LEGAL
Manual double-checking and searching through piles of legal contract changes takes its toll on the legal value delivery chain – from secretaries typing in the attorney’s hours all the way up to billing supervisors counting the monthly total. You may spend hours waiting for the updated version of the contract just to find out that someone made a sneaky change last minute, or worse – the latest version with the amendments was lost in the system update. That’s why having a clear chain-of-custody for all contract changes made down the editing line.
Changing a contract without agreement and tracking handwritten changes remain the top challenge for every law firm. Creating and sharing electronic signatures with the counter-party also takes a lot of time and coordination. Marinate lets you reduce it to the minimum by integrating right into your mailbox thus allowing you to request a signature and get instant alerts once the change was counter-signed. You can send requests to review from mobile in one-click and stay updated about the approval process 24/7.
Contract amendments and addendums happen all the time, and every lawyer knows how daunting it is to redline and track changes in Word. Marinate integrates with any automated track changes software (ContractExpress, HotDocs or LawLift, etc.) to record contract changes by initiator, role, and date. Now you are 100% certain who and when made that change, which is critical when debating what made the contract null or void in court. Automated tracking can also help non-lawyers to avoid signing a contract without understanding.
With Marinate, you don’t need to worry about your contract management strategy anymore. Forget about the stress of entering billable hours on a client file before the Cape Diem calendar closes on Friday. All client and internal communication is now thoroughly recorded, no matter what medium you use – email, SMS, Slack, or the intranet chat. The contract lifecycle management system powered by Mariante will make it easier for partners and seniors to track hours spent on a case in the interactive mode that spans roles and interactions throughout all the stages – from contract draft to contract execution.
The low level of fact-finding and layers of coordination of in-house law firm management leaves a lot of space for ambiguity – from looking for documents in paper archives to delegating tasks from attorneys to paralegals. When the chain of custody in a law firm is broken, there is no way to deliver. By closely tracking all internal communication, Marinate gives you a clear, chronological picture of the movement of files, tasks, and eventually those sacred ‘billable hours’, maintaining a clear chain of custody throughout all legal and non-legal departments. Litigation practice will surely appreciate the ability to securely share and access all testimonials and case artifacts right from their inboxes, instead of constant re-saving them in bulky intranets. Chain of custody steps and procedures are now intact and closely tracked.
