Microsoft Teams for Law Firms and Better Contract Workflows

Most legal teams believe that contract management involves time consumption because of the intricacy of the work. However, the main issue lies in the fragmentation of workflows across different tools.

What Happens When Contract Workflows Move into Microsoft Teams?

When contract workflows exist across multiple platforms, it becomes difficult to find the right document or clause. It becomes messy to control versions, and deadlines might be missed. This should be an organized process, but eventually, it becomes an operational challenge.

The good news, however, is that most companies already have the foundation to resolve this issue. For companies that use Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams can be more than just a communication tool.

It can be a command center for managing the entire contract lifecycle, given the right structure. No more jumping across multiple tools; instead, the entire contract management process can be brought into one place.

This article will discuss how this can be achieved.

How Can Microsoft Teams Be Used to Form the Basis of Contract Workflows?

For many legal departments, the method of managing and storing contracts within large shared folders titled “Contracts” remains common. However, over time, these folders accumulate more documents, which include contracts, drafts, exhibits, and contract amendments.

Although this method might seem efficient and organized in the beginning, it becomes extremely challenging to maintain and manage these folders as the number of documents increases.

The process of searching within these folders resembles searching for a document within a stack of files.

Microsoft Teams can help legal departments make contract work more organized. This can be achieved by not relying on a single repository, but instead, creating individual channels for specific contract work involving individual clients or contract projects.

This means that each channel can be used to store all relevant information related to specific contract work. This method of organizing contract work can help administrators and attorneys avoid having to access multiple systems to get an overview of the contract.

Why Should Legal Teams Create Matter-Specific “Command Channels”?

We can think of a Teams channel like a command center for a specific contract matter. Instead of opening multiple apps to view documents, calendars, and task lists, legal professionals can view everything in one place.

At the top of the channel, we can add tabs that provide a quick view of what we need. For example, one tab can display the contract document stored in SharePoint. Another tab can display the client calendar with important dates and milestones.

A third tab can display Microsoft Planner to view and assign tasks. This simple setup can provide a one-stop view of contract work. Contract administrators can quickly open the channel and view the document, calendar, and tasks.

In this way, communication is also better organized within the channel environment. Rather than sending several emails to clarify several issues, it is possible to send quick questions within the channel conversation thread.

In this way, the channel is no longer just a communication space. It is also a knowledge repository that stores the rationale behind important contract decisions.

How Can Legal Teams Replace Static Spreadsheets with Smart Tracking?

Legal teams can use spreadsheets to track contracts. Even though spreadsheets can be useful tools, they can be problematic because they rely on manual updates. When documents change location, the links break.

This is problematic because attorneys trying to locate the latest version of the contract can easily get confused.

Microsoft Lists is a much more effective way to track contract data within the Teams environment. Rather than using static spreadsheets, legal teams can design live contract indexes.

Each entry in the Microsoft List can be used to represent a contract or a document. The list can store important information like the file name, document link, and creation dates. The contract administrator can include other important information like who sent the document, the Bates number, or whether the document is responsive.

This list structure can be used to create a searchable list of contracts.

Lawyers can search for specific documents based on certain criteria like client name, contract type, or review status. Instead of searching through many folders, they can find the document they need.

How Can Teams Eliminate Version Confusion During Contract Negotiations?

Version confusion remains one of the most common problems during contract negotiations. Lawyers still use email to send and receive documents. A document is sent, edited, and resent many times during the contract negotiation process.

With more and more changes, different versions of the same contract start appearing in different inboxes.

However, it becomes difficult to know which version of the contract is the latest.

Microsoft Teams can help resolve this issue by facilitating real-time co-authoring. A lawyer can open the contract within Microsoft Teams and start editing it in real-time. This eliminates the creation of duplicate files.

All the changes made to the document will automatically be saved in the document’s version history. If needed, the team can go back to previous versions and know when the specific changes were made.

This eliminates the need to constantly send the contract through email.

For legal teams that still rely heavily on email communication, it can also help to review practical workflows for managing contract negotiations directly from Outlook.

Many contract teams already use Outlook as their primary workspace, and structured approaches to Microsoft Outlook workflows for legal professionals managing contract negotiations can complement Teams-based collaboration. 

Negotiations can also be conducted within Microsoft Teams. The emails sent by the other party can be forwarded to the relevant channel. This ensures that the entire negotiation process remains connected to the contract document.

How Secure is the Data in the Microsoft Teams Contracts?

Security is one of the biggest concerns for legal professionals working with contracts. Clients expect the law firms and the legal departments to maintain the strictest standards of confidentiality.

Microsoft 365 offers many security features to ensure the confidentiality and security of the data. One such feature is the ability to set detailed permissions to ensure that only the right people can access the contracts.

In cases where the contracts are extremely confidential, Microsoft 365 also supports the feature of Double Key Encryption. This security model involves the use of two different keys to ensure the security of the data.

One key is with the organization, and the other is with Microsoft. This way, even Microsoft is unable to access the data in the encrypted documents.

This is extremely useful for law firms working with high-value contracts.

How Can Legal Teams Turn Contract Efficiency into Business Value?

This is where legal departments can benefit by bringing their contracts into Microsoft Teams. Documents, communication, tasks, and deadlines become connected in one place.

No longer do legal professionals have to deal with information scattered across different places. But more importantly, legal departments can leverage these efficiencies to move administrators from a role focused on operations into a more strategic role in the legal team.

If you are already a Microsoft 365 user, you are already presented with a great opportunity. Start by moving a single workflow into Microsoft Teams.

This can be as simple as moving a document indexing process, a deadline tracker, or internal communication into a Microsoft Teams channel. But while Microsoft Teams is a great tool, it is not a complete solution when it comes to contract management.

This is where Dock 365 CLM can help.

Dock 365 is a contract lifecycle management tool that is completely integrated into Microsoft 365 and SharePoint. This means legal departments can automate their contracts without ever having to leave their Microsoft 365 world.

Book a demo today and see how Dock 365 can make a difference in your Microsoft 365 world.

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