In 2021, as part of our Legal Ops Accelerate series, in partnership with Legal Operators, we presented a webinar called Innovating Legal Operations with Applied AI. The session featured a senior legal operations professional talking with our Senior Director of Product Management, Jeffrey Solomon, about how to use artificial intelligence (AI) technology for added efficiency, decision support, and improved billing results.
AI technology is being used by companies across industries to drive value and improve outcomes. In many areas of the legal function, AI is able to process data and find patterns almost instantly when humans would have to spend hours to accomplish the same tasks. When paired with human expertise and judgment, the consistency and efficiency of AI can deliver improved results that help legal and claims departments drive costs down while increasing billing compliance and productivity. Our session included real-world advice on successfully using AI to improve legal operations processes in the following areas.
PDF invoice conversion
Because our webinar guest regularly works with a large number of law firms representing the full spectrum of size and technological sophistication, the insurance company they work for frequently receives legal invoices in PDF format, as opposed to the standard LEDES format used by enterprise legal platforms, including TyMetrix 360°. Although they are not submitted via an e-billing solution, these invoices must still be reviewed to ensure that they reflect agreed-upon rates and work practices and meet the client’s billing guidelines.
Our guest partnered with ELM Solutions to leverage the Intelligent Invoice Conversion solution, which uses AI – checked by human billing experts – to convert these bills into LEDES files that are then processed through TyMetrix 360°. This allows the company’s team to review these invoices via their standard electronic process, rather than manually creating a spreadsheet to check the math and referring back to guidelines in a separate document, etc. It also means that all of their bills are included in the reports they generate, increasing the confidence they can have in the decisions they make based on that reporting.
Outside counsel assignment
The company where our guest works employs about 1,200 claims professionals in the United States, most of whom hire external law firms frequently. The company has an obligation to its customers to ensure that they hire the best counsel, but deciding which form is best for each individual case isn’t a simple prospect. They need to weigh factors such as rates, area of expertise, jurisdiction, etc. when making a counsel assignment decision. With the added pressure of needing to move quickly, claims handlers have historically had to rely on anecdotal evidence and their instincts when making these decisions. The team is very good at it, but the company recognized that with better tools at their disposal, they could be even better.
The TyMetrix 360° Predictive Insights module is the tool they have chosen. In fact, they have partnered with ELM Solutions to be a part of the creation of the module, helping to ensure that it serves the needs of their team. The module uses AI to compare the current case to similar historical cases, looking at the relevant data points and ranking the approved firms that are most likely to reach a favorable outcome, according to the company’s specific priorities. The final decision, of course, remains with the claims professional. But they can now make a more confident, data-driven decision.
Invoice review
The company’s goal with all of their outside counsel billing is not necessarily to achieve savings but to pay the correct amount. This can be a challenge because the people responsible for billing on the law firm side can make mistakes just like anyone else. Invoice review is meant to catch these mistakes and ensure that the final amount paid is accurate and fair according to the company’s billing guidelines. But when people conduct invoice review, they are not always consistent. Bill review is exacting work that people perform better earlier in the day than later and better on larger line items than smaller.
However, AI isn’t subject to the same variations that people are. It runs a deep data analysis very quickly and thoroughly, no matter the time of day or the cost of the line item. This makes it a powerful tool for human reviewers, who still make the decisions about adjustments. They do even better at that task when the patented LegalVIEW® BillAnalyzer AI engine flags the line items most in need of their attention, helping them to complete their reviews more quickly and successfully.
Watch the full session to hear about the real-world impact AI is having on legal operations. Also, be sure to check out our Legal Ops Accelerate page for details of additional on-demand and upcoming sessions with our experts, industry leaders, and your legal ops peers, who provide their perspectives on the approaches you can use to improve your legal operations.
