What is CLM, MM or ELM? Exploring in house legal software can feel like alphabet soup. Find out what these mean, the benefits and which is right for you.
As legal operations software continues to evolve and innovate, the offerings available to in-house legal teams grows at rapid speed.
So do the acronyms – CLM, MM and ELM among them. What exactly is CLM, MM and ELM? What do these mean, and how do you know which is the best for your in-house Legal Department? We answer the hard questions below!
A legal CLM software stands for Contract Lifecycle Management. A CLM software solution handles your most common type of work - the contract lifecycle.
Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) refers to the process of digitizing, automating and managing contracts through every stage. The contracting process includes:
This could include agreements made with your customers, partners, vendors or employees. The aim is to achieve greater efficiency and collaboration.
The Association of Corporate Counsel benchmarks estimate that the average in-house lawyer handles 173 contracts each year – more than three a week. Indeed, 97% of Legal Departments handle contracts in-house, surpassing all other work types tracked by the ACC, including:
Given this workload and concentration, it stands to reason that a CLM is often a Legal Department’s first foray into LegalTech. According to the ACC, 41.3% of in-house legal teams have adopted CLM systems, exceeding every other technology category except for electronic signatures.
Furthermore, according to research by Forrester, inefficient or manual contract agreement processes create problems for 98% of organizations. Hence an efficient, effective and modern contract management system is important in helping businesses save time, money and minimize risk.
There are many benefits a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) software solution can bring to your in-house Legal Department including:
Contracts may be a cornerstone of a Legal Department’s work, but they are far from the entirety of an in-house lawyer’s workload. For that, it’s time to think more broadly and consider an in house legal software.
MM stands for Matter Management. A matter management software is legal technology that handles ALL types of legal work.
A Matter Management (MM) software solution covers the matter lifecycle of any type of corporate legal project, including contracts but also enveloping litigation, transactions, compliance and more.
A modern matter management system provides one central, cloud based legal software that tracks all work for a Legal Department. This legal matter management system focuses on the four primary steps of a legal project, as outlined by the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium:
As milestones, these four steps are critical. But it’s what lies between them – and the interplay among them – that can truly transform Legal Department service, performance, results and more.
A legal management software provides a single source of truth for all legal matters. It can help your Legal Department to:
ELM stands for Enterprise Legal Management. An ELM software solution handles all aspects of the Legal Department. It helps manage a team's legal operations.
Enterprise Legal Management software (ELM) addresses the entire ecosystem of a Legal Department. While Contract Lifecycle Management and Matter Management tools address finite pieces of the Legal Department, an Enterprise Legal Management solution aims to encompass the entire puzzle.
The best Enterprise Legal Management software solutions provide a single legal-centric system to manage a legal team's:
Beyond simply tracking these subjects, an ELM solution offers powerful analytics and reporting capabilities. This allows true knowledge management and offers in-house users opportunities to spot trends, identify and eliminate risks, and demonstrate the Legal Department’s monetary and strategic value to the C-suite and board.
Some of the benefits of an Enterprise Legal Management solution include:
However, ELM software can be complex and difficult to use and expensive.
As you explore in-house legal department technology offerings, know that all three types of tools – CLM, matter management and ELM software – can provide meaningful benefits within your in-house team. What’s critical is to understand which in house legal management software tool is right for your specific needs and circumstances. Your Legal Department need not go from zero to 100 by transitioning from spreadsheets to a complex enterprise legal management solution - a modern matter management system that captures some of the ELM tools you need may lead to a smoother adoption, while still managing your workload and providing critical intel via real-time data analytics and reporting.
You can certainly start with one piece of the proverbial puzzle. Just take caution to plan accordingly with a legal technology roadmap so that as you add additional elements, everything fits together. By taking the time to assess your Legal Department’s goals and priorities – and your users’ attitudes and aptitudes – you can ensure you have the right in house legal software in place for the right reasons.
Where Legal Departments stumble navigating the alphabet soup of CLM, MM and ELM is in the capricious purchase of a legal operations software that sounds great – but doesn’t quite fit your needs. It's worth the time to make sure any LegalTech purchase is purposeful. On the march to improve your legal process, productivity and impact, one acronym covers them all: ASAP.
Tip: If you're on the hunt for new LegalTech software, check out our blogs: Evaluating LegalTech tips and Does your legal technology match your business needs to help you along your journey.
Download our modern matter management for corporate legal departments eBook now to learn more. This eBook outlines:
Download the Modern Matter Management eBook now >
To learn more about our matter management software, speak to the Xakia team today for a demo.
The Xakia legal matter management software connects in-house legal teams with business clients to maximize strategic impact and demonstrate legal...
Having the right legal matter management software in place helps create and retain productive and functional teams. Get the Modern Matter Management...
Matters are the building blocks of legal matter management, but what counts? Find out how to define your matters, what to track...and why your...