McKenzie Lake Lawyers Enhances Productivity and Client Service with Word LX™ Enterprise

Making the Case for Word LX Enterprise

Prior to implementing Word LX Enterprise (Word LX hereafter), McKenzie Lake was evaluating its document creation processes and the applications they had in place to support them. The firm was using a number of macros they developed in-house to automate the creation of letters, memos and printing functions but they had to be frequently updated to support changes to printers and firm personnel. Laurie Hause, CIO and Director of Marketing at McKenzie Lake noted that “the macros were working but they were difficult to maintain, and they did not support integration with Outlook or have more advanced features we were interested in.”

Document creation processes also varied across the firm and documents were being produced with different formats. They wanted document creation to be faster and easier and they knew that standardizing and streamlining the production of their letters and memos would allow them to achieve this. These efficiency improvements would also provide client service enhancements which were extremely important to the firm.

Word LX Provided the Answers

Laurie Hause came to McKenzie Lake from a firm that was using Word LX and had seen first-hand how it enables document creation and workflow processes to be streamlined in a law firm environment while also providing significant time savings for staff and lawyers.

“I was familiar with Word LX and was impressed with its automation features, and legal specific formatting tools. Because of its ease of use and how well the solution had been adopted, I was confident we could get the same results here.” Important factors in the decision to go with Word LX were its ease of use, and the training and support provided by Infoware.

Automating Document Creation

One of the main goals with implementing Word LX at McKenzie Lake was to unify document creation and improve collaboration across the firm. Deborah Forgie, Corporate Trainer and Application Specialist indicated that, “the key to improving efficiency and accuracy was to standardize routine and repetitive document creation tasks. We wanted the ability for anyone in our organization to sit down and create a standard letter or memo for any member of our firm with ease.”

The automated and firm-branded templates for letters, memos, faxes, envelopes, and letters that are accessible from the template management feature in Word LX provided McKenzie Lake with exactly what they were looking for. With Author information stored in the system, assistants can draft correspondence on behalf of any lawyer in the firm.

Integration with Outlook and other automation features allow Author information and client contact details to be inserted into documents automatically which provides significant time savings, ensures accuracy, and improves the consistency of the firm’s documents.

“The standardized formatting and automation provided by Word LX facilitates the quick production of documents and leaves the professionals free to focus on the legal content of their documents – not the mechanics of making a document”, says Hause.

Today, Word LX is being used for much more than letters and memos. The firm has over 60 other forms and precedents available through Word LX, which are organized by practice area and functional department. This allows for centralized access of the firm’s documents, and also reduces version control issues.

Time Savings Multiplied with MultiPrint

A wide range of other time saving features and tools in Word LX have made it an invaluable application for McKenzie Lake. MultiPrint simplifies print workflows and document finishing by allowing users to print multiple copies of a document to different paper types simultaneously. This eliminates having to go to Word’s page setup command and change paper sources each time.

Additional print options also allow users to insert draft and file copy stamps to specific documents. MultiPrint can also harvest contact information from a letter to automatically generate and print envelopes and address labels eliminating the need to create these files separately.

MultiPrint routes all print jobs to the appropriate printers and paper trays automatically to streamline the entire print process. Multiprint also allows users to “print” a document as a PDF and then automatically saves it to Primafact™, a solution they use for document storage. This effectively skips an entire step and makes the process extremely easy without any effort.

Enhancing Client Service Through Technology Competency

McKenzie Lake is a highly progressive firm and has made significant investments to ensure its staff and lawyers have the skills and tools necessary to provide efficient service to clients. As the first Canadian law firm to achieve LTC4 certification, McKenzie Lake has created a comprehensive learning management system that supports LTC4’s competency-based approach to training and skills development. As a central component of the firm’s document creation process, they have developed training modules for Word LX that support and align with LTC4 Core Competencies. Recognizing the importance of technology skills training, Infoware, is an LTC4 vendor member and is adapting its training programs to support the movement to promote greater technology competency across the legal services industry.

Word LX and the Future

Word LX has greatly enhanced productivity and helped the firm standardize its documents and document creation processes and it will continue to be utilized for the foreseeable future. As Laurie Hause indicates, “Word LX is a solid product that is tried, tested and true. It provides the tools necessary for our lawyers and staff to provide high quality work while focusing their attention on their client’s needs.” As technology changes the firm is ready to adapt to ensure they are providing the best possible services to their clients.