We will be adding this as a resource to our website in the future, but for now here's a re-cap of all our considerations for evaluating Conflicts Software:
1.
Procedure & Technology Survey
a.
Look at the conflicts procedure from
start to finish with a question in the back of your head: "Is this the
best use of our resources?"
b.
Determine which format of conflicts
software is right for your firm:
i. Legal
Practice Management
ii. Stand
Alone
iii. Spreadsheet
iv. Word
Processing
c.
Create a list of questions for your software
vendors:
i. What
type of platform is needed?
ii. Tell
me about upgrades:
1.
Frequency?
2.
Required?
3.
Additional Cost?
2.
Inputs & Outputs
a.
Consider what type and where information is coming
from as it goes into your conflicts system.
b.
Consider what type and where information is
going to as it leaves your conflicts system.
c.
Consider WHO is on the giving and receiving ends
of your conflicts system, and what preferences they may have.
d.
Scanning questions:
i. Pleadings
naming multiple opposing counsel & firm titles into the database?
ii. Able
to scan (and store) Conflicts of Interest documents:
1.
Waiver Letters
2.
Engagement Letters
3.
Declined Representation Letters
e.
Questions about Reports:
i. What
varieties of reports are available?
ii. Can
they be customized?
1.
Self customized?
2.
Required additional consulting?
3.
Competency Requirements
a.
What level of competency is required?
i. Will
we need to understand programming or anything technical?
b.
In what timeframe can we expect to be trained
and ready to work?
i. Learning
curve after training?
c.
How frequently will we require education?
i. Required
or available upgrade training?
d.
Are there seminars?
e.
Is the education virtual, or is classroom
attendance required?
i. Do
we need to budget for travel arrangements?
f.
CLE credits available for attending training?
i. If
yes – this increases the value of the training.
4.
Integration Questions
a.
How does it interact with our inputs/outputs (if
looking at a stand-alone product).
b.
Does it integrate with research engine databases
and 3rd party sources that the firm uses?
i. D&B
ii. Westlaw
iii. LexisNexis
iv. Capital
IQ
v. Bureau
van Dijk
c.
Does it integrate with with OFAC?
i. US
Treasury Department Office of Foreign Asset Control
d.
Does it provide global conversion of existing
data?
e.
How long will it take to convert our data?
5.
Intake Forms & Conflicts-Centric needs
a.
Is your intake form online or does it need to be
fed manually?
b.
Can we revise our own intake forms?
i. If
not, will there be consulting fees to make revisions?
c.
Are ethics walls stored?
d.
Are Conflict of Interest Waiver Letters stored?
e.
Do you have a thesaurus feature?
f.
Can we add aliases?
i. How
many? (optimal answer: unlimited)
g.
Do you have soundex or phonetic searches?
h.
Can we manually select/deselect content before
publishing the report?
Again - this list was pulled from Sandra Roberts' book: "Creating Conflicts of Interest Procedures for Protecting You and Your Firm from Malpractice" - with a few additions of our own. If you're interested we found our copy on
Amazon.
Cori Blackburn