The Matter At Hand: The Challenges and Benefits Behind Adopting a Better Matter Management System

Lauren Burnside |

Why streamlined matter management is essential to automated, centralized, and optimized operations in 2025 and beyond.

There are two key challenges when it comes to manual or outdated matter management:

  1. Lack of standardized processes
  2. Inefficient systems for managing outside counsel

There is also often an issue of lack of functionality due to over-customization or pain points around usability and content management. All of these, layered with an overall lack of visibility, have single-handedly contributed to more missed deadlines, missing documentation, and unnecessary costs than anything else. On top of that, where there’s a lack of predictability and control over legal spend, there’s also creeping outside counsel costs and blown budgets.

These two key challenges lead to a domino effect that impacts your team’s available time and budget.

The solution? A streamlined matter management system.

The Case for A More Streamlined Matter Management System

Time is the most valuable commodity for legal professionals. However, the bulk of their hours are consumed by administrative tasks, such as document management, time tracking, and other housekeeping activities that, while necessary, do not directly contribute to the company’s bottom line.

The sheer volume of new matters that legal teams must handle each year adds to the challenge. With thousands of new cases flooding in, coupled with ever-increasing regulatory requirements and scrutiny, the pressure to perform efficiently has never been greater. While most legal teams have some tools to manage matter, spend, and billing, they’re often still relying on disjointed, disconnected or complicated systems that are no longer sustainable. They result in inefficiencies, errors, and missed opportunities, all of which can have significant financial and reputational consequences.

To combat these challenges, forward-thinking legal teams are turning to integrated legal technology as the solution. The key to maintaining competitiveness and delivering high-quality legal services lies in the strategic implementation of streamlined matter management systems. These systems are designed to automate repetitive tasks, optimize workflows, and centralize all matter-related information into a single, accessible platform.

Automation, Optimization, and Centralization: Building the Ultimate Matter Management System

Luckily for us, there is matter management software that consists of the three core elements to any successful operations strategy: automation, optimization, and centralization.

Integrating these three pillars into a cohesive matter management strategy will create strong ROI for your business in several key ways:

  1. Time — Automation can drastically reduce the time spent on routine tasks such as opening new matters, document drafting, scheduling, and compliance tracking. This not only frees up lawyers to focus on more complex and strategic work but also minimizes the risk of human error.
  2. Flexibility — Optimization ensures that workflows are not just efficient but also adaptable to the unique needs of each matter.
  3. Accessibility — Centralization, on the other hand, brings all relevant information—documents, communications, deadlines—into one place, making it easier for legal teams to collaborate, track progress, and maintain consistency across matters.
  4. Risk and Liability — An effective matter management system helps understand and report risks and liabilities globally.
  5. Spend Management — The ability to effortlessly track legal spend also ensures money is spent wisely.
  6. Provider Management — Secure the effectiveness of the roster of law firms and vendors.

In fact, we found that the ROI of a matter management solution ranges from 7-10X over three years for teams who do it right.

This not only improves the firm’s financial performance but also ensures that legal professionals can spend more time on what truly matters—delivering exceptional value to their clients.

The ROI of Matter Management Software

Leveraging Matter Management Data for Meaningful Business Decisions

As legal teams streamline their matter management processes through automation, optimization, and centralization, they also unlock a wealth of valuable data that can drive meaningful business decisions. This data, gathered from every aspect of legal operations — from time spent on tasks to the success rates of specific strategies — offers critical insights into performance, efficiency, and areas for improvement.

Strategic use of matter management data can reveal patterns, forecast trends, and ultimately, empower legal teams to make data-driven decisions that enhance client satisfaction, reduce costs, and increase profitability. In this way, matter management evolves from a mere operational necessity into a powerful tool for business growth and competitive advantage.

Learn more from real matter management software users in our on-demand webinar, “What’s the Matter? Expert Tips for Driving Seamless Matter Management.” Our experts reveal how they keep up with the thousands of new matters annually (alongside increased regulatory activity and scrutiny), by prioritizing the automation, optimization, and centralization of legal work into a strategic legal tech toolbox.

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More Assets You May Enjoy:

  1. What is Matter Management?
  2. Leveraging Outside Counsel Data: Moving Beyond Collection to Action
  3. 7 Ways MBR Optimizes Your Legal Spend (And Time!)

Our focus? On your success.

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