If asked what type of software Interwoven provides, most of you would respond that Interwoven is a document management (DM) company.  However, this is only a small part of the functionality that we provide today.  Our solution for the legal industry is much broader than simple DM and enables you to manage all electronic and physical content throughout the life cycle of a matter.  Maybe the question that we should pose is whether we should change the name of the category to matter life cycle management or simply expand the definition of DM.

A Problem of Work-in-Progress
The original purpose of DM in the legal industry - and still a basic requirement - was to enable the process of producing documents.  Before e-mail, the challenge was getting the document from first draft to final form (i.e., printed and signed) in the most efficient manner.  The software needed to coordinate the efforts between lawyers and their secretaries, and required not only version control, but also a set of special features including unique document identifiers, having full access to matter documents available to author and operator, and the ability to apply client and matter information to documents.  While these features seem very basic, they are really only found in systems targeted to the legal industry.

E-Mail Changed the World
Prior to e-mail, lawyers managed a matter through a paper file.  However, as the volume of e-mail messages increased, lawyers and their staff struggled to maintain the paper file.  Some firms attempted to print and file every message, but secretaries and file clerks simply could not keep up.  In other firms, the e-mail messages remained in attorneys' inboxes, leaving the paper file incomplete.  Thus, e-mail created the need to create and manage a complete electronic matter file.  Interwoven called this Matter Centric Collaboration.

In their implementation of the electronic matter file, some firms have just included e-mail and office documents.  Others have taken the additional step of imaging all paper documents to create a complete electronic file.  For some law firms, this has resulted in significant cost savings.  SJ Berwin in the U.K., for example, uses Interwoven Worksite to maintain complete electronic matter files.  In these matter files, the firm includes all content around a matter including scanned images of any paper documents.  When the firm moved to a new office, they calculated that, as a result of moving to electronic matter files, they had reduced their paper storage needs by half.  This produced an annual savings of approximately £700,000 or $1.2 million in storage costs alone.

In order to effectively enable lawyers and staff to actually file e-mail messages into the electronic matter file, you need to provide multiple, convenient ways to file and profile them.  It is imperative that the software fit the lawyer's filing habits.  To enable this, Interwoven and its partners provide a rich set of tools that help file e-mail messages using various methods, including:

CCing a matter file

Using drag and drop

Filing through a tool bar button

Enforcing file on send

In addition, we have learned through numerous implementations that many lawyers file their e-mail messages en masse.  As a result, we have added technology that enables the filing of messages to occur in the background and not tie up Outlook.

Managing the Rest of the Life Cycle
Matter life cycle management requires more than just document and e-mail management.  As law firms grow in size and number of offices, the matter opening process presents a greater challenge.  Interwoven Practice Support assists with this problem.  It is the first completely Web-based product to combine new matter intake workflow with conflicts to provide a completely integrated product.

To support lawyers who spend significant time away from the office, we now offer several methods to interact with the matter file while mobile.  These include complete offline support for the electronic matter file, BlackBerry support, Web-based access and full Citrix support.  These techniques are needed in order to fit the lawyers' habits rather than forcing them to conform to the software.

Records management in most law firms has traditionally focused on the discovery and circulation of paper files within the firm.  With the proliferation of e-discovery and with electronic content overtaking paper, the ability to manage this content is now critical.  WorkSite provides the ability to categorize this content through electronic matter files.  WorkSite Archive Manager then enables the firm to move matter files from expensive storage systems (SAN) to inexpensive storage (NAS) once frequent access is no longer needed.  This is similar to sending paper files to offsite storage.

Additionally, law firms face a fundamental problem around records management.  In most jurisdictions, most or all of the matter file is actually owned by the client, and lawyers are required to safeguard their client's property.  This means that maintenance of a complete matter file is not just a good idea, it is an absolute requirement.  The resulting default retention policy for a matter file is to return the file to the client or follow the client's retention policies.  Since many clients do not have effective retention policies in place, most firms keep their matter files forever.  However, in response to the needs of e-discovery, many clients are now attempting to establish internal retention policies.  Law firms must prepare for the day when their clients will expect the firm to follow their retention policies.  Interwoven Records Manager will play a vital role in this process.  In addition to providing next generation paper records management functionality for law firms, it enables the firm to apply unified retention policies across all of its paper and electronic content.

Today
Interwoven provides a comprehensive solution for the legal industry that helps you to manage the complete life cycle of a matter.  While DM is still at our core, we provide a range of functionality that goes far beyond it and enables full matter life cycle management.

About our author . . .

L. Keith Lipman, Esq., is a Senior Product Manager at Interwoven.  His particular areas of focus are how technology has changed the practice of law, the effects of consolidation on law firms, the changing relationship between law firms and corporate legal and how today's environment of compliance is changing how companies and firms need to manage information.  He can be reached at KLipman@interwoven.com.