trend-of-cloud-computing-2020/

[8] https://www.legalevolution.org/2021/01/greatexpectations-part-v-cloudy-with-a-chance-of-digital-disruption-230/

[9] https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2020/12/future-of-legal-article-series.html

[10] https://www.mitchellcharlesworth.co.uk/news/staying-competitive-in-the-legal-market/#:~:text=Some%20of%20the%20ways%20law,value%20and%20developing%20their%20brand.

[11] https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en-gb/expert-insights/increase-law-firms-profitability-working-smarter-not-harder

[12] https://www.mitchellcharlesworth.co.uk/news/technology-and-the-legal-sector/

[13] https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/features/evolution-of-the-law-firm-why-clients-demand-that-you-embrace-new-technology

[14] https://www.legalevolution.org/2021/01/greatexpectations-part-v-cloudy-with-a-chance-of-digital-disruption-230/

[15] https://www.legalmosaic.com/why-cant-the-legal-function-prove-its-value/

[16] https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2021/01/25/how-far-has-technology-really-disrupted-the-legal-world/?

[17] https://www.mitchellcharlesworth.co.uk/news/staying-competitive-in-the-legal-market/#:~:text=Some%20of%20the%20ways%20law,value%20and%20developing%20their%20brand.

[18] https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/en/insights/articles/automating-the-client-experience-is-your-firm-keeping-up

[19] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/

Interview

Testimonial: Closd at business law firm Bruzzo Dubucq

Post author By admin
Post date November 25, 2022
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David Ybert de Fontenelle and Virginie Cadouin are partners in Bruzzo Dubucq. Based in Southern France, the firm is specialized in restructuring, commercial disputes, tax law, the firm and strategic consulting in transactional M&A operations.

Closd allows us to bring the firm into the present and to simplify our lives considerably.

Closd: Could you please introduce us to Bruzzo Dubucq, its clients and the matters it handles?

: We are partners in Bruzzo Dubucq, a business law firm based in Aix-en-Provence. The firm, which now counts 30 partners, was created in 2015 by Philippe Bruzzo and Cédric Dubucq.

The firm is divided into three main practice areas: commercial litigation, tax law, and corporate engineering, which includes M&A and corporate, and which we are pleased to co-manage. We assist business owners of all types of companies (groups, SMEs, growing companies, family-owned companies, startups, etc.) in their legal operations: transfers of control, restructurings, external growth operations, etc.

What were the main challenges before adopting Closd?

Like many law professionals, the main challenge was to organize signing sessions: matching schedules, lack of flexibility, high number of photocopies…

We were already using platforms to organize data rooms for example, but they didn’t offer an experience and reliability as solid as Closd. We also needed a tool to perfectly organize and track our closings.

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Why did you choose Closd and what needs does the platform meet?

Like many other lawyers, we have been confronted with the various changes that the legal sector has undergone over the last few years, in particular its digitalization. We tried to anticipate it as well as possible, and therefore audited different software that could be perfectly integrated into our internal processes and facilitate time-consuming tasks. In particular, we needed a solution to organize electronic signatures and save time.

There were several solutions, and we finally opted for Closd for two main reasons: first, the UX of the platform is very good; especially regarding the organization of the signing sessions, the tagging system, the possibility to automate the sending, etc. It is a secure solution, which allows us to easily organize the signing sessions with our clients, our colleagues and different parties.

Then, another major advantage of the platform is the quality of customer service, whose availability is absolutely outstanding. Their reactivity allows us to keep up with our clients’ needs. It sometimes happens that technical problems appear: a customer who can’t sign, for example. In these cases, Closd’s teams react very quickly.

Could you describe the operations you carry out thanks to the platform?

At the beginning, we mainly used the platform for M&A operations from start to finish: organization of the data room, signing, closing…

We now also use it for transactional matters and to sign various business documents (powers of attorney, asset and liability guarantees, deeds of transfer, etc.

We use Closd for about 90% of our files, and for almost 100% of our M&A and corporate files, either remotely to get parties to sign abroad for example, or even face-to-face to avoid excessive photocopying.

We also use the checklist part in the classic M&A process, to validate follow-ups before the closing or the waiver of conditions precedents for example.

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Are your clients and interlocutors satisfied with the use of the platform?

Our clients are very happy with the platform, because it brings them flexibility compared to the physical closing, which leaves little room for uncertainty. A client who cannot make it to a scheduled closing in the morning will have more flexibility to sign the documentation remotely during the day using Closd.

The platform also allowed us to automate our signing sessions, which is a very powerful and practical feature.

Our customers are delighted because Closd provides them with a new digital experience: they want to be able to sign remotely thanks to the electronic signature, access the documents online, automatically receive the documents once the signature is done, etc.

Closd allows us to bring the firm into the present and to simplify our lives considerably. Moreover, it is a great collaborative tool.

How would you assess your experience with Closd? What are the main strengths of the plaform?

The results are very positive, we will definitely keep using it!

Our firm having had to manage a strong growth in recent years, the flexibility regarding the management of our subscription allowed by Closd is, in my opinion, a strong competitive advantage compared to other platforms.

And once again, we have to mention the user experience, and the user-friendliness of the platform. Also, the team is very helpful, it’s nice to know that there are humans behind the code.

The platform’s security commitments are also critical to us.

Any final word?

We encourage Closd to keep developing its user experience and offering. Even if there is always room for improvement, the tool is complete and has been perfectly adopted by our team. Thanks to the whole Closd team for this collaboration!

Thanks to Mr Ybert de Fontenelle and Mrs Cadouin for their testimony. If you want to learn more about Closd, schedule a demo now!

Tags business law firm, business lawyer, digitalization

Storage vs. archiving with probative value: what are the differences?

Post author By admin
Post date November 23, 2022
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Since 2014, the eIDAS regulation has standardized and established a framework to ensure that electronic interactions between businesses in the European Union are safer, faster, and more efficient. This move towards digitization on a global scale, and more specifically in the legal sector, has led an increasing number of companies to accumulate sensitive digital documents: confidential internal documents, commercial contracts, shareholders agreements, etc.

These documents are subject to the same legal storage obligations as paper originals for the same length of time, to which sector-specific obligations are sometimes added. Moreover, these originals are subject to additional obligations linked to their digital format, which gives them the same probative value as the paper originals, under the condition that they are stored so that their integrity is preserved. The issue of legal security is therefore critical.

However, many legal professionals need to be made aware of the obligations and implications related to the conservation of sensitive documents. Between backup, storage, and archiving, here is an overview of existing solutions.

Difference between storage, backup and archiving

While the terms are often used interchangeably to refer to conservation, the technical and legal reality behind each is quite distinct.

Backup consists of making one or more identical copies of a file in a system, with the aim of being able to recover it in the event of loss or deterioration. This technique has no particular probative value and in no way guarantees the integrity of the file over time (i.e. its absence of modification or damage).

Storage is the collection and preservation of digital information in a way that facilitates its accessibility, and more specifically the sharing of files and documents for collaborative work. The term commonly refers to both the technology and the medium used. Indeed, information can be stored on several media: a computer, a USB key, a document cabinet, a Drive, a DMS, or even a Closd project. Whatever the medium, the documents are classified according to certain predefined criteria and benefit from more or less advanced security features. However, these systems do not meet legal storage requirements, since the content can easily be deleted or altered by different authorized users. Also, there is no guarantee of long-term integrity, especially in the event of breakdowns, changes of servers, disks, hacking, etc. You also have to take into account the risk linked to the habits of IT teams who sometimes think, wrongly, that an original paper document is always available in case of loss.

Finally, archiving meets legal and regulatory requirements. Particularly adapted to long-term conservation, the objective of archiving documents in an electronic safe is to preserve original documents electronically signed with reliable technology. The purpose is to be able to find them, for example in the event of litigation several years later, while guaranteeing their authenticity and integrity. Just like a physical archive room, the electronic archive or Electronic Archiving Solutions & System (EAS) must meet drastic security requirements in order to guarantee the integrity, confidentiality, availability, durability, and reversibility of the documents stored.

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Archiving system: legal validity and functioning

3 criteria guarantee that an electronic document has the same value as a paper document:

the use of a reliable process (the European eIDAS regulation addresses this issue by listing all certified Trusted Service Providers for electronic signatures)
the ability to duly identify the signatories (strong authentication during the electronic signature: password, identity verification, SMS, etc.)
the conservation in such conditions as to guarantee the integrity of the document. This involves the possibility of demonstrating that the document has not been altered, is still complete, and that the medium carrying the information guarantees its stability and the desired durability.

More than just a need, archiving sensitive documents in an electronic safe is therefore a real legal obligation for law professionals. Their primary mission is to ensure the legal security of their clients. It is therefore the indispensable counterpart to any electronic signature technology.

Electronic archiving is based on 5 major principles:

data integrity
confidentiality
availability
durability
reversibility

In the event of a dispute, a complete file of evidence regarding both the signature and its preservation will be required to prove that the file has not been altered. It will also be used to detail the process implemented to guarantee and maintain the integrity of the document during the preservation phase. It is therefore possible to ask the archiving service provider to extract one or more archives from the electronic safe in the original digital format, which will be transferred using an external medium.

For each archived document, service providers store several pieces of information about the document, such as:

The document and its name,
Standard metadata (data that can be used to describe the process that led to the creation of the information),
Custom metadata,
Fingerprints of the document and metadata,
Archival timestamp,
Archive lifecycle log and event log.

It is therefore essential for legal professionals to eliminate all risks of loss, alteration, or destruction during the long-term storage of files.

In case of litigation, it is also possible to request the definitive restitution of all documents entrusted to the service providers. This process is called reversibility and involves the total destruction of the archives concerned in the electronic safe and the emission of a certificate of destruction.

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Which archiving solution for law professionals?

As a global player in the management of legal transactions, Closd integrates the technology of the French leader in electronic archiving, Arkhineo, into its SaaS solution. This allows customers to archive their documents and contracts signed electronically (via DocuSign and Certeurope technologies, certified as Trusted Service Providers) and to consult their archives directly from the platform on a dedicated, simple and intuitive interface

While Closd meets the first of the two conditions of admissibility of an electronic document as evidence, its partnership with Arkhineo allows to meet the third condition. The electronic safe guarantees the probative value and therefore the integrity of the signed digital documents for the duration of the legal obligations.

In the event of legal or administrative dispute, Closd also provides the proof of signature certificate, as well as the proof of archiving to justify the integrity of the document since its signature.

More than 250 customers from law firms, legal departments, accounting firms, investment banks, or investment funds trust Closd and Arkhineo for their dematerialized processes. Legal security is a key element for the sustainability of companies and their growth. Thanks to the Arkhineo archiving system via Closd, companies can secure their assets and those of their customers in an ultra-secure electronic safe, which creates new growth drivers and increases development opportunities.

Tags archiving, electronic archiving system, electronic signature

User testimonial: Closd at law firm DSM in Luxembourg

Post author By admin
Post date November 22, 2022

Héloïse Cuche is Senior Associate at DSM Avocats à la Cour. This business law firm provides multidisciplinary and multilingual services adapted to the Luxembourg environment, and assists companies and their managers in both advisory and dispute resolution in numerous legal practice areas.

As a user of Closd since 2020, she agreed to share her experience with the platform and the benefits in terms of efficiency, organization, and internal and external collaboration.

We consider this solution to be indispensable in our business today to meet the needs of our customers.

Closd: Could you please introduce us to DSM, its clients and the matters it handles?

Héloïse Cuche: Hello, my name is Héloïse CUCHE and I am an attorney at law firm DSM Avocats à la Cour in Luxembourg. Our clients are mainly entrepreneurs, business owners and companies. We assist them in all areas of business law, both in advice and in dispute resolution (M&A and restructuring, finance, labor, taxes, real estate, digital law, etc.). The firm is very dynamic and continues to grow. Today, we have about twenty lawyers, not to mention our colleagues who provide legal or technical support.

What were the main challenges before adopting Closd? What convinced you to use it?

We are always looking for new tools to simplify our clients’ lives and automate time-consuming tasks. Even though we were already using electronic signature solutions, the first lockdown in 2020 highlighted the need to move towards more legal security. In addition, we needed a legal project management platform for transactions across time zones to meet the needs of our customers, who are also large international groups. Closd was the ideal solution.

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Why did you choose Closd and what needs does the platform meet?

In addition to the elements developed above, Closd allows us to manage a database, accessible at any time to our customers. They can access their contracts or files at any time within their dedicated space. This greatly simplifies the due diligence process because we have technical teams dedicated to document management. Another important point for us is that the platform is also available in German.

Could you describe the operations you carry out thanks to the platform?

We perform many closings on Closd, including the due diligence phase. We also keep the books of some of our clients and allow, by managing the different access rights, to share documents in real time with their teams, clients and partners around the world. This last use has allowed us to greatly simplify the process of preparing our clients’ consolidated and audited accounts.

What types of transactions do you manage with the platform?

We use Closd for all our cases: transactions (M&A, real estate, fundraising, etc.) as well as day-to-day management (signing contracts, minutes of board meetings, etc.) or for legal disputes (transmission of documents, etc.).

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Are your clients and interlocutors satisfied with the use of the platform?

Yes, they are very satisfied! We consider this solution to be indispensable in our business today to meet the needs of our customers.

How would you assess your experience with Closd? What are the main strengths of the plaform?

The results are extremely positive. Closd has allowed us to increase our efficiency and simplify document management for our customers. The fact that the Closd teams are very professional and always listen to new ideas to implement is definitely contributing to this success.

Any final word?

Closd allows us to be more than external consultants, we are an integral part of our clients’ teams and it is a real pleasure to collaborate with them.

Thanks to Mrs Cuche for her testimony. If you want to learn more about Closd, schedule a demo now!

This article was first published in French on our blog. It has been translated and edited for our English version.

Tags interview, interview, user testimonial

New on Closd: share information by email, and improved UX

Post author By admin
Post date November 17, 2022
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This month, we are happy to present you the latest updates of legal transaction management platform Closd. In November of 2022, we released 3 new features that now allow you to share information (archives, document index, checklist export) by email much more easily to your colleagues or clients directly from the platform’s interface. We have also made improvements in terms of user experience to make your experience even more fluid.

Finally, we are pleased to announce that the availability time of a bible has been doubled: bibles are now available for download for 96 hours (4 days) on the platform. A bible generated on a Friday evening can therefore be downloaded by your customers on Monday morning.

Discover all these updates in detail!

Share archives by email from the electronic safe

It is now possible for users with the Electronic Safe option to share archived documents by email with their customers directly from the Closd interface.

This option allows our users to open and manage a safe directly on Closd for a perfect preservation and a maximum probative value of their documents and contracts for the duration of their choice.

To do this, click on the 3 dots in the Options column, then on Send by email. A window will then allow you to enter the email addresses of the recipients, who can be external to Closd, and therefore do not have to be added as participants to a project to receive the email. The recipients will receive a download link valid for 4 days.

This new feature further strengthens the security of your original or sensitive documents, since everything stays within the platform. If you want to learn more about Closd’s electronic safe option, contact our team.

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Share a file index by email

It is now possible to share an index of files and folders directly by email to the participants of a project.

This update allows you to save time and to communicate more easily with all the parties, to verify a list of documents in the context of a due diligence process for example.

To do this, go to Options in the Documents area, click on Share index by email and then choose the format (Excel or PDF) and the Participants, before confirming the sending.

Share a checklist by email

It is now also possible to share the checklist by email directly from the platform. The goal of this feature is to allow you to improve your communication with the different parties and save time by performing all these steps from Closd.

To do this, go to the Checklist module Options, then click on Share checklist by email. Then choose the format (Word or PDF) and the Project Participants you wish to send it to, before confirming the sending.

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Improved search of the “Recently added files”

In order to easily find a newly added document on the platform, we have added a column in the “Recently added files” folder that tells you in which folder the new document is located.

Save your navigation preferences

Finally, at the request of our clients, you can save your display preferences.

Whether you prefer to see your signature sessions or checklists unfolded to see all the details or folded to show only the titles, your choice will remain unchanged each time you reload the page.

To learn more, contact our team for a free demo of the solution, or subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed of our updates!

Tags features, release, update

Blog articles

User testimonial: Closd at Austrian law firm Cerha Hempel

Post author By admin
Post date November 9, 2022
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Mark Krenn and Hans Kristoferitsch are partners at Viennese law firm Cerha Hempel. The firm counts more than 200 lawyers, and is specialized in all areas of corporate and commercial law, both in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe.

Being users of Closd for several months already, they agreed to share their opinion on the platform, their vision on legaltech and digitization, and how Closd is helping them to improve customer experience.

Article by LexisNexis Austria – 31/10/22

“You can tell that the tool was developed by lawyers who have been involved in transaction management”

LexisNexis/Closd: Could you please introduce us to Cerha Hempel, its clients and the matters it handles?

Hans Kristoferitsch: CERHA HEMPEL is one of the leading corporate law firms in Austria, and we are also present in Central and Eastern Europe. We cover all areas of corporate and commercial law, and we are proud to count numerous leading Austrian and international companies among our clients. In addition to major commercial litigation and proceedings, for example in public commercial law, antitrust and criminal law, we mainly specialize in transactional matters.

What is the firm’s digital strategy? What are your other areas of development?

Hans Kristoferitsch: We have already developed some of our own solutions internally within the framework of our Legal Tech Center, which have been successfully adopted by both our team and our clients (a tool dedicated to financing for example). In other areas, we have decided to use existing legaltech solutions such as Closd.

Why did you choose Closd? What needs does the platform meet?

Mark Krenn: Closd is a very versatile tool that maps the entire lifecycle of a transaction – from the data room for due diligence to the automated generation of transaction bible. You can tell that the tool was developed by lawyers who have been involved in transaction management. But even beyond M&A transactions, I see multiple applications.

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What types of transactions do you manage with the platform? What are the main benefits?

Mark Krenn: At the moment, we are mainly using the platform to manage M&A transactions as well as real estate development projects in which we act as trustees.

The easy setup of the working parties and their division into groups particularly facilitates the administration of a transaction and makes communication much easier. We also use Closd as a pure data room solution for our clients.

Are your clients and interlocutors satisfied with the use of the platform?

Mark Krenn: The solution is very intuitive and has all the required features to manage a transaction or a property development project. The possibility to sign contracts online – through a formalized process – is a real differentiator. Our clients are very interested in online solutions and have responded very positively to our decision. During the test phase, we also invited clients to test Closd and we received very positive feedback, which encouraged us to choose Closd.

What do you consider most important when working with your clients?

Hans Kristoferitsch: We have set ourselves the goal of providing our clients with high-quality legal advice as cost-effectively and in the shortest possible time. This also includes legaltech solutions in order to be able to process certain automatable work steps more quickly and cost-efficiently. We also attach great importance to long-term cooperation. Legaltech is also essential for achieving this goal, as it allows us to coordinate operational processes we advise in many areas.

Mark Krenn: We constantly evaluate our legaltech initiatives with our clients in order to be able to adapt to their requirements and expectations. For us, legaltech is not an end in itself for marketing purposes, but should create added value for our clients.

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What do you see as the main challenge for your industry in the digital era?

Hans Kristoferitsch: Contrary to what is often assumed, we do not think that digitalization will make the legal profession obsolete. On the contrary, it allows us to work even more efficiently and to be more focused on solving legal problems or representing our clients in court or out of court. Our biggest challenge would be to build up our own IT skills to operate legaltech tools, and to recruit and train young colleagues who are not only familiar with law but also with digital solutions.

Thanks to Mr Kristoferitsch and Mr Krenn for their testimony, and to Tobias Paur from LexisNexis Austria for conducting this interview. If you want to learn more about Closd, schedule a demo now!

Interview Interview Interview

User testimonial: Closd at Acer Finance, asset management firm

Post author By admin
Post date October 26, 2022
No Comments on User testimonial: Closd at Acer Finance, asset management firm

Arnaud Monnet is Director of Real Estate Management at Acer Finance, a French asset management firm, which currently counts more than 20 employees, 2,500 clients and more than 600 million euros in assets. His mission is to assist clients in the selection of direct or indirect real estate assets, and to advise real estate professionals and agents, promoters, etc. in the structuring and management of investment vehicles.

After having used Closd for more than a year, he tells us in this interview about his experience with the solution and the benefits he has witnessed in terms of project management and customer experience.

The strength of the solution is the comfort it provides in the customer relationship.

Closd: Could you please introduce us to Acer Finance, its clients and the matters it handles?

Arnaud Monnet: Acer Finance is a portfolio management company. We are a family office with accreditations that allow us to assist our clients with both wealth management issues and personal or professional investment strategies. We use Closd for both matters.

What were the main challenges before adopting Closd?

Our main problem was to exchange information on contractual closings: we wanted to be able to find all the information in the right place, for each update to be easily identified by everyone, and for everyone to be able to interact and create their own task lists.

Before that, everything was managed by mail or email, and each time, one of us had to take care of organizing, archiving and filing the documents manually, and coordinating the different signing sessions. The most complicated part was to make sure that all the parties could sign on the same day, which sometimes led to improvised scooter rides all over Paris to collect all the signatures. In the worst case, the documents sent by mail were sometimes lost.

Signing simultaneously or in a specific order was a real challenge for us and for our relationship with our clients.

How did you discover the solution? What convinced you to use it?

I was looking for an electronic signature solution for a basic contract, and a tech entrepreneur friend of mine recommended Closd, an ultra intuitive solution used by his lawyers. That’s how I discovered the solution. We quickly set up the platform to manage a first project for a real estate operator and his co-investors who needed to structure a real estate acquisition.

The tool allowed us to communicate in real time in a particularly stressful context, so that everyone, even remotely, had the same level of information, and could perform identity verification safely before signing.

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The signing part was very easy to coordinate, so we decided to keep using the solution for projects that require information and contractualization.

The features we use the most are the electronic signature, the data room and the project management feature.

What types of transactions do you manage with the platform? What needs does it meet?

We use Closd for the following transactions: sale or acquisition of a real estate property or a company, equity investment, unlisted assets, contractual tasks between our clients and us … The platform helps us structure the services that we provide to our clients, starting from the setup of a transaction following the request of an operator to structure a financial need.

Some transactions may require the participation of many external investors who do not know each other, and this is where Closd helps us streamline our organization. By automating manual tasks, the solution allows us to save time and energy, and above all, improve traceability.

It is therefore a key operational issue for us, which allows us to standardize information.

What are the main benefits?

On the one hand, Closd has allowed us to gain in flexibility and improve the readability of the files; on the other hand, it has allowed us to save a lot of time; finally, Closd offers strong guarantees in terms of security and confidentiality for our sensitive documents, which is a key issue for us.

I know that Closd offers a traceability feature, which we have needed in the past but which was not released at the time. This is very useful in case of a dispute. If someone claims to be unaware of a piece of information, we can easily access a list of their activities: times and duration of connections, documents viewed…

Are your clients and interlocutors satisfied with the use of the platform?

Our clients are quite pleased with the platform, because we don’t ask them as much about organizational matters. We still want to preserve human interactions, but once we get past that stage and the legal and administrative process is started, automation becomes very useful.

All our clients who have used the platform have mastered the tool very easily, which is quite user-friendly and intuitive, especially thanks to the reminders on the signatures.

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How would you assess your experience with Closd? What are the main strengths of the plaform?

We are very satisfied with the tool, and we want to keep using it to make our customers’ experience more fluid and comfortable. This is key to us, and I think it is Closd’s main strength

We have noticed that most clients sign their documents during their weekend or in the evening: the real strength of the tool is that it has made everyone very autonomous, and that it has lifted this constraint on deals that can be quite stressful, both on the seller’s and buyer’s side.

The stakes on these cases are high, so it is important to be able to relieve this administrative part and make it as comfortable as possible for our clients. We free ourselves from the stress of not being able to sign or waiting for documents that never arrive. No more excuses: our clients are able to validate a document in a minute!

Any final word?

In addition to the fact that we are very happy with the solution, I think that it would benefit from being more widely known for other uses than simply legal matters. For example, a tool like Closd could be perfectly adapted to companies, especially for managing subsidiaries.

For example, our teams sometimes use Closd to exchange information with their clients in the context of wealth or financial advice, which facilitates the implementation of recommendations made by advisors.

Thanks to Mr. Monnet for his testimony. If you want to learn more about Closd, schedule a demo now!

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Tags asset management firm, interview, user testimonial

Closd in now available in German

Post author By admin
Post date September 22, 2022
No Comments on Closd in now available in German

Since its creation in 2018, Closd has grown to become a leader in legal transaction management in Europe, with over 250 clients in 6 countries.

We are happy to announce that Closd, which is already available in French and English, is now also available in German!

The addition of this new language allows Closd to continue its expansion, and to digitalize the transactional practices of legal professionals in new European countries.

Closd interface in German

We are delighted to be able to support German-speaking legal professionals in the digitalization of their legal operations thanks to our partner LexisNexis Austria.

Don’t hesitate to contact our German-speaking sales team for an information request or a demonstration of the platform on the dedicated page: closd.at

Tags news, translation

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6 tips for creating an optimized and efficient checklist

Post author By admin
Post date September 15, 2022
No Comments on 6 tips for creating an optimized and efficient checklist

The checklist (also called closing memo, CP checklist, step plan, or simply retro planning depending on the situation) is a central part of any legal transaction. It is also a challenging process considering the complexity and multiplicity of the steps, deadlines and tasks to be carried out. Whether you’re a legal team working to complete a loan facility agreement or a cross-border M&A transaction, an entrepreneur raising Series A financing for your startup, or you’re holding an annual shareholders’ meeting at your company, the checklist is an integral part of running a deal.

Take the CP checklist, which allows legal teams to collect every document needed for KYC – and can involve thousands of documents. Or a board meeting agenda, where convening letters, draft resolutions, draft minutes, and other documentation needs to be collected efficiently.

Or say you’re preparing a closing checklist for a finance transaction. In a large transaction, innumerable documents need to be shared or sent out to be signed by various parties, while closely monitoring outstanding signatures and tracking each document’s progress.

Why getting the checklist right is essential

Completing these using email and Microsoft Word – the standard tools still used by most legal teams – is no easy task. It suffices to read this article in Legal Cheek, which details a few weeks in the life of a junior banking & finance lawyer, to see why the standard process is lacking, to put it lightly. The time leading up to deal completion is described as “4 weeks in hell” – we’ll let you read on to see why (hint: chasing down parties and tracking files by email and copying, pasting and reformatting CPs line by line into a Word document isn’t super-efficient, or particularly pleasant for anyone involved).

The checklist is also used to inform the client of the progress of all the projects in the case with the objective of closing on a given date. It is therefore a communication and reassurance tool for the customer, and therefore an important part of the customer experience.

However, in any deal, getting the checklist right is essential. So, what do we mean by a “modern” checklist? Today, legal transaction management platforms like Closd digitalize the checklist and all the steps involved, making each process streamlined and efficient. In this post, we share our 6 tips for creating a standout checklist that will make this key part of any deal efficient, and dare we say, even enjoyable.

6 tips to create efficient interactive checklists

1) Assign parties to tasks and schedule automatic reminders

Managing different parties – manually circulating tasks, tracking who is responsible for what, and individually chasing responsible parties – is no easy feat. And often, at least one deadline, or validation needed for a document, slips through the cracks, meaning the client gets unpleasant news, and the unlucky counsel who is responsible has a very bad day.

How does one get around this? On Closd, lawyers can assign parties to be responsible for specific tasks, or to be validators for tasks, directly on the checklist. Once assigned individually or as a group (for example investors, etc.), they can choose to automatically notify parties of the tasks they need to complete, and to send them automatic reminders of any upcoming deadlines. Each participant then receives a complete list of tasks that they must complete or validate.

It is then possible to set up automatic reminders for the responsibles parties before the due date of a task, at any frequency.

On their side, participants filter the interactive checklist to view only the tasks relevant to them, or all the tasks not yet completed. That way, every participant has a clear view on the process, fostering easy collaboration and increasing the chances that the transaction will be closed on time.

2) Have a real-time overview of your project

An ever-evolving list is, by nature, difficult to share efficiently using static means of communication like email. Constantly re-circulating a changing legal transaction checklist is 1) time-consuming, 2) prone to error, and 3) generally quite annoying for everyone who has to receive three different “Updated Checklist – Read and Review” emails per day.

Instead, on Closd, stakeholders can see how the project is progressing at-a-glance, in real time. Project Managers can update task statuses (pending, started, etc.) and inform automatically the parties involved.

With this, time spent on creating, updating and tracking items on the legal transaction checklist is substantially reduced, with update calls all but eliminated – all while making the deal totally transparent to all relevant parties.

3) Use the chat to conduct a Q&A

The checklist module on Closd allows simple and secured Q&A exchanges between parties regarding a task or a particular step of the process. On the platform, the process is seamless: users can exchange comments, tag other users, and conduct a full Q&A on a built-in, intuitive chat specific to each task of the legal transaction checklist.

In a legal transaction, these questions and answers often have evidential value. Users can export all the comments related to a task in PDF format, to keep them or attach them to a contract for example. That certainly beats exchanging comments by phone or email, keeping them noted down and organized, and manually circulating them… you know the drill.

4) Attach files to tasks and control document versioning

Tasks on CP or closing checklists often involve the collection of documents, and keeping each document associated with its respective task in an organized, clear manner can be a real challenge.

On Closd, users can attach documents to individual tasks to allow parties to keep track of files with precision. Importantly, users can upload different versions of documents (with distinct access rights if they wish) to tasks and can view the entire version history in one place.

On Closd, users can easily attach requested documents to tasks. To maintain the confidentiality required in this type of process, specific access rights can be configured for each task and attached document.

Whether the intent is to share documents with people or to collect them, the digital checklist provides a clear organizational structure that saves counsels having to dig through emails or data rooms to retrieve documents and keep up with their latest versions – instead, everything is centralized and easily accessible in one place.

5) Structure your checklist the way you want

On Closd, lawyers can structure their checklists however they want, creating titles and subtitles and adding tasks that are automatically numbered to have a precise view of the checklist’s layout.

Best of all, if the structure changes, a simple drag and drop moves tasks into a different spot on the checklist, and the whole list is automatically renumbered in real time. Try reformatting tables on Word to see why that’s a huge timesaver – not to mention manually renumbering each task every time there’s a change.

6) Save checklists to create a library

Finally, lawyers can save their checklists in Closd. You never know when a new matter will come up that requires a similar structure, or the same content as an old checklist.

On Closd, you can save your checklists directly on the platform, creating a library of checklists for all different types of matters. You can then reimport them – again, directly from the platform – onto a new project, making sure you never misplace or lose a template, and always have everything handy in one place.

By following the tips outlined in this article, teams can essentially bring their legal transaction checklists into the modern world. With a little help from Closd, they can avoid the pitfalls involved in managing this complex, confidential, high-stakes, integral part of the deal, and allow their clients to marvel at the efficiency, speed, and organization they display.

Contact our team now to discover other features!

Tags checklists, digitalization, digitalization

Videos

[VIDEO] How does the Closd platform work?

Post author By admin
Post date September 8, 2022
No Comments on [VIDEO] How does the Closd platform work?

Grégoire Débit, co-founder and CEO of Closd, presents in video the various business observations and struggles usually faced by attorneys that led to the creation of the first collaborative platform for legal transaction management, as well as its main features:
“We simply created the solution we wish we had when we were practicing.”

To discover the complete series of these short videos, visit our Youtube channel!

What problems does Closd address, and how does the platform work?

What was the initial observation that led to the creation of Closd?

We designed Closd to remove the obstacles that business law professionals face when managing complex transactions:

Too much time spent on low value-added process tasks that can be automated, such as audits or closings
Difficulty in tracking and monitoring the various tasks that counsels and parties must perform
Exchanges of sensitive and confidential information through unsecured or insecure channels such as email
The frustration that clients may feel with these manual and laborious processes.

As former lawyers, we have experienced these situations on a daily basis. We simply created the solution we wish we had when we were practicing.

How does the Closd platform work?

Closd centralizes all the necessary tools to conduct a legal transaction in a 100% digital and collaborative way.

All stakeholders can be invited to a secure space to manage the operation, which shows the firm’s or company’s logo.

What are the main features offered by the platform?

We offer new generation virtual data room modules for the storage and secure exchange of information, interactive checklists for project follow-up, automated closings with the integration of Docusign and Certeurope electronic signature technologies, automated generation of closing books and electronic safes with the integration of Arkhineo technology.

Learn more about the Closd platform features

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