Higher-Quality Legal Briefs Written 65% Faster—The Vivian Williams Case Study

The Challenge of Workflow Efficiency

Vivian Williams, P.C. is a general service New York law firm founded in 2004. The firm’s practice areas include Real Estate, Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, Criminal Defense, Civil Litigation and Immigration.

Litigators often work in a world of chaos and we need simple tools that bring order to this world. Lexis^® for Microsoft^® Office does that for our firm because it enables us to work in a systematic way without the distraction of interruption and helps us bring all of those pieces into clear view, said Williams

As the Principal of a boutique litigation firm, Mr. Vivian Williams is always seeking to maximize efficiencies and find ways to do more work with fewer staff resources. That is why he was particularly aggravated by a major inefficiency in his daily workflow: the requirement of working in multiple windows while composing briefs and pleadings.

“One of the nagging workflow challenges that I found very frustrating was the need to toggle back and forth between multiple open windows on my desktop while composing briefs, pleadings, motions and other litigation documents,” said Williams. “I’d start drafting a brief in one window, switch over to another window to track down some legal research, click into another one in order to pull up and email, and so on.”

He found the constant interruption of workflow to be highly inefficient and discussed his frustration with a LexisNexis^® representative.

Saving Time with Lexis for Microsoft Office

Williams’ LexisNexis representative demonstrated Lexis for Microsoft Office, an exclusive offering from LexisNexis that leverages the seamless integration of LexisNexis legal research content and the open Web with Microsoft Office applications attorneys use every day.

Lexis for Microsoft Office has proven to be a terrific tool for our firm because it works seamlessly in the same workflow that a litigator works every day. It brings together all of the elements of my work product into one integrated window on my computer.

Vivian M. Williams, Esq., Principal, Vivian M. Williams & Associates

“As soon as I saw the demo, I realized immediately the tremendous possibilities this new offering would afford us to improve our workflow efficiencies,” said Williams.

Williams identified three specific benefits that his firm has realized:

Timesavings
“By using Lexis for Microsoft Office, we’ve been able to reduce the time required to prepare
a typical brief in our office by approximately 65%,” said Williams. He attributes this amazing result to the way that Lexis for Microsoft Office streamlines the workflow and reduces interruptions while a professional is working on a document.

Quality of Work
Williams estimates that the strength of his work product has been improved by 50% in quality since adopting the Lexis for Microsoft Office platform. “The reason for this improvement in quality is simple: the software allows me to think more clearly and communicate my thoughts more effectively because it’s organized in a way that maps right along with my workflow,” he said.

Reduced Stress
“We’ve discovered that Lexis for Microsoft Office helps to reduce stress and anxiety levels in our office because it stimulates us to do better work and—in the process—makes us more productive, efficient and organized,” said Williams.

“Since we acquired Lexis for Microsoft Office it has proven to be a terrific tool for our firm because it works seamlessly in the same workflow that a litigator works in every day,” said Williams. “It brings together all of the elements of my work product into one integrated window on my computer.”

To read more about how and why Vivian Williams P.C. adopted Lexis for Microsoft Office, download the full case study (PDF)