Background

When a new client needs to be onboarded into a law firm, robust governance and control is required, and usually a number of checks and activities need to be carried out. These processes usually vary depending upon whether the new client is a business (B2B) or an individual/consumer (B2C); and potentially if the client is a large corporation or an SME. Broadly, the larger the client the more commercial terms or processes may need to be adjusted to their unique needs. 

Overview

This accelerator provides the foundations for implementing a client onboarding solution. As each client carries out client onboarding differently, with different integrations, governance and processes, etc., this accelerator focuses on providing foundational configuration, not an end to end or integrated solution.

Since requirements for client onboarding can vary significantly between business (B2B) and consumers (B2C), within this accelerator we have an abstract root work type for ‘Client’ and specialised derived work types for ‘B2B Client’ and ‘B2C Client’.

Like any other work type it consists of participants, data capture, key dates and associated phase plans. The Client work type is designed to work integrated with the relevant associated work types, such as with contracts, mandates (statements of work) and instructions for B2B, or with products / product line enquiries for B2C. The configuration for these elements vary by client and work type and are not included in this accelerator.

The aim of the accelerator is to: 

• Provide the ability to streamline and standardise the onboarding process for clients, providing the framework to standardise the process for setting up new clients, manage risk and compliance activities, consider the commercial and operational aspects, and (if required) create the client in third party systems, such as a finance system.
• In addition, enable effective visibility and management of clients by providing the ability to configure a holistic view of the client’s portfolio of cases, and the ability to proactively manage client risk and compliance requirements, such as iterative compliance checks. 

Use Cases

Client Onboarding

When a new client is to be onboarded into a law firm, robust governance and control is required, and usually various processes need to be carried out, such as: 

• General setup concerning the client, capturing details, contacts, etc.
• Due diligence and compliance activities such as ID checks, AML checks, conflict checking 
• Potentially define and agree commercial parameters for each of the services to be provided to them including Fees/Rates, Reporting Requirements and SLA/Processing Requirements 
• Potentially provisioning/setting up the client in other systems, such as the finance/PMS system
• Creation and storage of any documents and emails pertaining to the client

The aim of the client accelerator is to provide a customisable container for these activities and information, and a place for the onboarding teams to work. The accelerator includes a small number of ‘starter’ workflows; it is expected that these will be significantly extended and added to to meet client requirements.

Ongoing Client Management

Once a client is active, there will often be a designated client partner or client owner(s), who would benefit from having a place in Clio Operate to access information about the client, and proactively manage the client relationship.

The client work type portal provides a centralised, user-friendly interface to view related work items for a specific client, providing a 360° view of client activity, such as showing how many matters have been received from that client. It enables users to efficiently monitor, organise, and interact with tasks, updates, and documentation related to the client.

A sample dedicated risk management portal page provides a summarised view of risk management related key dates, risk scorecard metrics and profiling, and an example method for capturing risk management strategy information. An example use case is for Risk & Compliance; who would be able to easily manage and track compliance activities, including audit information, for new and existing clients, to proactively manage risk.

There is also provisioning for the ability to record non-billable, value-add time, such as training or case clinics delivered for clients, making it easier to produce client value-add activity reporting to feed into client relationship management and re-tendering activities.

Implementation Guidance

The accelerator design document includes a lot of implementation guidance which is strongly recommended to be reviewed before import/implementation. Every client/use case will vary not only in terms of processes and potential integrations, but also in how Clio Operate work type relationships are configured and the way in which the new work type/s are made available to users.