Maximizing Legal Productivity: M365 Copilot and Litera’s Collaborative Future
The partnership between Litera and Microsoft has long been a beacon of innovation, aiming to streamline legal workflows and empower professionals with cutting-edge tools. This collaboration has recently taken an innovative leap forward with Litera and Microsoft extending their collaboration to bring new tools and intelligent experiences to the legal industry.
Litera has been selected as one of an exclusive group of Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) across industries to partner with Microsoft and amplify the impact of Copilot and Microsoft 365.
Let’s delve into the intricacies of this collaboration and explore how it promises to revolutionize the legal landscape.
A Symbiotic Relationship: Litera and Microsoft
For almost thirty years, Litera and Microsoft have cultivated a symbiotic relationship focused on enhancing Word and Outlook for legal professionals. This collaboration has thrived on mutual exchange, with Litera advocating for the needs of law firm customers and Microsoft incorporating feedback into its product development cycle. The result? A suite of tools tailored to the unique challenges faced by legal professionals, designed to boost productivity and streamline workflows.
Unlocking the Potential of M365 Copilot
The introduction of M365 Copilot brings a myriad of benefits to law firms. From automating meeting recaps to streamlining email management, Copilot promises to revolutionize collaboration and enhance efficiency. In fact, according to their early access program, 71% saved time on mundane tasks, while 64% spent less time processing emails. Moreover, upcoming features such as calendar management signify a step towards seamless integration with existing workflows, further amplifying its utility in legal practice.
Navigating the Roadblocks to Adoption
Despite its potential, the adoption of M365 Copilot in the legal industry faces several obstacles. From resistance to cloud migration to the slow adoption of add-ins in M365, the path is not without its challenges. However, Microsoft is committed to addressing these concerns head-on, offering compatibility with older versions of Outlook and developing plugins to enhance extensibility beyond the Microsoft Graph framework.
Transitioning to Office Add-Ins
As the legal landscape evolves, so too must the tools that support it. For over two decades, Litera has offered a suite of drafting applications that have been instrumental in providing significant value to law firms, empowering both lawyers and support staff alike to deliver high quality documents and mitigate reputational risk, all while reducing time spent in manual tasks.
Today, Litera’s drafting tools are predominantly VSTO/COM add-ins within firms’ Microsoft Word and Outlook instances. These applications are accessible for Office desktop on Windows with Contract Companion, Litera Compare Server, and Metadact Server having Office 365 web apps available today as extensions of the core desktop app. These apps allow users to use these applications on non-Windows machines (iPads, Macs, etc.).
During 2024, we are transforming Litera’s Drafting tools into cloud-enabled Office Add-ins, thoughtfully designed around lawyer workflows and meeting lawyers where they work the most, in Microsoft Word and Outlook. The transformed tools will provide a workflow-based experience that’s available across any internet-connected device.
This transformation will not only enhance the current user experience for our Drafting tools, but will enable a scalable, secure, and collaborative experience that delights end users and lightens IT loads, all while allowing Litera to infuse innovative technologies, such as GenAI, in the workflows that make the most impact.
Looking Towards the Future
The future of document drafting is poised for a significant evolution. In addition to the ongoing transformation of our Drafting tools, Litera is also evolving its technology to integrate with Copilot for Microsoft 365, leveraging over a decade of experience with AI legal technology to ensure a smooth integration between Litera and Microsoft. As such, legal professionals can leverage drafting workflows within the M365 Copilot plug-in ecosystem.
By harnessing the power of M365 Copilot and Litera, law firms can streamline their workflows, enhance collaboration, and unlock new opportunities for growth. To learn more, you can watch our on-demand webinar “M365 Copilot and Litera’s Tools: Separate Strengths, Shared Future” here.
