This text first appeared on Above the Law on February 5, 2025.
Contracts are actually built-in into an end-to-end system, and efficiencies abound. With its latest launch of CounselLink+™, LexisNexis has offered a extremely complete device to streamline your regulation division’s whole workflow. The “+” in “CounselLink+” refers to integration — customers of the system now have entry to all of their group’s customizable tech stack, in addition to the entire further LexisNexis merchandise they subscribe to, with one password. Maybe the largest “+” of the brand new additions, nonetheless, is the complete integration of LexisNexis contract lifecycle administration system into CounselLink’s Enterprise Legal Management answer.
Earlier than CounselLink+, the system’s CLM element was a unfastened integration — it linked out to the Parley Professional CLM system, after which to its successor, CounselLink CLM.
Now, contracts are immediately built-in into the issues CounselLink manages, creating one unified system for all points of your regulation division’s operations — from work intake to bill review to efficiency monitoring.
We lately explored some new capabilities surrounding work consumption, matter management, integration with Microsoft merchandise, and different areas in a earlier article.
If you happen to’re inquisitive about this product and wish to book a demo, you are able to do so right here. Be happy to learn on for an outline of the CLM and knowledge reporting options of CounselLink+.
Beginning Out
To start, the CLM system populates a legacy dashboard that features each contract within the system, divided by executed contracts and in-progress contracts.
If you happen to drill down on the in-progress contracts, you’ll discover quite a few metrics. These embody how lengthy they’re taking to barter, the place they’re within the course of, which of them contain which firms, and which of them are most energetic.
The executed contracts dashboard, in the meantime, retains up with the entire milestones in these paperwork. For instance, a “renewals approaching” part will present how far off the entire renewals are and flag approaching deadlines.
Customers can then drill down into particular executed contracts, and CounselLink+ will observe quite a few knowledge factors. For instance, on this near-expiring pattern contract, the system reveals which stakeholders can be getting automated emails about upcoming renewals.
Negotiating On-line
With out a cutting-edge CLM system, negotiations will sometimes contain the cumbersome means of sending a Microsoft Phrase draft of a contract to a counterparty. You’ll then must obtain a redline out of your counterparty, reconcile varied variations, ship again your revisions, and repeat the method till you’ll be able to conform to a remaining model. Now, you’ll be able to merely invite counterparties into the identical system, and you’ll collaborate on modifications in actual time. (CounselLink+ does additionally help the standard redline technique.)
A click on on the “in-progress” contracts tab will present an outline of all of those recordsdata, together with which of them are being negotiated as redline Phrase docs and that are being negotiated by way of the net system.
For contracts negotiated by way of its system, CounselLink+ supplies an intuitive interface and complete audit path, saving the time and confusion that may outcome from the standard redline course of. If you happen to open a file for a contract being negotiated on-line, you might be taken to a view of the present model of the contract, with dialog markers that seem wherever any textual content has modified at any time within the negotiation course of.
An audit path is accessible to indicate all revisions and who made them. If you wish to discover out who’s answerable for particular language in a three-year-old contract, you’ll be able to entry the complete path with the press of a button. There’s not a necessity for the time-consuming process of looking down a number of variations of the doc after which evaluating them to determine what occurred. The platform additionally integrates with the most important on-line contract execution platforms. It could possibly additionally combine with Salesforce, permitting the gross sales crew to immediately provoke contracts from templates within the system.
Customized Powered Templates
As with nearly any CLM system, the group can add its varied contract templates and retailer them there.
However CounselLink+ brings a brand new wrinkle. It incorporates LexisNexis Sensible Steering — a proprietary authorized AI device that gives apply notes, contract templates, and different data-driven steerage to subscribers.
Which means that in case you want a customized template for, say, a sure kind of lease settlement, you should use Sensible Steering to create one and pull it immediately into your system.
A CounselLink+ subscription consists of Sensible Steering entry in its contracts device, no matter whether or not the group in any other case subscribes to Sensible Steering.
Monitoring Your Knowledge
Whereas the built-in CounselLink+ system will observe unprecedented quantities of knowledge throughout division capabilities, its reporting system will assist you to leverage it effectively for your enterprise and authorized wants. The system is organized into issues, which might all be accessed in a single display screen. You may generate lists by way of customizable filters.
Must compile all your present litigation issues for a corporation assembly? You may export these right into a spreadsheet, and share over electronic mail, with just a few clicks throughout the system.
For extra in-depth knowledge evaluation, the system accommodates an embedded enterprise intelligence device leveraging all the info in CounselLink, populated with roughly 80 completely different reviews.
Many CounselLink+ customers customise their reviews, leveraging these templates to trace the best metrics for his or her group. If you happen to’re utilizing a separate enterprise intelligence device, the info may be exported from CounselLink utilizing an API.
CounselLink+ additionally leverages this knowledge into high-level interactive dashboards. These are arrange upon buy of the system, however they’ll simply be custom-made to your group’s wants.
The result’s one place the place your attorneys and authorized operations professionals can entry an amazing quantity of organizationwide knowledge — matter consumption, contracts, bill evaluation, duties in progress, vendor efficiency, and extra. One well-liked function is the benchmarking dashboards, which let you evaluate your group’s metrics with CounselLink’s benchmarks. Customers that choose to permit their knowledge for use may have entry to the benchmarking system. (All knowledge is anonymized.) Must know the going fee for a Biglaw accomplice or affiliate in Chicago? CounselLink+ can give you any such data.
The filters permit a stage of granularity that may present significant comparisons for nearly any agency. CounselLink+ subscribers obtain entry to this device at no further value.
See for Your self
An article like this will solely scratch the floor of the capabilities of a program like CounselLink+. If you happen to’re inquisitive about this product and wish to e-book a demo, you are able to do so here. And in case you’d prefer to discover its further options, you’ll be able to view our previous article here.
