October 16, 2017 –The name of the award says it all. Barnes & Thornburg was presented with the Legal Marketing Association’s 2017 Impact Award for Client Service and Delivery at the LMA Tech Midwest Conference in Chicago this month for its BT ValueWorks suite of client value solutions. The firm was recognized for a 2016 implementation of Prosperoware Umbria, the client value management technology selected to power BT ValueWorks.
BT ValueWorks exemplifies Barnes & Thornburg’s proactive leadership and its commitment to enhance client service by improving matter management and enabling fee predictability and real-time client communication through innovative technology. The firm’s director of pricing, Jared Applegate, and director of client service initiatives, Esther Bowers, identified the need to enhance client value and joined forces to innovate the firm’s delivery of legal services: the result was BT ValueWorks and the adoption of Umbria.
BT ValueWorks is the firm’s proprietary suite of pricing, process and technology solutions that brings greater value, efficiency and predictability to the delivery of legal services. Umbria is the enterprise class solution that unifies data from key data repositories (such as finance, marketing and knowledge management) and creates a business data engine to transform planning, monitoring and billing of matters.
As a result, Umbria is making matter management information actionable and consumable, ensuring the firm delivers matters at the agreed price under any fee arrangement, and equips partners to communicate information quickly to clients – resulting in improved client service and value and ultimately a “no surprises” experience for clients.
“BT ValueWorks touches all aspects of client engagement by enhancing our ability to offer predictable pricing, delivering value at a competitive level, and focusing as an institution on growing client relationships,” said Allen Chichester, chief marketing officer of Barnes & Thornburg. “The early wins have resulted in a momentum shift via the adoption of fundamental legal project management principles and the use of Umbria by our attorneys. We expect that within five years, the attorneys will see this initiative as the single biggest factor in the firm’s ongoing success.”
Keith Lipman, CEO of Prosperoware, adds, “Clients have changed what they value. We are thrilled to provide an innovative, value management solution that enables firms to give clients what they want while succeeding in a new model for profitability. Kudos to the excellent leadership at Barnes & Thornburg for implementing this initiative so successfully for the firm and its clients.”
About Barnes & Thornburg LLP
With more than 600 attorneys and other legal professionals, Barnes & Thornburg is one of the largest law firms in the country. The firm serves clients worldwide from 13 offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Delaware, Indiana, Los Angeles, Michigan, Minneapolis, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit us online at www.btlaw.com or on Twitter @BTLawNews.
