Thomson Reuters Announces Panoramic, A New Vision for the Way Law Firm Lawyers Work

Global News

27
Feb
2019

Editor

Thomson Reuters introduced a bold, new legal workflow solution that enables firms to plan, manage and execute legal matters with data-driven confidence.

A cloud-based system, Thomson Reuters Panoramic^TM is built on the strong foundation of Practical Law’s legal guidance and 3E’s market-leading financial management system to connect the front and back office of a law firm like never before.

According to Elisabet Hardy, vice president of Financial & Practice Management at Thomson Reuters, law firms are under increasing pressure to drive a high-quality client result predictably, consistently and transparently, all at a value that will win business.

“I visit law firms all the time and all are working through transformation — how they price, collaborate with clients, budget or manage work,” Hardy said. “But if you scratch a little bit below the surface, you realize that while firms are embarking on these transformations, lawyers are often struggling with how to become more effective, how to plan matters, how to budget against the work that they're competing for. At Thomson Reuters, innovation begins with a problem our customers are facing, and we knew we were uniquely positioned to help by providing a new vision for the way lawyers work.”

Thomson Reuters Panoramic connects the practice and business of law to enable firms to predict profitability and provide better service and unprecedented transparency to their clients. Panoramic is an intuitive, easy-to-use platform that allows lawyers to execute with confidence and deliver their best work faster with knowledge resources embedded into the workflow.

At the heart of Panoramic are dynamic Matter Maps, created and kept up to date by expert Practical Law attorney editors. These Matter Maps include the phases and underlying tasks needed to execute a specific legal matter, helpful not only in managing and doing the work, but also for understanding the matter and building budgets. Matter Maps in Panoramic contain a sophisticated logic system that guides users to the specific tasks relevant to the facts of their case and provides a common language between the front and back office so that a new matter is planned in a way that will drive positive results for the firm and client. In this way, Panoramic also helps partners and pricing directors achieve more informed and faster scoping and budgeting.

Panoramic also helps clients better manage legal matters. Once a matter is planned, it can be set in motion by assigning tasks to individuals, and detailed dashboards provide visibility into progress and budget.

“Because of its connection with 3E, Panoramic can pair the granularity provided in its Matter Maps with real-time actuals, providing up-to-the-minute status on how a matter is progressing down to the task level,” said Hardy. “These are actionable insights, and no other service can do this.”

For Lawyers by Lawyers

“Last year at Thomson Reuters, we made a concerted effort to move decision-making closer to the customer and to serve customers better with our full suite of offerings,” said Brian Peccarelli, chief operating officer in charge of Customer Markets and head of the Legal Professionals segment. “Panoramic is a powerful proof point for what we can achieve when we partner closely with customers throughout a product build and draw broadly from our solutions and talent.”

Panoramic is the result of thousands of hours of customer research. The Panoramic team worked with law firm partners, senior associates, associates, CEOs and pricing directors, as well as innovation advisers from top firms. Two co-design partner firms were there for every step, and more than 100 users are now participating in betas. 

Adoption barriers, for example, were top of mind for law firm leaders in the position of implementing new solutions. Not only did Panoramic team members build an application that is lawyer-friendly, intuitive to use and as automated as possible, but they also developed a package of services for new customers that includes customization to ensure that the application fits the processes and procedures of the firm. These services include help from Thomson Reuters legal experts and Practical Law specialists to ensure that customers are able to use Panoramic as soon as they go live. 

One of the design partners is LeClairRyan, and its chief enterprise liaison, Christopher Lange, serves as a Panoramic innovation adviser. “For LeClairRyan, Panoramic provides a powerful tool to allow us to better understand each practice area, deliver an exceptional client product and manage it more efficiently, while also making it more profitable,” Lange said. 

“There is no other product that combines the top-of-class content and know-how in an integrated workflow platform that also connects the facts and the financials, from both a budget-to-actuals and historical perspective,” Hardy said.