In-house legal teams often find themselves buried under a mountain of tasks—managing contracts, staying compliant, and handling day-to-day operations. It’s a lot to keep up with, especially when many of these tasks are repetitive and time-consuming. But what if you could automate some of these workflows? That’s where Microsoft Power Automate comes in, offering a way to streamline processes and free up your team to focus on more strategic work.
At LegalCloud, we’re passionate about helping legal teams harness the power of technology to work smarter. Let’s explore how Power Automate, along with other tools in the Microsoft ecosystem like SharePoint and Teams, can transform your legal workflows.
What is Microsoft Power Automate?
Microsoft Power Automate (formerly known as Microsoft Flow) is a cloud-based service that allows you to automate workflows between various apps and services. It’s a bit like having a virtual assistant that handles routine tasks, ensuring that everything gets done quickly and consistently, without the need for manual intervention.
Why Should Legal Teams Consider Automation?
Legal departments are often bogged down by repetitive, manual tasks that take up valuable time. By automating these tasks, you can enjoy several key benefits:
- Time Savings: Automation takes care of routine tasks, freeing up your team to focus on higher-priority work.
- Consistency and Accuracy: Automated workflows ensure that tasks are completed the same way every time, reducing the risk of errors.
- Enhanced Collaboration: When integrated with tools like SharePoint and Teams, automation can improve how your team collaborates and communicates.
Practical Examples of Legal Workflows to Automate
Let’s look at some specific examples of how in-house legal teams can use Power Automate—and other Microsoft tools like SharePoint and Teams—to streamline their processes.
1. Streamlining Contract Review and Approval
Contract management is one of the most critical—and often time-consuming—tasks for legal teams. Power Automate can help by automating the entire review and approval process:
- Automated Routing: When a contract is submitted for review, Power Automate can automatically route it to the appropriate team member based on criteria like the contract’s value or the involved department.
- Approval Workflows: Once a contract is reviewed, Power Automate can automatically forward it to the next approver in the chain. If changes are made, the workflow ensures that the contract is sent back for re-review, maintaining a clear audit trail.
- Notifications and Reminders: Power Automate can send notifications to relevant team members when action is required, as well as reminders when deadlines are approaching.
2. Efficient Legal Document Management with SharePoint
Legal teams deal with a vast amount of documentation, and managing these documents efficiently is crucial. This is where SharePoint comes into play:
- Document Filing and Storage: When a document is received—via email or any other source—Power Automate can move it to the appropriate folder in SharePoint automatically. SharePoint then takes over, providing a secure, centralised location where all documents are stored and easily accessible.
- Version Control: SharePoint offers built-in version control, so every time a document is edited, a new version is saved automatically. This ensures that the latest version is always available while preserving the history of changes.
- Access Control: SharePoint also handles access control, allowing you to set permissions based on roles or departments. This ensures that sensitive documents are only accessible to authorised personnel.
3. Simplifying Legal Request Intake and Triage
Managing incoming legal requests from different departments can be overwhelming, but Power Automate can simplify the process:
- Automated Intake Forms: Create forms using Microsoft Forms or Power Apps that automatically capture all necessary information when a legal request is submitted. Power Automate then processes these forms, ensuring standardisation across all requests.
- Prioritisation and Assignment: Once a request is received, Power Automate can assign it to the appropriate team member based on their expertise or workload, and prioritise requests based on urgency or importance.
- Tracking and Follow-Up: Use Power Automate to track the status of each request and automatically send follow-ups if additional information is needed or if deadlines are approaching. Updates and status reports can also be stored in SharePoint for easy access.
Getting Started with Automation
If you’re ready to start automating your legal workflows but aren’t sure where to begin, here’s a simple guide:
- Identify Repetitive Tasks: Start by pinpointing tasks that are repetitive and time-consuming. These are ideal candidates for automation.
- Map Out Your Workflow: Before diving into Power Automate, map out the steps involved in the workflow you want to automate. This will help you understand how to structure your automation.
- Build Your Flow: Use Power Automate’s intuitive interface to create your workflow. You can start with a pre-built template or customise your own flow from scratch. You can even describe your workflow using its Describe it to design it AI functionality.
- Test Your Automation: Before going live, thoroughly test your automated workflow to ensure it works as expected. Make adjustments as needed based on feedback from your team.
- Monitor and Optimise: Once your workflow is up and running, monitor its performance. Use the analytics provided by Power Automate and Power BI to identify areas for improvement and optimise as necessary.
Wrapping Up
Automation isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a practical solution that can significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your legal team. By leveraging Microsoft Power Automate, along with SharePoint and other Microsoft tools, you can automate routine tasks, reduce errors, and focus on the work that truly matters.
At LegalCloud, we’re here to help you get the most out of these powerful tools. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your existing workflows, we’re ready to guide you every step of the way. Let’s work together to streamline your legal operations and make your team more efficient than ever.
