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Law firms with a mass torts practice must make a pivotal decision at some point: either build an in-house mass tort litigation support services team or outsource their litigation support needs to a third-party partner. When deciding how to proceed, these firms must weigh various factors, including the cost of doing everything in-house versus outsourcing, and whether the firm believes it can perform those services better than a third-party partner.
If a mass torts firm decides to outsource litigation support services to a third party, here are three key advantages they’ll enjoy.
Access to cutting-edge technology
Choosing to outsource mass tort litigation support services gives mass tort law firms access to cutting-edge, flexible technology solutions. These solutions provide firms with portfolio management capabilities they would be hard-pressed to find through “off-the-shelf” software or recreate on their own through custom solutions.
For example, third-party partners can provide powerful, customizable software solutions, including client relationship management (CRM) platforms and claim management systems. CRM platforms help firms stay on top of client relationships, so their clients don’t feel like they’ve been left in the dark, causing them to not respond to the firm’s communications regarding their claims, or worse, causing them to seek a new law firm to handle their mass tort claim. Firms that use CRM platforms can also efficiently gather information for clients’ cases and easily see which clients haven’t responded to the firm’s communications or haven’t submitted requested documents.
Third-party partners’ claim management systems give firms a global view of their mass tort cases, offering analytics that can provide insights into several areas, such as the viability of prospective and current clients’ cases, which clients have the strongest cases, and the overall strength of a firm’s portfolio of cases.
Finally, while third-party partners’ software solutions are often at the forefront of cybersecurity standards, most law firms’ systems are not. This leaves them vulnerable to data breaches or other acts of cyberterrorism.
Support from highly qualified specialists
By outsourcing litigation support services to third-party partners, mass tort law firms can immediately access highly qualified specialists regarding all aspects of mass tort litigation support.
These partners’ employees gain considerable experience and expertise by focusing on specific support services and educating themselves on best practices. Partners’ employees also gain unique insights by working with multiple law firms, allowing them to see which strategies and tactics work for particular firms and which ones do not. They can then apply that knowledge to all the firms they work with.
Specialists working for third-party partners also can focus on their core responsibilities—serving their clients’ mass tort litigation support needs. Compare that to staff members at a mass tort firm who are likely busy juggling multiple responsibilities and will not have the benefit of living and breathing mass tort litigation support each day.
Benefitting from partners’ expertise and efficiencies
Finally, when mass tort law firms work with third-party partners, they benefit from those partners’ expertise and efficiencies at a high-level beyond what those partners’ employees bring to the table.
To stay viable, these partners must invest in creating high-quality processes, procedures, and systems that allow them to simultaneously serve many mass tort firms and their hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of claimants—at a reasonable price. These processes, procedures, and systems reflect the lessons these partners have learned over the time they’ve been in business. Mass tort firms that outsource their litigation support services to these partners benefit from their economies of scale instead of making the substantial investment to build these support services themselves.
Additionally, when they use third-party partners, mass tort firms can control the pace with which they grow their mass tort practice. If they instead build in-house support services, they may feel the need to justify that investment by ramping up their mass torts practice quickly without having the people, processes, procedures, and systems in place to support those efforts. This could lead to less-than-stellar results, an unprofitable venture, and worst of all, unhappy clients who want to share their unhappiness with their family and friends and in online reviews.
The value of outside support
Law firms that have previously launched and grown legal practices by using in-house resources might think they can easily do the same with a mass torts practice. A miniscule number of firms that have a huge war chest thanks to previous recoveries or litigation funding might be able to pull it off.
But most firms will not be able to because mass torts are entirely different when compared to single-event personal injury cases and even class actions.
Every law firm with a mass torts practice will have to decide for itself whether working with an outside partner for mass tort litigation support services is the right move. If one does, it will unlock many advantages, with the three we describe above leading the way.
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Interested in learning more about how Verus can assist your law firm with mass tort litigation support services? Email us at info@verusllc.com or call us at 888.681.1129 to arrange an initial consultation.