Not all workflows are created equal, but prioritizing the right ones can cut costs while improving compliance and efficiency.
Technology options for legal teams are endless, and the application of technology can be daunting. As teams manage workloads, business goals and ad-hoc requests, technology must support the business without becoming a burden itself.
Workflow Automation Solutions, Like Mitratech TAP, streamline routine tasks, approvals and data integration – without the heavy lifting.
While “workflow” can take many forms – such as setting automated filters in your email, for example – not all workflows are created equal. Legal teams can benefit from implementing workflows designed to meet their need for security, permissions and integrations with existing tech they use daily (like matter management, e-billing and e-signature tools, Salesforce, Teams, Slack and more).
If your 2025 goals include setting up technology quickly, driving adoption and creating a few champions along the way, here are five workflows you should be implementing for immediate impact.
1. Commercial Legal Requests
A legal request portal or “front door” streamlines intake, tracking, triage, and self-service for sales-related legal requests.
Why Workflow? Quickly deploy pre-approved contracts like NDAs or legal FAQs, directing requests to workflows instead of your inbox. Improved visibility into status and assignees reduces deal cycle times and positions legal as a strategic partner, not a bottleneck.
What’s Inside: To drive adoption, this workflow can be embedded in email, intranet, Slackbot, or directly in Salesforce. Inside, logic dynamically routes requests based on department, amount, urgency, or other criteria. Integrations with eSignature routes pre-approved contracts without manual intervention.
TAP Tip: In your V1, include an “all other requests” option with an open text field. This helps track ad-hoc requests, which can later be analyzed for common patterns and automated in future workflows.
“The transition from email and paper to a self-service digital portal was seamless; it took 28 days for us to go live with the legal request portal that now contains 10 workflows for most common request types.” – Director, Legal Operations
2. Vendor Intake & Invoice Reviews
Each agreement require different levels of vetting—some need only department sign-off, while others require legal, IT, or security review before reaching finance. Regardless of complexity, routing all agreements through a workflow ensures they are stored in a central repository or integrated with vendor management systems. Plus, a structured process makes it easy to review, consolidate, and optimize investments by identifying overlapping services.
TAP Tip: The workflow doesn’t have to end with payment. Renewal or review reminders can be configured for dynamic time frames or specific dates, with notifications including key agreement details. This creates a proactive negotiation and renewal process.
“Adopting workflow automation got us closer to our internal corporate partners, so we understood their processes and their pain points. It created so much efficiency so quickly that Legal Ops looked like real innovators.” – Director, Legal Operations
3. Outside Counsel Conflict Waivers
Conflict waivers are the first step in establishing a successful relationship with a law firm. This process should be smooth and efficient, allowing both teams to begin work quickly.
Why Workflow? Ensure timely reviews and approvals, maintain compliance, and improve collaboration with law firms. Workflow captures necessary conflict details, routes them for approvals, and logs all actions for easy auditing.
TAP TIP: Choose a workflow technology that allows external parties to participate as users or submit forms anonymously. This streamlines adoption without adding costs or requiring time-consuming license setup.
“conflict waivers went from 35 days to 3.5 days—a time reduction of 85%. Not only did this decrease time spent, but also created better relationships with firms as they could start work in a week instead of a month later.” – Director, of Legal Operations
4. Trademark and IP Requests
Trademark, intellectual property, and patent requests are essential for protecting products, maintaining a competitive edge, and ensuring rights are upheld in the marketplace.
Why Workflow? Streamline approvals, filings, and renewals, ensuring efficiency.
While requestors complete an easy-to-use form, the data is sent to your matter management system for processing and storage.
What’s inside: Conditional logic can reroute or reject submissions if key steps—like a trademark search or asset creation—haven’t been completed, reducing back-and-forth. Collaboration features allow teams to refine and discuss requests without leaving the workflow.
5. Employee Onboarding
A seamless onboarding experience sets the tone for success. Onboarding workflows manage tasks outside of traditional HR functions, including hardware/software setup, policy acknowledgments, training, and role-specific activities.
Why Workflow? While HR handles core onboarding, legal can benefit from the automation, compliance, and potential cost-sharing that comes with inter-department workflows. Plus, a seamless onboarding for new legal team members means they can also hit the ground running.
TAP Tip: Set up parallel routing so IT, hiring managers, and others complete tasks simultaneously, so the process keeps moving.
“We had a paper onboarding form that all new employees had to fill out, sign, scan, and then submit. I had to approve, then print it out and scan it back in to send it to IT for a ticket. So, that’s the first process we put into TAP, and we had it in production within two days — it was that simple.” – Manager of Legal Operations
By automating these five processes, legal teams can achieve cost savings, compliance, and efficiency. They also drive user adoption through easy-to-use technology, strengthen cross-functional collaboration, and foster innovation in legal operations.