I. Introduction
In the rapidly evolving technology era, legal professionals are heavily seeking for innovative solutions that optimize their work productivity. Amidst this digital transformation, one such tool would navigate challenges in the legal sector is Jira, a versatile project management software developed by Atlassian. Originally designed for software development and agile project management teams, Jira’s adaptability has made it a robust platform for law firms and legal departments, helping them streamline their operations, manage and track cases, enhance collaboration, ensure efficiency in their daily tasks and stay organized in a fast-paced environment.
In this article, we will make general introduction on software Jira, its key features, and how it can optimize the daily legal operations to thrive in the digital age.
II. What is Jira? A General Overview and Key Features
Jira is a powerful and customizable tool that allows legal professionals to plan, manage, track, and collaborate on complex projects and tasks with teams in real time by providing features for issue tracking, project planning, workflow automation and management, by using existing workflow templates or creating their own. It is cost-effective, flexible, and scalable to all business types and sizes, can be tailored to fit the unique needs of any legal practice. With its ability to track deadlines, manage documents, and automate routine tasks, Jira helps lawyers focus on the substantive aspects of their work rather than getting overwhelmed with administrative details.
Jira is accessible as both a cloud-based and on premise (self-hosted) solutions, GDPR-compliant data handling, along with other compliance and security standards, to ensure that user data is managed securely. It operates on both desktop (Windows/Mac) and mobile apps (Android/iOS), making it a flexible choice for project and task management across different devices.
Below are general key features of Jira products which can be used by legal professionals in their daily operations:
- Management & Tracking: it enables legal teams to create, assign, and track tasks, cases, or documents through a customizable workflow efficiently such as tracking the progress of a case, deadlines, managing document submissions and approvals, or coordinating with external clients.
- Real-Time Collaboration: it enables legal professionals to effectively collaborate with their colleagues, clients, and external partners. The tool supports real-time communication, making it easier to discuss case details, share updates, and ensure everyone is on the same page.
- Cloud Storage: Store files and documents securely in the cloud, providing easy access and collaboration from any location, with possible integration with other cloud storage solutions like Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive for seamless document management, and collaboration.
- Audit Trails and Version Controls: Maintain comprehensive records of document changes and version histories, to ensure compliance and accountability.
- Permissions and Access Control: Manage user permissions to control access to sensitive legal information, ensuring that only authorized individuals can view or modify critical documents.
- Workflow Customization and Automation: Customize workflows to align with legal processes and automate routine tasks to enhance efficiency and reduce manual intervention.
- Customizability: it enables legal professionals to tailor, manage and automate their workflows, create specific project templates, and adapt the tool to suit and align with the particular needs of their practice.
- Reporting and Analytics: It offers various reporting tools and dashboards to help teams monitor progress, track performance, and make data-driven decisions.
Integration: it integrates with numerous other tools and platforms, such as CRM, Confluence, Trello, and various third-party apps, to enhance its functionality and streamline workflows.
III. What are the main Jira Products that would optimize the daily legal operations?
Jira applications collectively provide vital project management and collaboration tools that deems necessary for the legal professionals to utilize in the course of their daily operations through three main products, can be used separately or combined on the same site: Jira software, Jira Work Management (previously known as Jira Core), and Jira Service Management (Jira Service Desk):
Jira Software: it is ideal for managing and tracking multiple and complex legal tasks mostly used for project and issue tracking, such as case management and tracking, compliance and risk management, document review and management, legal project research and management. It is often used by technical teams in agile environments such as software developers, engineers, testing & assurance. Its flexibility and customization options has the potential to help legal teams manage intricate case details and collaborate effectively, improving overall case management and project efficiency. It provides:
- Agile Boards: Organize and prioritize tasks using Kanban or Scrum boards, providing a clear visual representation of multiple case statuses and project progress simultaneously.
- Backlog Management: Maintain a prioritized list of tasks, and track progress efficiently, such as setting up a backlog for contract review tasks, delegating priority levels to each task based on its urgency, deadlines, or value.
- Custom Issue Types: Create and manage custom issue types tailored to various aspects of legal work, such as case files, client requests, and court deadlines. For example, an issue (task) is opened for drafting a legal document, so you name the issue as “Create NDA for a new business partner” this categorize and manage tasks related to this created issue. Afterwards, you set up the custom fields (details) of this issue e.g. document type: NDA, draft status (stage), review status, due date, and finally customize the workflow suitable for this issue type reflecting the Contract Lifecycle Management.
Jira Work Management: it is frequently used for business project management by non-technical teams such as HR, marketing, finance, legal and operations. It helps legal professionals to efficiently organize and manage tasks and projects. It aids in organizing various legal projects, allowing legal teams to track tasks, deadlines, and progress with greater efficiency. It offers:
- Project Templates: Use existing templates designed for common legal processes to create and automate workflows, such as case management or contract reviews. For example, in legal case management, users can either use the templates available or create a one from a blank template tailored to the project/task by setting up the custom issue types: case files, legal documents, compliance tasks, client requests, whereby each custom issue is linked with the tailored workflow to tack progress, deadlines and statuses.
- Task Management & Tracking: Monitor and manage tasks and deadlines to ensure timely completion of legal work.
- Calendar Views: Visualize project timelines and due dates, helping legal professionals stay organized and manage workloads efficiently. For example, it provides a visual representation of tasks and deadlines through calendar layouts, allowing legal teams to easily track and manage due dates, appointments, and key milestones for case management, compliance tasks, and document reviews.
Jira Service Management: it is used for customer service and as an IT service helpdesk, designed to streamline service delivery, making it suitable for handling internal and external queries and support requests. It enhances client service by streamlining request management and ensuring that legal teams can meet client expectations and service agreements effectively. It caters:
- Request Management: Track and manage client requests and queries efficiently, ensuring timely responses and resolutions. An example, if a client requests an amendment to an MoU based on updated input, the request is tracked through an automated workflow with notifications and reminders to ensure timely updates and resolution.
- SLAs (Service Level Agreements): Set and monitor response times to ensure timely legal assistance, and enhance client satisfaction. For example, when a client requests an amendment to an MoU based on updated input, the SLA specifies the maximum time allowed for each stage of the request, and Jira Service Management tracks compliance with these deadlines, sending automatic reminders and alerts to ensure the request is resolved promptly.
- Knowledge Base: Maintain a repository of legal resources and FAQs, providing quick access to essential information and references. For instance, if a client requests an amendment to an MoU based on updated input, they can access a knowledge base article detailing the amendment process and required steps, helping them understand the procedure and potentially resolving their query more quickly.
IV. What are the pricing plans of Jira products?
Each Jira product offers the following three plans: (i) free: an entry level plan ideal for solo lawyers or small size law firm of teams of up to 10 users, (ii) standard: suitable for mid-sized law firm with growing teams needing more robust features, and (iii) premium: tailored for large law firms with complex needs.
- Fee plan: basic features include unlimited tasks/projects forms, backlog list, timeline calendar, dashboards and reports, with 2GB storage.
- Standard Plan: offers enhanced features such as unlimited number of users, user permissions, external collaboration, multi-regional data residency, with 250GB storage.
- Premium Plan: caters advanced features including cross team planning and dependency management, content creation and summarization with Atlassian’ AI’s assistance, customizable approval processes, 24/7 support for critical issues 99.9% uptime SLA, with unlimited storage.
- Free Plan: provides essential features such as unlimited task/project templates, collaborative editing, reporting, approvals, dashboards, customizable workflows, with 2GB storage.
- Standard Plan: offers additional functionalities such as caters advanced features such as advanced project roles and permissions, audit logs, and data residency, with users up to 35,000and 250GB storage.
- Premium Plan: caters extensive features such as AI assistance powered by Atlassian, 24/7 support, approvals, apps integrations, with users up to 35,000and unlimited storage.
- Free Plan: offers basic features like templates for HR and customer service, multi-channel support such as customer portal/email/chat, incident, problem and change managements, and customizable work flows.
- Standard Plan: caters additional features such as alerts and incident escalation, audit logs and multi-regional data residency, up to 2,000 licensed agents to work on unlimited customer’s requests.
- Premium Plan: provides extensive features like AI-powered service and operations, virtual service assistant, advanced alert integrations and incident investigations, real-time incident monitoring, and 24/7 support for critical issues 99.9% uptime SLA.
V. Conclusion
Jira represents a transformative solution for legal professionals seeking to optimize their practice in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. With its comprehensive affordable suite of features and customizable options, Jira offers significant benefits for the legal work nature such as tracking and management, real-time collaboration, and overall productivity. By leveraging Jira’s capabilities, legal teams can streamline their workflows, improve client service, and stay organized amidst the complexities of modern legal practice.
Stay tuned for upcoming articles packed with practical tips and insights on optimizing your legal work with cutting-edge technology. Don’t miss out on how to take your practice to the next level!
